The Unthinkable, Part 3

Over the weekend, I painted the Marines from the blister pack I picked up the previous weekend. These are two really nice models to paint, although I couldn't quite figure out what was going on with the Librarian's hair (psychic hood?). I like how the standard bearer turned out too, still have to enlist Conscript Brian to make a banner for me. I even saw him on the weekend but forgot to ask!

I painted the Librarian in the Sigmar VI Insurgency Force camo that the rest of the army sports. The blue shoulder pad is a nod to later interpretations of the Codex Astartes - but I can confirm that in the Rogue Trader days at least, Librarians wore the same colour armour as their illiterate battle-brethren. I think the sword looks better with the gaps on the back edge filled in.

Painting eyes now - when will the madness end? I think these two are the only Marines in the army with purity seals modelled on, as well. Makes sense as they are "late-RT" or early second-edition models. Fortunately the power armour and boltgun on the standard bearer are the RT-pattern so he fits in nicely with the rest.

So that's these two done - I'll post more pics when the standard is fitted. In other RT news, further to the Poll on the main page, I've ordered Dreadnoughts (yes that's plural...)  :-) 

The Unthinkable, part 2

 

That's right, not only have I desecrated a twenty-year-old Warhammer 40K blister pack, I've converted one of the figures!!! I really didn't need another captain, but my Howling Griffons do need a bearer for the battle Company Standard, so I cut off the power sword and added a banner staff. I think I'll enlist Conscript Brian (in his guise as proprietor of Vaubanner Graphics) to create a suitable standard.

I had to do some greenstuff work on the Librarian too, as his sword was miscast. I guess there's no complaining to GW for quality control issues on models this old, is there?

Oh, and are Space Marine Librarians always supposed to have blue power armour? I'm about to hit the books to research this... nothing in Chapter Approved: The Book of the Astronomican, but I'll also check the 40K Compendium and Compilation. Oh, and the Internet too, if it comes to that ;-) 

Armies on Parade - Howling Griffons Rogue Trader Marines

As threatened, yesterday I took the lads out into the yard for an impromptu photo shoot of my entire RT Howling Griffons Space Marine army. Not quite to the level of Fred Reed yet, but unlike Fred's, mine are all metal ;-)

Here's the commander. Haven't gooten a name for him yet. I do have an unpainted Perry twins' Imperial Commander diorama that I'm planning to paint as Orlando Furioso, Chapter Master. In camouflage of course!! Behind him stand the Chaplain, Apothecary, and a Space Marine Tech Support trooper.

Here's the Terminator squad, with Devastators behind.

Brother Marines.

Rhino 5 with Space Marine tank rider.

Newly painted Landspeeder, all metal of course ;-)

The amazing changing AFV... one minute it's a Rhino, the next minute a Predator (see below)... right now it's a Razorback with twin lascannons. Resin turret is from Puppets War in Poland. Great stuff.

Assault squad with insane turbofan jump packs from Max Mini.

Commander on bike, with power fist of course!

More of the Brother marines.

Land Raider Armoured Proteus with a new commander model, converted from a metal Space Marine.

Landspeeder again. I love this model. So... Rogue Trader-y.

Rhino/Razorback with Predator turret.

Overhead shot of the lads. Can hardly wait to get them all out for a 6th Edition game. Must be 1500 points here easy - on a point-per-weight basis anyway!! Still a bit to add though - I'm thinking Dreadnought(s). Modern style? FW Contemptor? Mr. Peanut? Watch for a new poll question!

Howling Griffons 40K Rogue Trader Reinforcements!

After an exciting game against Greg's Tau a couple weeks ago, I've been blasting away at some reinforcements for my Howling Griffons Space Marine army. The army is "all metal" and consists almost exclusively of models from what is for me the Golden Age of Citadel Miniatures - the late 1980s. I make a certain exception for the new Land Raider Armoured Proteus from Forge World, of course, and wouldn't discount the possibility of adding a Contemptor dreadnought or the like, but as far as the army goes, I like to field essentially what could've been on the table in the early days of Rogue Trader.
 

Which brings me to this update... a few months ago I found an incomplete Space Marine "Black Shadow" bike in a bits box at the FLGS. Bought it for cheap (as you do) hoping that I'd come across the bits required to complete it. I've now given up hope that this will happen and resolved to scratch-build the required parts.

You can see half an ammo drum on the back, with an Imperial sigil plate (part of an IG ammo box I think) along with the rider's holstered bolt pistol and an ammo pouch.

At the front I used a piece of thick florist's wire for handlebars, and cut up a smoke launcher for the gauge pod. A launcher barrel was placed on either side of the pod (brake and clutch master cylinders, maybe?) and a headlight bucket was made of greenstuff.

Here's the finished model - the mounted Captain with power fist. I was torn between whether to give him a bolt pistol or the power fist... my wife thought the fist looked tougher and I agree ;-)

The model was painted in my standard HG scheme - Iyanden Darksun and Dark Flesh camo, washed with copious Devlan Mud. Metal parts are Boltgun Metal/Badab Black and gold craft paint/Devlan Mud. As these models were sometimes known in the catalog as the "Vincent Black Shadow" I added tiny tank badges on either side. Headlight is just white for now - any ideas on how to finish it??

