My Dwarven Host (The Eastern Dwarves)

Article is a bit later than usual, but travel and a birthday got in the way so without further ado.


So as promised here is an article for my "fully" painted army. after 13ish years i finally got an army to this point. again some/most of the models are 80% complete, with basing and detailing being the main things needed. Pretty stoked to finally see a "finished" product.




Characters: Lords: Belegar, Runerlord, Lord with Great Weapon (could be thane)
                   Heroes: Thane with great weapon (see above), Runepriest, Engineer, Named Engineer,                        Dragon Slayer (could be played as Daemon Slayer if needed for random game)

Core: 20 warriors with shields, Full Command (FC). 20 Warriors with Great Weapons (FC). 20 Longbeards with great weapons and shields FC. 10 Thunderers with champion. 10 Quarellers with champion.

Special: 1 Cannon & crew 1 Cannon & crew (I will probably never field these, cannons and I don't get along, ask Bob) 20 Hammerers w/ shields and FC, 23ish Ironbreakers w/ FC. 20 slayers (these guys rarely see the field and usually only when i need to bulk out or want/need to drop missile troops)

Rare: 1 Organ Gun & crew w/ a few runes
       

Now that i have it "fully" painted and reviewed I still need/want to add a few more things. I need a BSB and then i am done with characters. 1 box of warriors to fill out units i have. 5 with shields 5 with great weapons and the remaining will hopefully got to fill out the Quarellers (or thunderers if they have guns as well)I would also like to add some of the Irondakes probably will just do 10 but may expend to 20, or may bump to 16 and make my Ironbreaker squad larger. and lastly another organ gun. those things are mean.

*as an aside I bought myself a box of warriors (no ranged weapons included-something to ponder) and a box of the Ironbreakers/Irondrakes. hopefully they will get worked on soon. this should solidly bring my army between 3500-4000pts. with few people playing they will likely never see the field as a whole, but i like having the large army. choices.

The Dwarves are back on the Painting Bloc

So seeing as how I bought a dwarf model, and got it painted up, and had been doing just 40k stuff for a while I felt it was time to jump back into the Dwarves. As my second largest army, and second oldest army, with a good rule book (screw the End of Times) they are probably my favorite army right now. looking at the box i keep my dwarves in I saw I only had a few models with only the base coat of chaos black left. this invigorated me and got me going on getting these guys with some base colors, about as far as i normally get anyway. so here is what i have.

ten of the new ironbreakers, really like the models. really simple paint job, metal color (leadbelcher maybe?) all over. i will add the two army colors, light blue and dark green as trim. and some lighter colors for the metal for highlights. I am alternating the color patterns, dark green on the shield, weapon and helmet, on the other five the dark green will serve as the trim on the armor.

4 warriors with great weapons. a lot more colors but very little detail to spend time on. got the army color started with my checkered pattern. (top right and bottom left light blue, top left and bottom right dark green). after the solid metal of the ironbreakers these are a nice change of pace.

4 slayers. beards and flesh largely done. just got to add gold and then some detailing of the army colors, maybe some basic warpaint if no detail space available. again nice change of pace with the skin and red hair.

6 weapon crew. 3 old metal models for a cannon, 3 crew members for the organ gun. lots of the army colors very little metal (comparatively).




progress went very fast. painted the whole group at a time. Cross unit batch painting was more fun than otherwise. I will have an article showing off the full army, will probably add in a break down and explanation of my intentions/strategy.

Dark Angels vs Chaos 1500 points (part 2)

Greetings, folks! 

Bob here with part 2 of the epic clash between the forces of Neverness's Chaos warband and my Dark Angels as we try and capture the cursed Cypher!

