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!

Greetings

Munich and Bavaria, this pic sums up my favorite part

Just got back from my two week vacation in Europe. Tried to hit GW stores when I could. As it turned out only had free time to visit two of them. and just my luck the one in Munich is closed the day I have time.

Outside of the Munich branch, seemed to have lots of space inside

Had better luck in Berlin. Talked with the store operator who luckily spoke better english than I did German. They had a large battle set up at the front, and also a Space Marine.

the big red thing is the space marine

Had a good selection and picked up a two clambpacks. More GW shopping than I had done in months here. 40k is still the mover and shaker over there, but in a broken conversation it seemed that Fantasy is stepping up, in spite of the End Of Time. If I understood correctly, the models sell well, but it temporarily killed people playing the game, but then there was a push back to the 8th version.

Display case, pretty sure this is the first time i have seen a Titan, even the "puny" Warhound

So I picked up two characters, a Slayer for my Dwarves and a commissar for the 132nd. Getting back I felt motivated enough to paint the two guys up to a decent level where they will probably wallow for the forseeable future, but hey at least now my IG are a legal army. (HQ choice)

Still need to figure out a better lighting scheme, can never get the detail to show up in these pics.

What's on my Table (Vikings, Saxons, and Normans oh my!)

Hey folks,

Bob here with a long over due post. Things have been fairly hectic of late, but I am trying to get into some semblance of a writing routine. I wanted to show off a few things that I have had on the old hobby table these days.

This guy has been on my table for a long time. He is Gripping Beast plastic Viking Hirdman. I have to say that the Gripping Beast Vikings and Saxons are by far my favorite plastic sets I have worked with when compared to the Wargames Factory Historical equivalents.

Next up is a metal model representing a member of the Saxon Fyrd. I believe this is an Essex miniature. Not much to this one other then being a solid model of an unarmoured Saxon with spear and shield. 

Rounding out my historical binge is a Norman Knight from Conquest Games. Have to say I am impressed with this kit as well. The details are solid and you can make a pretty good selection of poses.


 

On the 40k side of things I have started a small force of Skitarii. Right now I have a squad of Vanguard (fully painted), Rangers, this Dragoon, and an Onager (magnetized). This is my WIP Dragoon (about 50% done).


 

So what is on tap article wise? John should be posting a progress report on his expanding Guard army and a recent trip to Germany and his stop at a GW store. As for me, I am planning on getting an overview and opinion article out on the two Mechanicus books (Skitarii and Cult) once I get a chance to read the Cult book. I would also like to do an article about the new Eldar codex and what my thoughts and plans are for using it. Rumors point to new Space Marine and Dark Angels books out in the near future so be on the look out for my thoughts on those whenever they hit. I will also try and do more of these "what's on my table" type of articles along with some of my paint schemes. In the mean time, happy gaming folks! 

WARHAMMER TOTAL WAR TRAILER!!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!


Total War: Warhammer

Warhammer Total War Freak Out Part Deux

So again the rumors of this being real have started circulating and with the completion of Attila Total War (kinda meh btw) they should be able to focus on W:TW. So accordingly both Bob and I are both

So of course the main thing we want to see is this NOT set in the End of Times lore, but whatever the last one was, 8. Personally I would like to see it as kinda the boss battle at the end of the 200 turns, after you have won or loss, Bob doesn't want anything to do with it. 

Seeing as how Total War has gone more and more the direction of Factions I thought of how this could be a cool way to personalize some of the factions in W:TW. For instance as the Dwarf player you can align with one of the Guilds that gives you a boost and maybe access to a unique unit. Empire gets a choice of Knight Chapters, Orks & Gobbos you get Tribes (Yellow Suns etc)

I also still want to see an ability to 'grow' your regions. 

So going back to Rome 2 there are Regions which have 2-4 provinces each, with 1 major city. Keep that same structure but add in another tier of villages down bellow which can't produce units but offer some kind of unique benefit (more farms, lumber, mining, shrine, fort etc). these can't be conquered or held but are affected by things affecting the province, food shortage, plague, invasion to the point where they could disappear. I think this would really help show how fluid the Warhammer World is.

Also with the Total Wars releasing a bare minimum of races so they can sell you the others later as DLCs I feel they will do the same here.

Original Release: Empire, Bretonia, Dwarves, Orcs and/or Gobbos, Chaos and maybe Beasts and Skaven:really just the Old World Races and map

Elves DLC: High Elves with some colonies, Dark Elves and wood elves 

New World: Lizards with maybe some colonies for other races (empire, elves and vamps?)

Undead DLC: Vamps and Tomb Kings, 

Misc DLC: Ogres and maybe the races that don't get DLCed before. (lizards maybe)

I think each DLC will be worth it because it will require an expansion of the map, and pretty significant each time.

I think I covered this before but I think there will be/should be another "realm" of underground, with limited access points home to Dwarves, Skaven and Gobbos. not sure how I want it to work but can't wait to see something. I am thinking a few settlements grouped together with a lot of uncontrollable area in between. 

I see characters acting a lot like agents, attachable to armies with limited battlefield role, but very helpful on the campaign map, maybe certain ones give you One Off/Limited Number of special battlefield abilities. so obviously each race would have different types of agents. I see five basic types: Combat Leaders, Mages, Agents/Assassins, Engineers and Monsters. 

btw: the pics are an assortment of Bob's and mine armies, i forgot my Skaven for whatever reason.

John: Tomb Kings, Chaos, Lizards and Dwarves (and invisible Skaven and High Elves)

Bob: Bretonia, Empire, Beastmen (kinda),High Elves and Dark Elves (his dad has a few orks as well)

Skitarii Test Model

Hey folks,

Bob here with a very brief update today. Like a lot folks the Skitarri (and mechanicum for that matter) has been a faction I have wanted to see on the tabletop for a long time. With the new Codex and model release I have of course started a Skitarii force. I managed to pick up a box of the Vanguard/Rangers and one of the Ironstriders/Dragoon walkers. I decided to build the infantry as a Vanguard Squad and I even managed to paint up a test model in between research obligations. When the Codex itself drops and the rest of the models are released I will try and get a review up for them and share my thoughts on the look of the Skitarii (hint: they aren't what I imagined from the descriptions I have read). John has been working on a Warhammer Total War article that I will throw my thoughts in as well. In the meantime take a gander at my first Vanguard model.