As Promised

I looked at the spearhead WD. My brother even bought it. Neither of us were very impressed. I was expecting specialized gear, but what I got was Apocalypse units for regular 40k. Don't get me wrong, I still want to bring all tanks to the table, but it is no different than an all tank Apocalypse battle. In fact, the unit entries are even better! (A predator assassin squad is not nearly as useful as three predators in a tank hunter spearhead - same number of predators AND less points).

All in all, I am disappointed....I wanted my escape hatches (a blast from the Imp. Guard past for those of you who remember)

In other news, check the weekly mini's blog that I am a part of to see how my restoration of the old gunked up land raider went. Sure I want to fine tune it, but at least now it is playable without being shameful!

A New Way to Play

When I heard about the new expansion for Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k, I must admit I was intrigued. Heralded on the website as a new way to play, it supposedly features more tanks and signals the onset of many new vehicle sprues. What is most exciting to me is that it will be featured in the White Dwarf. I remember BFG and Dogs of War being released in the White Dwarf. More recently, the battle report featured a Catachan vs Ork mission akin to the new kill team scenario in the Battle Missions book which interested me greatly. I am hoping that this expansion gives a bit more substance to June's White Dwarf.

With the onset of the expansion, I did what I always like to do on a slow day. I took stock of my Warhammer 40k models. My main concern right now is to make swapable sponsons for my rhino/predators to give some support for my terminators. Well, really my main concern is to find some time to play warhammer more often than once a year. But the sponsons are important, too.

Even though I will be leaving in a week for two weeks on a trip that will keep me from my beloved warhammer modeling, Ill be devouring June 2010's White Dwarf and itching to either play Spearhead or bash it here on the blog.

Cream O' The Crop

Reading about the new Battle Missions Kill Team, and always up for converting some cool looking dudes, I threw my hand to making a Kill Team for my Chaos Space Marines. The theme? A team of Chosen Fallen who troll the galaxy in hopes of sowing the seeds of violence and dissension. I chose Chosen because I love the idea of infiltrating space marines. I'd have given them all sniper rifles, too, if I could.

Now I had to represent these soldiers as the strongest warriors available to an army of super-humans. I decided that I'd arm them with over-powered weapons as these Marines have no qualms about bringing a gun to a knife fight. Thus I ended up with what you see below, though i need two more:



Chosen with Powerfist, Infiltrate, feel no pain (Represents a imposing hand to hand figure who ignores small arms as he steamrolls through the enemy)
Chosen with Meltagun, Infiltrate, Turbo boost (Represents a marine whose strength is to pop in and fry his victims before they can respond, one who must try to avoid being pinned down in hand to hand combat. A wing like cloak shows this marines demonic ability to move at high speeds.)
Chosen with AutoCannon, Infiltrate, Relentless (Represents a relentless tank of a man whose team mates depend on for ranged support)
Chosen with Twin-linked bolter, Infiltrate
Chosen with Twin-linked bolter, Infiltrate
Chosen with Melta-bombs, Infiltrate
Chosen with Infiltrate
And that is about 4 points shy of 200, I believe.

I've been having fun trying to come up with some background for these guys. All I have so far is that they are a highly trained team of mercenaries who believe it obliterating the enemy without being dragged into long, drawn out combats. Rather than having specialists, each member is simply outfitted to preform in a particular role that any of them could just as easily fill if the need arises.

I have enough points left over to buy two more guys. I was considering taking out the power weapon and fielding a rhino with a HML to represent a missile truck, but I was afraid that fielding a vehicle did not really fit into a scenario centered around the idea of a desperate group of warriors pitted against the odds on a regular basis.

Bring in the Big Guns

So I sat down a week or so ago and converted an add-on for my rhinos. I do not think the hull mounted demolisher is bad, but I liked the idea of a turret mounted big gun instead. So I went with that, using pink foam as a base and bit-bashing a bunch of pieces together to give it a sort of WW tank look....just with a bigger gun. Now I need to find time to actually play test....

Aim of the Game

For the past year, I have focused on using my minis in apocalypse games. I do not get out to the hobby stores very often, so when I do, I like to bring everything to the table. Lately, however, I have been trying to use the nerfed Chaos codex (yes I am still bitter about that) to make a decent 1000 pt army. In the face of new awesome models and a slew of cool new rules, the Chaos codex is looking more and more just plain boring. On the other hand, I like how they few good units are versatile and resilient, two attributes I rather fancy in my units. My idea is to field two units of CSM with autocannons with Rhinos tricked out with Havoc Missle launchers. These are dedicated to anti-infantry. However, they can also deal with light armour. They are supported by two units of 2 Obliterators which can switch back and forth between anti-infantry and anti-tank. I think those are solid choices.

Here is where I am unsure of my picks. First, I want to include a vindicator. With the two rhinos and the oblits, I think I have enough of a target rich environment to risk this thing on the field. While the template weapon is good for mass infantry, I am not so certain how this will preform against armour heavy armies. But then, I would have to play test it, wouldn't I? Secondly, I am not sure how to handle my HQ. I want to try a Tzeentch Daemon Prince with Bolt of Change. The idea being it will take care of any nasty surprises that deploy close to my troops and it can fire at approaching armour. But he has a target on his head the size of the vindicator...which is not necessarily a bad thing. I want target rich environments against shooty armies.

Anyway, so far I have the two units painted (but need autocannons instead of plasma/flamers) and the daemon prince almost done. I have the two rhinos and three obilterators. I need to convert an add on for my third rhino to change it into a vindicator and somehow find a fourth obliterator.





I have also done some work on my terminators. I want to complete a unit first though and see how they look together. With the advent of the Blood Angels codex, I also may change my terminator army idea if I can fit them into a blood angel army....that Saguinary angel looks goooooooood. And this is what I like about having an army to play with already, any secondary armies are just about the models, not about the game.

Change of Direction - Praise Tzeentch

Changed directions a bit...
Ever since I picked up all these terminators, I couldn't stop painting them. However, they are loyalists. So, in order to feature them on this blog, I switch the blogs purpose. All 1 of my followers must be devastated and I hope they can come to terms with this new focus. That being said, Ill have to post some pics of my termies soon. I'll also need some organization to what exactly I should be posting rather than spewing words on the page like a literary sewer drain.

Shameless Plug

I have since been side tracked by several time consuming activities, among which is included that annoying necessity of real life. However, since I do not see that being over any time soon, I will have to encourage myself to make the time for warhammer.

Admittedly, I have also been distracted by by creation of a loyalist *gasp* space marine terminator army. Having come into the possession of two boxes worth of Space Hulk Terminators, I was compelled by forces beyond my control to create a terminator force out of them. That has taken up the majority of my conversion and painting time....maybe I should start a blog about it.

Speaking of starting blogs, I have joined a project called mini-a-week. Along with several other severely deranged persons, I have taken up the challenge to paint 1 miniature every week for a year....yikes! Apart from the fact that I do not know WHAT I was thinking, it sounds like a fun and rewarding experience. Should I survive, I'll have a bunch of painted miniatures. It is not solely dedicated to GW products, but I'll forgive them for that. Hey, I will even throw in some non-GWs myself. If you want to, check it out at http://weeklyminis.blogspot.com/

See ya there.