Sons of Horus Heavy Armour for LI

Let's roll for hope! XVI Legion Astartes Land Raiders and Kratos tanks. 

Getting back to the steady accumulation of painted models for GW's new "Legions Imperialis" game. Here we have a small selection of armour painted in the colors of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. These are all multi-part plastic kits from GW's new LI model range. 

Land Raiders

Sons of Horus Land Raider, with a commander in the cupola, useful way of marking a "command tank" should such a designation be required.

The lack of Land Raiders in the Legions Imperialis starter box was just baffling - just one of many baffling GW decisions related to this game. But the models did get released eventually, and credit where credit is due - they are marvelous. Are they small and fiddly to assemble? Well, yes. But this "Epic", after all, so that kind of goes with the territory. If you don't enjoy small models...well, no worries, we all have our preferences!

But if you do like this scale and this setting, I think you will really love these models. The Land Raider is a classic Space Marine tank, and it's great to have some of these for the new collection. The details are just fantastic. I won't claim assembly was "fun" - but then, I am not a patient model builder! I can say, however, that painting these up was fun.

Another view of the models showing some of the engine exhaust and top decking detail.

Rules for these vehicles are NOT available in the starter box rule books (f***ing twats - back to baffling decisions, but I digress). They came out in a specific Beta-Garmon supplement for LI. But from what I can tell, Land Raiders appear to be available only as a troop-carrying option? If true, that is just...dumb...but it is easily ignored for games among friends, so not the end the of the world. 

Kratos Tanks

Some big guns on big tracks for the Sons of Horus.

The Kratos - it is the big "new" tank for the Space Marines of the Horus Heresy/Age of Darkness setting. Maybe it isn't "new" anymore, but it still feels "new" to an old grognard like me! 

Once more, a commander in one of the cupolas.

Again, the detail on these models is remarkable. Is it fun or easy to assemble such small bits? I guess it depends on what you find "fun" about the hobby. For me, it was a challenge, but worth it in the end. These are remarkable little kits, and a game like "Legions Imperialis" will provide the right scale to deploy groups of them on a table. 

These are very small modes, of course...but the quality of the kits overall is really something. 

My painting for this new game has been...well, let's just describe the pace as "relaxed". Even though I am very keen to try the game, I just haven't been that quick to get a lot of stuff painted. For all that, the Sons of Horus are coming along nicely, and I now have a "legal" force painted up, with a "Demi-company" at the core, and a variety of supporting vehicles to chip in. Add in some Knights or a Warhound Titan, and they are more than set for a game. Just need to get some more Loyalists finished off...watch this space. 

That's all for now - thanks for reading, and hope you are having a nice summer wherever you are. 

Cultist and Morka-Porkas

More progress on my Forbidden Psalm/Frostgrave project. I finished a group of 13 cultists from Northstar and 5 Dire Boars from Reaper. The Dire Boars are from the Bones line and made in that weird siocast plastic. I primed them with brush on primer as I’ve read that aerosol primer can be problematic on siocast miniatures. The detail is pretty good and they paint up nicely. Forbidden Psalm uses a beast called a Morka-Porka which is basically a giant pig. You need several of them in a scenario, so I painted up 5 of them. Unfortunately they only have one pose, but Reaper Bones models are fairly cheap which I judged to be a more important quality.

The cultist box is great and comes with a wide variety of weapons and other parts. They also include a few skeleton heads and arms so you can build a few undead models. Those should be showing up here soon!

Thanks for visiting.

Grimdark Future Game with 15mm Space Marines!

A couple weeks back I was fortunate enough to be in Toronto for work, and got to drop in on Conscript Greg for a delicious dinner and a game. Greg had planned a very cool 15mm 40K game using the "Grimdark Future One-Page Rules" and I'd brought along the 15mm Blood Drinkers Space Marines I'd painted in the most recent Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. So for both his Sons of Horus and my Space Marines, this was their first tabletop outing. LET'S GOOOOO!!!

Greg had set up the three-objective scenario described in the OPR Grimdark Future ruleset. The objectives were pretty evenly spaced down the middle of the table, with the Blood Drinkers coming on from the left long edge and the Sons of Horus from the right. Greg had picked up some really cool new terrain when we were at Meeplemart earlier that day - some prepainted scale-agnostic desert stuff from GF9. It looked just as good with the 15mm Marines as it will with 28mm models! 