Before the coverage starts check out Neverness's list from the game:

Chaos Lord: terminator armour, mark of Khorne, ichor blood, murder sword.
Cypher
Chaos Marines: (10) Mark of Khorne, flamer, plasma gun
Chaos Marines: (9) Mark of Slaanesh, flamer
Khorne Berzerkers: (10)
Chaos Bikers: (6) Mark of Khorne, flamer, melta gun
Landraider: Havoc launcher, dirge caster, warpflame gargoyles, destroyer blades, smoke launchers
Vindicator: dirge caster, warpflame gargoyles, smoke launchers  


Turn 4

With Cypher now on the loose it was time to get the Ravenwing and the Tac squads across the board to hopefully net the slippery bastard. The Ravenwing moved closer to the Vindicator to get into close range and set up a charge if it somehow survived shooting. The Tactical Squads both advance with the one in the center moving to contest the central objective and the other moving to support the Deathwing. Speaking of the Deathwing, they decided to stay put and shoot the Berserkers as much as possible then charge them before they charged me (because screw that nonsense).

My name is Bob and I approve the destruction of this Vindicator. Photo courtesy of Neverness

In the shooting phase the Ravenwing managed to knock out the Vindicator thanks to the multimelta and ultimately the squad plasma gun. The explosion result was thankfully one inch so my bikes avoided any damage from flying heretic vehicle bits. The Tac Marines in the center tried to thin out the advancing Chaos Marines in advance of their inevitable charge. The Deathwing opened up on the Berserkers and thinned them out a bit. In combat the final Deathwing finally went down to the Chaos warlord and what was left of his Black Legion escort. The remaining Deathwing charge the Berserkers and manage to survive the combat and pulp a few in the process! 

Cypher desperately trying to get into cover. Photo courtesy of Neverness

In the Chaos turn Cypher continued to move towards the trench system. The Chaos Marines on the hill shot at the Tac squad in the ruins before charging into them. Between overwatch and the ensuing combat they were wiped out by the Tac squad who then consolidated towards the objective. Having wiped out one Deathwing squad the warlord and his unit charged in to support the by now greatly reduced Berserkers. This proved to be a futile effort as the Berserkers were destroyed by the Deathwing.

Turn 5

Movement was simple in this turn. The Tac squad near the objective moved up to claim it. My Company Master moved off the hill and in the direction of Cypher. The other Tac squad also advanced towards Cypher as did the Ravenwing. In the shooting phase both the Ravenwing and the advancing Tac squad opened up on Cypher and managed to wound him twice! Unfortunetly nobody could get a charge off on him and prevent him from moving into the cover of the trench. 

Lots of guns turning towards Cypher. Photo courtesy of Neverness

On the Chaos turn the now lone warlord tried to hold his own and tie up the Deathwing for another turn, but luckily for me he met the his end from a Deathwing powerfist. Following their victory, the Deathwing consolidated towards Cypher who had gunned down a member of the advancing Tac squad and jump into the trenches. The noose was getting very tight at this point as Neverness's army has effectively gone at this point. We talked about calling the game at this point, but we both decided that we wanted to see if Cypher would manage to escape or not.

The noose is very tight at this point. Photo courtesy of Neverness

  
Turn 6

So I decided that the best way to end this would be getting to grips with Cypher to make sure the fish wouldn't slip the net. I advanced the Deathwing into the trench works and ran the Ravenwing up for a fool proof charge in case he managed to survive the shooting phase. The advancing Tac squad and Company Master moved behind the trench works in case Cypher managed to win combat and book it towards my deployment zone. Needless to say with shrouded and the cover of the trenches he survived the ensuing fusillade. This meant that it would come down to fisticuffs.

Cypher's last stand. Photo courtesy of Neverness

Both the Ravenwing and Deathwing made their charges and survived the overwatch. The Deathwing Sargent was killed in close combat by Cypher's plasma pistol. The Ravenwing struck first but didn't manage to take him out. It all came down to the last surviving Deathwing to take out the traitor and take him out he did (turns out Cypher doesn't have an invul save)!

The aftermath

Glory to the First! Truly the the Lion was with us this day. The enemy was vanquished utterly and the most hated of The Fallen was captured (for now). I can honestly say this was the most enjoyable game of 40k I have played in a very long time. Neverness's idea to include Cypher and use one of the missions from his data slate was a brilliant one. The game was wonderfully narrative and full of great action and fun. Thanks to their efforts in capturing Cypher the Ravenwing and Deathwing are now bumped to the top slot of the painting backlog. Stay tuned for the results of this long overdue project.

