Epic 30k Land Raiders

Some Land Raider tanks for Epic 30k action - these are "Armoured Proteus" variants.

I've been keen to get some more 30k stuff off of the painting desk, and not just titans, so here is a detachment of Land Raiders for Epic 30k. These are "Armoured Proteus" variants, and they are painted in the livery of the 14th Legion, the "Death Guard".

I tried to do the embossed legion logos on the doors some justice...was a bit tricky.

A view of the not-at-all-carbon-neutral emission systems.

These had been sitting in the "primed and basecoated" pile of shame for about a year or so...anyway, I thought it best to get them finished off, as I have not painted much Epic 30k stuff for some time, and I feel like it might be time to change that up!

The Land Raider is an iconic piece of Space Marine kit.

Lascannons and heavy bolters galore, plus some troop-carrying capacity.

Not a lot to add in this poost...the painting approach was pretty basic, but it was nice to get some practice in on these sorts of models again. Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!

Other Long Weekend Painting Bits - Epic 30k Falchion

An Epic 30k Falchion-class super-heavy tank for the Death Guard.

I meant to follow up Part 1 of my Thanksgiving Weekend painting-fest sooner, but other things got in the way, and in the meantime, Mike and Dallas had some great stuff to share, and I wanted to let their posts stay top shelf for a few days. In particular, it's great to see some of the other folks here tipping over into the new Adeptus Titanitcus...great stuff!

Quad lascannons on the sponsons in addition to the huge friggin' main cannon.

This post doesn't have too much to share - while I was working away at that Canadian mechanized infantry platoon for "Team Yankee", I also pulled this out of the huge "soon-to-be-painted-which-turned-into-months-of-waiting-while-primed" pile I have downstairs - this is an Epic 30k Falchion super-heavy tank.  It is painted in the colours of the XIV Legion, the "Death Guard".  I have not painted an Epic 30k tank in some months, and knocking this off gave my brushes something to do while waiting for the Agrax Earthshade to dry on all of those Canadian models.

"Let's power up for that kill shot..."

I had painted three friends for this guy back during Curt's most recent edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, but for some reason I didn't finish this thank even though it had been prepped and primed at the same time as the other three.  Who knows what distraction caused my squirrel brain to move on.  Whatever the cause, this tank sat primed and based, waiting for paint, since January of this year.

The Falchion is a "super-tank-destroyer" among the ranks of the Space Marine Legions' super-heavy tanks.  It's got a giant super cannon which can knock out opposing super-heavies, and even enemy Titans, in just one shot.  And in keeping with the design-to-overkill tradition of the Space Marine Legions, it also has two batteries of quad-lascannons mounted on sponsons.  I suppose the crew use those for sport in between blasts from the main battery.

Death Guard super-heavies on maneuvers in my kitchen.

So I now have an ominous-looking force of Epic 30k Death Guard - to join Byron's fantastic collection of Epic 30k Death Guard :) If nothing else, we'll be all set for a major confrontation between Space Marine heavy tank companies!

Isstvan Clash - 30k Sons of Horus vs. Death Guard

Byron's Death Guard jet bikes prepare to make their stand amid the ashes of Isstvan III.

Back in the fall, I was itching to get a game of Epic 30k in, and Byron was kind enough to oblige me.  Through this time my hobby mojo has still really been "in" to the broad 30k setting and the Horus Heresy (whether through Adeptus Titanicus, Epic or with the standard scale). So last week I was really keen to play a game of 30k in standard scale (using the fan-created 8th edition rules). Once again Byron was ready and willing to participate.

The battle lines are drawn - the glorious legions of Horus Lupercal assembled on the left side of the photo, while rag-tag pro-Emperor terrorists clog the table on the right side...

Byron has an excellent collection of 30k Death Guard (seen throughout this blog, and on Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge blog), and it is always fun to see those beautiful figures on the table.  They are a fine demonstration of Byron's great skill not only with his airbrush, but with the various filters/coats that he has used to achieve a very chipped and worn effect that looks absolutely fabulous.  Byron brought his lads over last Thursday night for a game.

Byron has done a fine job on his Death Guard collection.  Note the Volkite Culverins on that heavy support squad. Volkite weapons are not quite what they were in the 7th edition, but still...OUCH. 

My Praetor (white cloak, centre) prepares to lead the attack. 

I set the scenario on the ruined world of Isstvan III, location of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy and site of one of the Warmaster's most notorious atrocities clever victories.  In this battle, Horus and his fellow rebel commanders have kicked off their betrayal fight for freedom by trying to purge their own Legions of those who would not toe the line.  As such, on Isstvan III you can have intra-legion conflicts that would pit forces otherwise associated with a unified front against the Emperor against each other instead.

The Death Guard lines await contact...

In the story of the Horus Heresy, the initial wave of Death Guard had been sent down to take out the main defences on the outskirts of the Isstvan III capital city (known as the "Choral City").  Warned of the impending betrayal by Captain Garro, many of these Death Guard troops on the surface raced to seal themselves up in bunkers and fortifications they had just captured from the rebels. They survived the virus bombardment, and once the bombardment subsided, emerged on the ruined surface of the planet...as Horus landed troops to finish off these pockets of survivors, the Death Guard made an effort to move into the ruins of the Choral City and join up with the survivors from the other legions and simply hold out as long as they could. 

XVI Legion prepares to move out.  Note the heavy support squad hunkered behind the Rhino...they would have a disappointing outing...

So for our game last week, Byron's Death Guard forces would represent loyal marines who, having suppressed the rebellious regime on Isstvan III, were then betrayed and abandoned on the surface, bombarded from space and,  once it was clear they had managed to heroically endure said bombardment, were subjected to a ground assault...at a power level of 90, his forces represented a blocking force, looking to hold out while larger groups of their comrades escape to join fellow surviving loyalists in the Choral City. 