The forces were pretty evenly matched - I had three Rhinos (each with a 10-man tac squad in it) and a Land Raider with the command squad and a couple extra Marines. Greg had two Rhinos full of Marines and two Land Raiders ditto (one of them was actually a Spartan model standing in). My cunning plan was to leave the rightmost objective to Greg and try and take the left and centre ones. Above you can see the objective just behind my Rhino.

                                        

The Marines deployed from the Rhino just in front of the objective and awaited contact with the Sons of Horus.

This happened quite quickly as the Sons rocked up and with the help of the Land Raider, wiped out most of the squad. 

The battle in the centre turned into a general fracas with my Land Raider and many Sons of Horus assets becoming engaged. Greg had already grabbed the rightmost objective and the scenario rules dictated that once an objective is obtained, it stays under control until the enemy grabs it. This allowed troops to roll over objectives and not have to worry about leaving a unit behind to hold it, as long as the enemy couldn't reach it themselves.

Here's a good view of the centre. Lots of combat and death here! But keep in mind that the objective itself is behind the Blood Drinkers Rhino at top left...

Endgame in the centre. Unfortunately for the Sons of Horus they just couldn't wipe out the Blood Drinkers and get to the objective. The centre holds for the sons of Sanguinius.

Meanwhile over on the Blood Drinkers' left, a Rhino got blown up by Greg's Land Raider. The passengers bailed out and started movement towards the objective on the hill, just visible at top middle.

The other Blood Drinkers Rhino and missile launcher/meltagun wielding Marines managed to take out the Sons' Land Raider and caused a bailout. The Marines from the destroyed Rhino at bottom started to move towards the objective.

The command squad moved up to intercept the Marines moving toward the objective, but were defeated by the Blood Drinkers.

So that was basically the game, a Blood Drinkers victory, two objectives to one. I quite liked the ruleset and the game fairly rocketed along, lots of stuff died quickly, including the vehicles. Opinions may differ on how those are treated, in the rules as written even bolter fire can chip away at Rhinos and Land Raiders. I don't mind that, because bolters are supposed to fire mass-reactive explosive shells and there's no reason why vehicles would be totally immune to those. But it's something to keep in mind if you have a strong feeling the other way.

My thanks to Greg for setting up the game and for a great visit. It was fun to try out the Grimdark one-page rules and to get our 15mm Space Marines out for their first games!

Fantasy Sampler

 I haven’t posted in a while so I figured I’d show you what I’ve been working on lately. I initially started working on my old world Warhammer Empire Army. I’ve been using Wargames Atlantic conquistador infantry as my Empire State troops. The models are great and easy to paint. The torso are in one piece so all you have to do is attach the arms with the appropriate weapon. I finished a unit of spearman and halberdiers on 25mm bases. I also finished two great cannons and a mortar that are from Gamezone Miniatures in resin. I was in the process of finishing the crew, but decided to pivot and start working on various models I’ve collected for several fantasy skirmish games. I picked up rules for Frostgrave, and forbidden psalm a while ago, but got discouraged by the need for various monsters and beasts to complement the games. I was inspired to give it another try after playing in Dallas’s dungeon crawl murder hobo game he put on at Prairie Con. The murder hobo fits perfectly in the Forbidden Psalm lore. They would also make a pretty good faction for an evil Frostgrave war band. Both Frostgrave and Forbidden psalm require a large group of models to act as a beastiary and I’m challenging myself to work through a large collection models as quickly as possible to make up this beastiary. I’ll have to find the right compromise between quality and quantity, as well as efficient time use. 

My first experiment is with Hero Quest goblins which will act as generic goblins for the various games. I used contrast paints and managed to paint them up very quickly. They won’t be winning any awards, but they’re basically just game pieces so it’s not worth painting them to a higher standard.

Primarily from Otherworld Miniatures. The scarecrow is from Northstar.

A mix of bits from GW, Northstar, Mantic Games and a HorrorClix werewolf.

United for a Frostgrave warband 

Very old Hero Quest goblins painted with contrast paints from GW.

Thanks for visiting!

Some "Beakies" For XII Legion Astartes

XII Legion Astartes tactical squad in Mark VI armour - chain bayonets solve problems!

Posting things to the blog...once you take a break, it's sure easy to keep taking a break! So I haven't posted in a while - insert the usual reasons of life, work being busy etc. But I have been managing to paint, and finally take a few photos of stuff, and at last I'm getting around to posting some of those photos. Let's get started on the catch-up with this Space Marine tactical squad. They are clad in Mark VI "beakie" power armour and wearing the colours of the XII Legion Astartes, the World Eaters. These are multi-part plastic figures from GW's "Age of Darkness" setting.

A couple of the new grunts.