In the meantime, I will be heading over to France for a few weeks to do some archaeology at the site I have been helping to excavate and study so my internet access will be spotty at best. I will try and get a few articles written up that I can just hit publish on or have John publish while I am away.

Building and magnetizing some Cult Mechanicus models

Hey folks!

Bob here with a look at what I am building and converting these days. I recently purchased a set of the new Kataphron tracked servitors and I am currently in the process of converting them with magnets so I can field them as either the Breachers or Destroyers. Thankfully this hasn't involved a whole lot of work on my end. Some green (or in this case gray) stuff and magnets. Here are some photos of the process and end result.

My rather crappy attempt at greenstuffing the magnet into place for the destroyer weapon mount. It fits securely with the weapon at least.

I drilled out the shoulder socket and managed to get the magnet flush and secure inside the socket.

the finished product

the Breacher finished product. Not elegant by any means but it works

I also picked up one on the new Magos Dominus models and did some very simple and quick magnetizing to allow me to use any of his included weapons.

the model is actually larger than a Terminator and mounted on the same base. The points of contact are really sketchy and had to be super glued. Here is hoping he stays put

Pistol arm magnet

weapon mount magent

That about covers it for my Cult Mechanicus work for now. I will have my thoughts on both the Skitarii and the Cult books out here in a bit. Until next time, happy gaming!






  

Dark Angels vs Chaos 1500 points part 1

Greetings, folks!

Bob here with a very long overdue battle report! This past weekend I got a game of 40K in against the blood crazed horde of Neverness. It boggles the mind, but this was our first game! It was nice to get a game of 40k in. Without further adieu I present the battle!

My Army

Company Master: Artificer Armour. Mace of Redemption

Tactical Squad 1: Veteran Sargent. Plasma gun, missile launcher

Tactical Squad 2: Veteran Sargent. Plasma gun, missile launcher

Deathwing Knights

Deathwing: Sargent with power sword. Assault Cannon

Deathwing: Sargent with power sword. Plasma Cannon

Ravenwing Attack Squad: Attack Bike with multi-melta. Plasma gun.

Mission and Deployment

The table

The mission we rolled was "A Hidden Presence" from the Alter of War missions in Cypher's dataslate.What the scenario boils down to is this: quarter deployment with one objective in the center of the remaining two quarters and an objective in the center of the table with a 9 inch exclusion zone around it that prevents deployment near it. The rules are pretty simple. The primary objective for Cypher's player is to get him off of the table by getting him to within 3 inches of the enemy board edge at the end of his movement phase. If he does this his controlling player gets 3 points. If he does not do this the other player gets the same amount of points. The other objective markers are worth 2 points each and the usual secondary objectives apply. Cypher also begins the game hidden in the unit of his controlling player's choice by disguising himself as a any model in the unit with less than 3 wounds. The controlling player may reveal him at any time. With that out of the way lets take a look at deployment.

Dark Angels' deplpyment

Cypher's warband deployment

I of course opted to hold my Deathwing in reserve and have them come in on turn 2. My general deployment was a crescent with the 2 Tactical Squads at either end and the Ravenwing in the middle. My Company Commander would tag along with the Tactical Squad


Turn 1

Turn 1 turned out to be fairly tame. Mostly moving and some shooting on both of our parts. The Ravenwing snaked around the terrain on the hill to move to the objective in the corner closest to me. The mysterious objective was revealed to be the cover save generator. The Tactical squad deployed near the Ravenwing moved in the direction of the objective revealed by the bikes.

I took a pot shot at the Land Raider with the Tactical Squad deployed on the bunker. Scored a hit but rolled a 1 for armour pen. In return for the scratched paint, the Land Raider advanced and dumped a Havoc Launcher square on the head of the hapless Missile Launcher operator and killing him. The Ravenwing suffered a single casualty from incoming fire.

Turn 2

To start thing off it was time to bring in the Deathwing.

