Blood Covered Halls

Unfortunately, those halls were mostly covered in the blood of my World Eaters, another World Eater force, and an Emperor's Children force.  Overall, I went 0-2 and in both cases found my priciest unit, Butchers up against units it could not hurt - an Ultramarines Dreadnought and Mechanicum Kastalans.

Sergeant & brothers hold a door way against Mechanicum Cult forces

III Legion Astrates prepare for the incoming Ultramarine Dreadnaughts

This past Sunday, I took part in a local Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis (ZM) event.  Each player was told to bring a 750 point Combatant list (after the break).

Tactical Options

I had a rather busy weekend and week, but I did get three more Ultramarines painted.  These three Astrates provide options to the completed Tactical Squad, allowing it to either be fielded as a fully equipped Veteran Tactical Squad (like a 40k Tactical Squad or a squad in Betrayal at Calth) or just swap in the Nuncio Vox in the Tactical Squad.

3 Options for Tactical/Veteran Tactical Squads

Up next: Veteran of Terra & Master of Signals

First 5 of 10 Breachers

This past Saturday, I completed the first 5 of 10 Breachers for my Ultramarines 106th Company.  These are a bit eclectic due to it having the Sergeant, 2 of 3 Bolter Astrates, 1 of 4 Power Sword Astrates, and 1 of 2 Melta Gun Astrates.  I am also waiting for a Forgeworld order to come in with a Vox and Vexalia for the other set of 5 Astrates that will complete the squad.

In Defense of Lex Konor

From the side

Overall, these models were great to paint.  Since I had completed the 10-man tactical, I had settled upon the techniques involved and overall scheme.  The  fact that they are in Mark III Power Armor and Breacher shields gave some great variety.   Their bases are also those I showed previously and I have tried to position them all such that they appear to be "holding the line" at the patterned tiles.

In progress shots after the link.

Tiling

Just a brief update this week as the past two weeks and weekends have been busy with various activities.  Almost two weeks ago now, I assembled and painted bases for the first 5 Breachers and here they are.  Hopefully get back to painting this week.

Tactical Squad Complete

On Thursday last week, I weathered the feet of the Legion Tactical Squad, completing the first 10 Astrates for my XIII Legion force.  I am very pleased with the overall result.  I am starting to write-up some background for what Chapter of the Legion they are and what they are doing during the Shadow Crusade and associated units. 

Wading through the dust 

Preparing to Weather

These are the first 10-man Astrates prior to weathering.  I have a reviewed a few guides about weathering and have the pigments.  I intend to start with the pigments and then sponging mainly the areas with transfers.  Most of the armor material is not paint but intended to be the appropriate material and while the Astrates are weathered, they will not be overly damaged.

106th Company Astrates before civilization crumbles around them

10-man Squad in Progress

I have been making steady progress on my first XIII Legion Tactical Squad.  I am regretting attempting to go after a full 10-man squad right away.  I feel like I would feel further along if I was starting my second 5-man, having finished the first 5-man.

All this being said, I have not really used any new techniques on the XIII models yet.  But I have settled on the plan to do basic weathering 1) using powders and 2) light sponging.  Next weekend, I intend to buy at least a pack of Vallejo pigments (Stone and cement, city).  I intend to weather the lower calf and feet of the Legionaires with a light dusting of a light grey pigment to represent them defending the shattered civiti of the 500 Worlds of Ultramar.   My XIII Legion are now having to forgo superficial maintenance and thus I will "chip" and "mud" where I think it is appropriate.  But that is all to come.

For now, I will finish up highlights on black and apply transfers over the next week.

Winning on Objectives

Slowly Advancing Death Guard

I played another game of Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis this weekend.  This time against a Death Guard.  In this instance, I ran Kharn and the Butchers as stand-ins for Loyalist World Eaters Praetor and Terminators.  It was another Pyrrhic victory, with just the Praetor and a single Rampager surviving, again.  I won by managing to keep the Death Guard from my deployment zone and rolling a six to end the game on turn 5.

MVP

The MVP of the game was definitely the Death Guard Mortis Dreadnaught with a pair of Kheres Assault Cannons and my inability to roll successfully.  Over the course of two turns, the Dreadnaught caused my two tactical squads to break and run, off the table.   My only actual success was my Praetor slaying three Grave Wardens and breaking the unit.

The ongoing failure of my World Eaters to achieve casualty success is rather annoying.  I am heavily considering investing in a Tactical Support Squad carrying Plasma Guns.

On the modeling/painting front, an Ultramarines squad is in work.  Taking on 10 Astrates is a bit of a task, right off the bat.

Bloody Victory

End of Turn 2; No Blood Split Yet

This past Saturday, I played another game of Zone Mortalis against Salamanders (same opponent).  I learned from last time, sort of.  I attempted to slow down my advance and generally did not run headlong into the Fire Drakes (aside from the Butchers).  The Fire Drakes dominance are making me heavily consider adding another unit, not just the loyalist swaps, to the army.

I made the right plays in the late game.  At the bottom of turn 5, I had two models - Kharn and a Rampager.  The lone Rampager was sent to claim the all important objective.  The Fire Drakes were out of place.  Kharn made a mad-dash at the Pyroclast looking to claim the center objective.  He took a wound on the way-in, but slayed a Pyroclast in return.  More shots through the link.

Beginning Legion XIII

Astrates Sergeant with Gladius

Having completed my Traitor World Eaters this past weekend (other than Kharn's scenic base), I have begun to assemble the first squad for my Legion XIII, Ultramarines.

Almost 20 years ago, I began the hobby reading through the background of the Chapter in the 2nd Edition Codex: Ultramarines.  Ultramarines are my first and largest army for Warhammer 40,000.

I continue to be attracted to the core themes of the Ultramarines.  In contrast to many other legions, they are not destroyers of worlds or even builders of great fortresses for defense.   The Ultramarines, especially under Roboute Guilliman, take the next step of creating or re-establishing civilization from the ashes of conquest.    Today, the idea of not only achieving victory, but securing victory by establishing civilization continues to be a theme I am attracted to.  Add to this my on-going fascination with the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire and the Ultramarines are simply my Legion.

Traitors led by Kharn!

Kharn the Bloody

I have finished my 1,000 points of World Eaters (Traitors), completing Kharn this past Sunday.  I have transferred him to a 32 mm base in the same style as the rest of the force.  The Martian red has been a great basing choice for the World Eaters.

Kharn was great to paint and an excellent culmination of the techniques I practiced throughout the rest of the force.  As one should, I paid extra attention to details that I overlooked on the mass infantry.

I am most looking forward to playing some more games of Zone Mortalis with fully painted force.  Hopefully, my number of opponents will also increase.  I have yet to settle on my next project.  One of them is to add loyalist replacements for Kharn and the Butchers to my World Eaters collection, but we will save that for next weekend's blog post.

Kharn's Zone Mortalis assault force

More shots of Kharn past the link.

A Second Ragnarok and Korsor Squadron

As a break from painting World Eaters before painting Kharn, I painted a second Ragnarok and a squadron of three Korsor Corvettes.

Danes do like to fly the flag

First Blood

This past weekend (12 Mar 2016), I played my second game of Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis.  It, like the first was against the warriors of Legion XVIII, Salamanders.  The short version is that Fire Drakes are an incredibly tough unit, especially against other Astrates.  This includes thrashing Butchers.  The World Eaters nearly brought it to a tie, but failed to dislodge a unit of Salamander Breachers from the tying objective.

Battle begins and the World Eater force is engaged by Fire Drakes