Tempest Arrives

More models to Assemble and paint.

Last week, I received The Horus Heresy Book Five: Tempest from Forgeworld along with 15 Marine bodies and parts to assemble more World Eaters and even a few Ultramarines.  As always, I am thoroughly impressed by Forgewold's books and despite their high cost really enjoy the product they produce.  I got everything I need in this order to build out 10 more World Eaters, which leaves just 5 Butchers for a 1,000 pt Zone Mortalis list.  The Ultramarine buys were am indulgence to get me up to the £250 for free shipping.

Hopefully more to come after this weekend as I work on things.

Korsor Squadron

Korsor Squadron 1

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon painting up these five ships as my test of the fundamental scheme for my Kingdom of Denmark Naval Battlegroup.  These first five have the basic scheme.  I have gone without metallic paint in thus far.   These ships are mix of wood and metal all over, so everything is painted to minimize the impact of the sea (water, salt, etc lead to rust).

I have yet to seal them, but other than maybe marking them with a bright green strip to indicate their Battlegroup, they are complete.

Below are the steps I took to paint them.

Danish Fleet & Magnets!

The box.

Everything that came in the box!

Before the start of last weekend, my Dystopian Wars Kingdom of Denmark Naval Battle Group arrived.  Over the past roughly two weeks, I cleaned up the miniatures, primed the small ships and aircraft, and made most of the turrets attach via magnets.

This was my first experience using magnets and thus I messed up on a ship, causing its turret to be "fixed-forward."  This is likely how most people model their ships.  Magnets allows the turrets to rotate through their full-fire arcs.  Lastly, for ships which are largely static, it adds to the model allowing it to better show what the ship is doing (should the player choose).

Eldar Rangers

Same five Rangers from different angles

This weekend's painting project was the last,  five Rangers for my Eldar.  For these five Rangers, I decided they would be from Craftworlds other than Aliatoc.  Saim-Hann, Ulthwe, Biel-tan, Lugganath, and Altansar each are represented.

This leaves 10 Banshees, a Shadowseer, a Deathjester, and Phoenix to complete for 1,850 pts of Eldar. I have multiple options to consider to bring it up to more than 2,000 pts - expansion of the Harelquins, adding Illic Nightspear, or a squad of Dark Reapers.  I am excited about nearing completion of the army, both for completing the project and I am getting excited about some future projects.

Codex Eldar: Craftworlds Discussion

Army for Armies on Parade

The new Codex Eldar: Craftworlds is interesting to say the least.  The armylist I have been working towards for about a year has become cheaper points wise.  I added Harlequins to fill out the list from ~1700 points (without Illic Nightspear) to 2000 points. Now, the army with the Codex Eldar: Harlequins Cast of Players formation is 1850 points!  Illic Nightspear will bring it back up to 2000 points. The list however has a not insignificant point sink in the Phoenix fighter-bomber.  All of this is a long way of saying that the new Eldar are cheaper and deadlier than before.

Second Storm, failing to match colors

Both completed, very different blues

This weekend, I decided to complete my second Landspeeder Storm for my Ultramarines Scout detachment.  It had been built and base coated months previously and was on the side waiting for completion.  However, I ran into an immediate problem.  Most of my Ultramarines were painted using the old paint range and in a very straightforward scheme.  I could not get the two to match, despite several different layer attempts.

Killer Space Fools!

Troupe leaping into the fight.

The Troupe for my Cast of Players is complete.  These models were really enjoyable to paint and practice/learn new techniques on. These were painted following the guide in Warriors of The Laughing God for the Veiled Path. I was very intimidated by the motley (the checker pattern).  I started it on small/mostly flat surfaces like the Master's coat and two knee pads.  I worked the straight leg first followed by the bent one.

More pics below.

Dystopian Wars: Kingdom of Denmark

As my local Games Workshop closes, I have been encouraged by other local gamers to look beyond the GW ranges.  The group I play with is getting heavily into both Dystopian Wars and Firestorm: Planetfall.  I asked which game they suggest starting with and they recommended Dystopian Wars (or Boats).

Looking through the list of potential fleets and what others were playing, I quickly settled on the minor-power of Denmark (surprise)!  The starting force (see picture) is roughly 1,000 pts, a good starting point.  The rules are free to download and based on watching a game of Planetfall Saturday night, the mechanics similar to Epic: Armageddon, a GW game I really enjoyed. More to come.

Assassinorum: Execution Force (Part 2)

All setup

In Part 1, I talked about the models in Execution Force and the value of the set as a whole.  After assembly, my family of three played a game.

The game's mechanics are straightforward with a little ambiguity regarding the prime target, the Chaos Sorcerer Lord Drask.  The game can be played with 1-4 players and is a cooperative effort.

Assassinorum: Execution Force (Part 1)

Assassins assembled!

On 2 May, my family and I picked up Assassinorum: Execution Force.  The first reason was to acquire the 4 new Imperial Assassins, which are all excellent models (see left).  Secondly, my son was very excited about playing the game and really wanted to play as the Vindicare assassin (big gun).  This meant I spent about an hour assembling the entire set before getting ready to play a game (review in part 2).  Overall, I am very happy with the acquisition and our first play through was fun.

Two Serpents

Pair of Wave Serpents

Late Sunday, I completed the second Wave Serpent.  The pair largely match with the main difference being the "parallel" lines versus X racing strips.  The plan is for the parallel lines Serpent to carry a squad of Dire Avengers and the X Serpent to carry a squad of Howling Banshees.

Given the new rules with Howling Banshees, I am very happy with their inclusion in the list from the beginning.  I however need to order the old metal models as the Finecast is less than useful given the slenderness of the models.

More pictures after the break...

Work on Wave Serpent 2

Based

Washed

I worked on the basing and washing the second Wave Serpent, intended to carry Banshees into combat.  It has been a nice change from the jetbikes I finished up previously.  Painting a tank is simply a different experience, minimizing the repetition found in painting an infantry/bike/light vehicle squadron.

Also I have seen the leaked new Eldar Jetbikes.  I think they are nice looking bikes, but I am a bit frustrated that Games-Workshop did not also create more plastic Aspect Warriors (which are currently only mail order Finecast).  Probably will Ebay old metal Banshees for the last four; I may even order 10 to replace the Finecast I currently have.

I am not sure if the Eldar really needed a new Codex.  They were already a solid Codex.  We will see how it impacts my existing army list probably near the end of the month.  I hope it is still viable.

Nothing after the break this time.

Completed Jebikes & a Game

Five Hexes Jetbikes swoop in.

Sunday night, I finished my Five Hexes jetbikes (played as Windrider jetbikes in my Eldar Army).  I tried to keep the scheme matching my two Vypers; I think they came out well.  Process pictures after the battle summary.

On Saturday, I got a 2,000 point game in against an Chaos Space Marine Emperor's Children army. We had to call it at the bottom of turn 3, I lost 2-1 on objectives.  The jetbikes scored my victory point, achieving Linebreaker.  A longer summary after the break.  (Sorry no pictures)