The squad with the assault cannon arrived as did the Knights

The squad with the assault cannon managed to arrive right on target on top of the objective nearest the chaos deployment area and in prime position to unload into the enemy warlord and his accompanying unit. The Knights scattered and wound up on top of a bunker (and not in base to base for the +1 toughness!). The final squad scattered and suffered a mishap, but thankfully they went back into reserve. In my movement phase I swung the Ravenwing around and advanced towards the opposing Chaos bikes. The Tactical Squad in the same area advanced toward the central objective while the other Tactical Squad exited the bunker and moved into cover of the hill directly opposite them. In the shooting phase the Deathwing unleashed all of their shots into the warlord's units and managed to kill only a single Black Legionary but I did manage to take a wound off of the warlord. 

Greetings, heretics.

On the opposite side of the board the Ravenwing squared off against the Chaos bikes. When all the shots cleared half of the Chaos bikes went up in smoke! Not bad shooting at all.I decided to go for a long shot assault and promptly rolled snake eyes for the distance! Oh well.

On Chaos turn 2 his bikers lined up for some shooting before charging into combat (after some goading). His Chaos Marine unit near his Vindicator advanced towards the central objective while said tank and his other units all pivoted towards the Deathwing. It was now that Cypher was revealed to be inside the Black Legion unit alongside his warlord. The bikes manage to kill a few Ravenwing with shooting. The bikes then charge in during the assault phase (no kills from over watch). The champion challenges my Sargent and the two promptly kill each other thanks to simultaneous Initiative in combat! After the dust had settled I passed my Hit and Run roll so the bikes broke off for another round of shooting and combat.  The Vindicator gets a good shot off at the Knights and kills their squad leader and a Knight! Between the Landraider and the newly revealed Cypher only two of my Deathwing go down to shooting! It is here that Neverness makes a rather fatal mistake. In his perfectly reasonable zeal to clear the Deathwing from his backfield he rapid fired Cypher and his unit, thus preventing him from charging! I seriously lucked out in this round. Both my terminator units were intact and I had another in reserve. My bikes were in a good position for turn 3 and my Tac squads and Company Master were practically unharmed.

My reformed bikes after combat. Photo courtesy of Neverness.

Turn 3

Deathwing Squad 2 arrives on target

My remaining Deathwing squad with the plasma cannon showed up and arrived directly on target to provide more fire support and a wonderful high threat unit to the Chaos backfield (and for dealing with Cypher of course!). In terms of movement there really wasn't much going on other than setting up for charges and better shooting. On the other side of the table the Ravenwing advanced to point blank range of the Chaos bikes while the Tac squads hugged terrain and set up to fire at the Chaos Marines on the central objective. The Knights meanwhile advanced out of the bunker to set up for a charge on the Landraider. In the shooting phase the Ravenwing brought the Chaos bikes down to a single model. The Deathwing unleashed on the Black Legion unit with the warlord and Cypher and tore the squad a new one! The big show was definitely the assault phase.

Hello, Vindicator. My multimelta wants to have a word with you! Photo courtesy of Neverness

 The Ravenwing charged the remaining Chaos bike and promptly finished the unit off with no casualties in return. With my consolidation I was in a great position to take out the Vindicator. The Knights got off the charge on the Landraider and promptly annihilated it thanks to smite mode.

Pop goes the landraider.

Now I just had an almost fully intact squad of Berzerkers to deal with..... Photo courtesy of Neverness

On Chaos turn 3 his entire army focused on dealing with the Deathwing. Cypher decided his meat shields were better off dealing with the Deathwing on their own and began to move away from the fighting and towards the cover of the trench works (not before shooting at the Knights of course). The Vindicator and Berzerkers both fired on the Knights as did the squad of Chaos Marines advancing on the central objective. After the dust settled on one Knight had gone down to enemy fire!

This can only end poorly......Photo courtesy of Neverness

The assault phase saw the Berzerkers charge the Knights. Let me just say that the amount of dice those boys can dish out is fairly obscene. Needless to say the Knights went down, but they did manage to take a few of Khorne's favorites with them. The warlord's unit charged the Deathwing squad closest to them. The warlord challenged my Sargent and promptly slew him using the murder sword and was duly rewarded with the boon of poisoned attacks. The remaining Deathwing with the assault cannon survived the fight and even managed to punch a Black Legionnaire with his powerfist.

The aftermath of the assault phase. Photo courtesy of Neverness

That is it for part 1 of the battle report! I hope you enjoyed reading about this very awesome game and will come back for part 2 next week!