Some detail of the rear legs and power packs.

I have been a Horus Heresy fan pretty much ever since GW came up with the story. I started collecting the 28mm figures from Forge World back in March of 2014, more than ten years ago! The Horus Heresy was just going to be a small project...? At any rate, the World Eaters were the first Legion that I painted in 28mm, and those few squads became the first of what has since grown into a large collection of Horus Heresy figures from different Legion in different scales...these days the Sons of Horus are the main rebel faction in my collection, but I still have my World Eaters. They have been neglected for years now - the last model they received was in January of 2017. 

It is a golden age of lovely plastic "beakie" Marines, and I figured my XII Legion collection should have the opportunity to get in on the action. In particular, I thought the chain-bayonet accessory would go well with the World Eaters' approach to warfare in the far future - so here we have a basic tactical squad, sporting those chain-bayonet that really stand out as a symbol of the darkly whacky vision of the future GW has created.

Officer sporting the common combo of whacky comb, power sword and plasma pistol - note his slightly odd left leg.

View of the Sergeant's great, and the back of the Vox operator's kit.

Painting white armour is always a bit tricky - especially when you haven't really done it for seven years, but I have to credit GW's "Apothecary White" Contrast paint as being particularly useful for working these fellows. I also opted to use a lighter/brighter shade of blue for an accents on the shoulder plates and power pack. Otherwise, they match the look of my older figures nicely - a little battle worn and dirty, but avoiding the absurd blood-covering-everything Flanderization so common to the general portrayal of the World Eaters in the lore and in the game.

There was also an adventure with the Sergeant...keen-eyed visitors will notice his left leg has a knee plate, which is not a feature of the Mk VI armour. Well, when assembling this model, I sort-of-accidentally cut the leg off during an imprudent removal of components from the plastic sprue...to address this, I cut a spare left leg off an unused set of Mk IV plastic legs...hence the knee plate and leg studs. Far from the smoothest conversion, but like so many conversions, it turned out OK once painted up!

Handy decals to provide a Legion symbol on the shoulder plate and leg greave.

So that is ten more Marines to join the next XII Legion mass infantry assault on the gaming table. Maybe they need an APC to carry them? Will have to see about that...anyway, that is all for now. Thanks for reading!

Conscripts at PrairieCon 43!

Well the Conscripts didn't have a ton of quantity at Prairiecon this year but I think we had good quality. The scheduling was a bit... unusual as there were too many games scheduled (lots got cancelled for lack of players signed up) but since I waited till the last minute as usual I only got one on the schedule - Otherworld Miniature Skirmish Dungeoncrawl, same as I ran years ago. I had five players for it (including Conscript Mike F), only one no-show.

Mike took the Orcs of the Porcine Visage and their buddy Phil, the two-headed Ettin. Unfortunately Phil met a sticky end at the hands of the Vampire gang and Mike's Orcs subsequently bottled out of the game.

I had a surprise in store for the players who made it to the Wizard's conjuring room at the centre of the dungeon... an "Eye Tyrant". Unfortunately while it used its Web spells to good effect, the pesky assassin with the crossbow was able to sneak out - twice - and killed the monster with shooting. Damn!

Anyway after the Eye Tyrant was killed the last two players battled it out for access to the treasure room. More shooting did for one of 'em but...

                                            
A "Wandering Monster" card was drawn in the treasure room and whoops! Giant spiders!!

Anyway Mike ran a game there too - "The Doomed"! It looked really cool, some post-Apocalyptic monster-hunting. The guys playing really had a blast and it seemed to come down to the last die-rolls!

 

On Friday night I ran an extra-curricular game of Lunar for founding Conscript Curt and his buddy Jeremy, who drove out from Regina.

Lunar is a really fun game and I think Curt and Jeremy had a good time. 

Curt also ran a beautiful game of Hametsu (also from Black Site Studios!). Curt did send me a pic he took of me and Jeremy with the table, the terrain and models were off the hook as usual for Mr. Curt :-)

Other than playing and running games I also put in a couple hours at the registration desk and auctioneered as usual. The Prairiecon auction is an institution - a great place to move along games you no longer play or pick up some that you think you might, someday. I think the oddest item this year was a copy of the Barney Miller board game. It got no bids as it crossed the block but I was told later that it sold. Somebody got a beauty there :-) But three hours of standing, waving around 10-lb Kickstarter boxes over my head, and constant loud talking (I ditched the mic as it wasn't working well) was plenty for me. But I always have fun doing it and will be back next time, if they'll have me.

See you in Brandon next year!