I think he turned out OK, I'm just waiting on some more HG decals to complete the model. I'm looking forward to smiting enemies of the Emperor with a drive-by fisting ;-)

Also on the table were a bunch more Griffons infantry, all painted in the "Sigmar VI Insurgency Force" camo scheme. Certainly enough lascannons here to wipe the smile off a Guard tanker's mug...

Next is an assault squad with jump packs from Maxmini.eu. I dig the huge turbofan look. These guys are considered to be armed with bolt pistols and close combat weapons, and one plasma pistol and power fist.

Even painted the eyes on a couple of these frothing maniacs...

Here's an unusual model - RT Marine with flamer.

A group of regular grunts armed with bolters and autoguns (!) plus the previously pictured flamer.

This is a conversion of the mohawked assault trooper with the plasma pistol shown above. His head was replaced with a plastic RTB-01 "beaky" helmet and the hand flamer swapped out for a bolter from the RTB-01 frame - thanks Greg!

The newly-recruited reinforcements en masse, ready for a progenoid-gland inspection. They need to have their Griffon shoulder pad decals applied but are otherwise ready for battle.

I also painted a couple of crew figures for the Land Raider. Above is a modern Marine crewman with a pintle-mounted multi-melta. Crew figure and weapon are one piece and lift straight out of the cupola.

If I want to go old-school I can use a plastic Marine crewman I converted.

Ready to rock and roll - maybe it will last longer than one turn in the next game???

Anyway, that's the 40K update for now. I've got two more Rhinos primed and ready for the paint shop, and a Razorback turret is on the way from Puppets War to finish, and at that point I reckon the army will exceed 1500 points easily, maybe even 2K.

I know that the army is by no means "optimized" (not a meltagun to be found, sheesh) but I just love the character (and heft!) of the old metal RT models. Even if it's not super-competitive in today's 40K scene, at least the army looks cool and is different, and for me, that's what the 40K aesthetic is all about.

The Proteus Diet - 40k Battle Report

Land Raider Proteus makes a tabletop debut

To mark the visit of Conscript Sean M from parts out east we squeezed some extra gaming with a pair of 40k 6th Edition games.  My most recent experience playing 40k was typically horrible, but what the heck?  For a change of pace I rolled out with my Tau - a collection of figures I painted over 10 years ago.  Dallas brought out his Howling Griffons retro "beakie" Marines, and Dave V brought his Eldar.

Table just before deployment - the artifact is in the middle, by the crossroads

During our previous game, Dave V mentioned that the Tau were pretty vicious to deal with in the current edition of the rules.  I haven't played a game using the Tau for like....I'm not even sure - maybe eight years? If a 40k expert like Dave V is concerned about the Tau, then there absolutely must be something there, so I figured it would be fun to wheel them out for the current edition. He was right...

Fire Warriors prepare to take out pretty much anything with their high power weapons

We played 1000 point games on a 6' x 4' table.  Up first I played Dallas' Marines.  The scenario involved capturing an old relic from the centre of the table.  My force included six Crisis suits, two Broadside suits, a small unit of four drones, and two squads of twelve Fire Warriors.  Dallas had two squads in Rhinos, a squad of Terminators, and his brand spanking new Land Raider Proteus (click here for a post showing some excellent WIP shots on this outstanding project by Dallas).

Broadside suit goes hunting

The Proteus advances, not expecting what comes next...

The game involved a lot (a lot) of casualties for the Marines.  The Tau are...broken.  The firepower of their basic troopers is sufficient to knock out Rhinos.  They put out a volume of high-AP fire that decimates armoured troops like Marines or Terminators.  The Crisis suits can move, fire, then move again.  The Broadside suits' rail guns have strength of 10, and AP1, and that really wreck vehicles.

More Fire Warriors in a wadi on the flank

Gun drones irritate the opponents - note the flaming Rhinos...

Tau Commander with Crisis suits

Dallas' outstanding Land Raider model suffered from an acute case of the "first-game-for-a-new-model-curse".  My Broadsides fired on it on our first turn, and we rolled vegas.  The Land Raider was reduced to a crater without firing a shot...ouch....about the only consolation to offer Dallas on that one is to assure him that at least the "curse game" is over with.

This crater was the Land Raider Proteus the top of the second turn...

Marine vehicles burn while the cheesebag Crisis suits hop around and cause trouble...

On the plus side for Dallas, despite a stack of casualties, it was a tie game.  The victory conditions revolved entirely around seizing the artifact, which Dallas' Marines did on the second turn, and held until the game ended, even as the smoking boots piled up around them. A very "Marine" ending.  The Tau got points for "first blood", for killing the enemy warlord, and for "line breaking".  The Marines got three points for holding the artifact.  Three points each.

The Crisis Suits had a successful "deep strike"

The Terminators looked great, but struggled to take down the pesky Tau...

After Dallas and I played, Sean took my Tau army out for a spin against Dave's Eldar.  Although they lasted only a little longer than my Elysians did, Sean's rolling wasn't much better than it had been during the Spearhead game earlier in the week. Dave V took some photos, so I'm sure he will post a report on that game.

The Marines hold to the bitter end - successfully!

Fire Warriors - so close, but so far away from the artifact

It was great to see Sean M once again.   And it was interesting to play 40k and not get completely killed before the game even starts.  But the Tau are out of control in this new edition of the rules.  Of course they "suck" at close combat, but close combat is not much of an issue when you have guns that mow down everything in sight.  And as for the Land Raider Proteus, I know it will be back...