A 20-man tactical squad races forward. 

Contemptor dreadnought spearheads an assault, and a 15-man assault squad prepares to join the action. 

I assembled a similar power level force from the Sons of Horus, tasked with smashing these delusional followers of the so-called "Emperor" and preventing them from linking up with other survivors to perpetrate further acts of reactionary pro-Imperial terrorism...for rules, we used the fan-created 30k 8th edition stats and lists.  Remember that GW made the (somewhat bewildering) decision not to formally do an 8th edition for 30k...but the 30k community filled that gap in like...five minutes? Anyway, they did fine work, and we took advantage of this.

Death Guard jet bikes arrive to help stabilize the loyalist line...

And look, this game wasn't complicated.  Work was busy for both of us, and we were not about to tax our minds with a complicated game. This was a nice line-em-up, light-em-up game! My brave and honourable troops of the XVI Legion moved as quickly as possible to get to grips with craven Horus-deniers on the other side.  Surely we would wipe them from the table?

Well, not so much...over four turns of 30k mayhem, both sides pounded each other to pieces.  My 15-man assault squad and my kill-stealing very brave Praetor were the stars of the game for the Sons of Horus.  Of course, only two models were still around from that assault squad by the end of the game, but they did good work.  The Sons of Horus Praetor, for his part, cut down (or, depending on your perspective, "kill-stole") quite a few enemy tactical marines, before using his plasma pistol to score the final wound against one of Byron's Contemptor dreadnoughts...which duly EXPLODED! Mortal wounds all around!  Great stuff!  The Praetor eventually succumbed to combined fire from surviving loyalists. Having fallen bravely in the Warmaster's honour, his name will be inscribed on some motivational deck plate somewhere on Horus' ship, the Vengeful Spirit.

The XVI Legion Praetor..."edges in" *cough* to help in the close assault...

On the "needs improvement" file, I was excited of course to debut my new Sicaran combat tank.  But this was a newly-painted vehicle and...well, it went the way of newly-painted vehicles.  The Sicaran cannons shot up of lots of loyalists, but in the end my tank was blasted to bits.

The Death Guard dreadnought has just one wound remaining...the Sons of Horus Praetor draws a bead with his deadly plasma pistol, and...

KABOOM! Where did everyone go? Mortal wounds all around, including a couple on the Praetor himself...

The biggest disappointment was my heavy support squad with lascannons.  I was counting on those guys to take down some of Byron's heavy armour, but the only thing they managed to knock out was their own sense of self-worth...awful rolling...back to school for them!

Boy...that 15-man assault squad sure took a beating...

For Byron's side, his collection is tremendous, but in particular I just LOVED the jet-bike squad. He has them mounted on custom pill-shaped flying bases, and they look SUPER COOL. We found the rules penalized them a bit (the penalties for shooting heavy weapons when moving are a deterrent to zipping around the table - that seemed odd) but oh man they were neat on the table - and tough to bring down!

Surviving members of Byron's heavy support squad look to mop up a few more of their betrayers...

There were very few models remaining on either side when the game concluded - very apropos for 30k in my opinion. The loyalists payed a dear price, while Horus would surely rage at the heavy losses and delay incurred in what should have been a boring "mop-up" operation! Time for some new commanders in the Legion! I would say it was a loyalist victory.

Thanks again to Byron for the game - I just love the 30k setting, and it was great fun to push some Legion stuff around the table once again.  Hopefully Isstvan III will be a setting we can return to again soon.

An Epic 30k Skirmish - Imperial Fists Fold...

Blast markers abound in an Epic 30k confrontation at Byron's place last week!

Games Workshop has recently re-released the game "Adeptus Titanicus".  As a long, long time fan of GW's long-abandoned "Epic" games and the 30k setting, news of the return of "Adeptus Titanicus" stirred many feelings.  I'll probably share/rant about those in another post. But more than anything, news of the release made me, first and foremost, want to get a game of Epic 30k in! I haven't played the setting or scale in many months, and back from my summer at the lake, I was keen to play a game - Byron M was kind enough to host and oblige last week.  Here are some pictures of the game.

For rules we used the "Epic: Armageddon" version of Epic, and stats from this amazing Epic 30k wiki. The scenario was not at all complex - a meeting engagement of two opposing detachments. Byron brought his lovely Epic 30k Death Guard to the table, while I played the part of the "loyalist" fools, deployment a force of Imperial Fist Legion Space Marines.  There were no Titans in the game, but each side had a couple of super-heavy Legion tanks backing up their forces.  The objectives were brutally simple - break the other force! The first side to have five detachments broken would lose...

Initial deployments taking shape...the Death Guard seem to be moving right into my trap *cough* (that's the official version I'll report to Malcador later...)

The first turn looked good for the Imperial Fists, as Byron struggled with his command rolls and so my forces were able to get a bit of a jump on the Death Guard.  Little did I suspect this would be the high-point for the Sons of Dorn...

Here is an ominous sight...Death Guard Spartan troop carriers, backed by a deadly Glaive super heavy tank...

Fellblade, Flachion and Dreadnoughts advance on the Death Guard flank.

In subsequent turns, Byron's evil dice mojo returned, with amazing saving throws, solid command rolls and other sinister benefits (no doubt derived from his forces' devotion to the great Warmaster, Horus Lupercal).  Meanwhile, I whiffed on command rolls, rolls to hit, rolls to save...you know, ALL THE ROLLS YOU NEED TO MAKE.  Sigh.

VII Legion armoured forces move out - Falchion providing cover at the top of the photo.

Falchion barely lumbering forward, thanks to failed command rolls on my part. Oh well. What could go wrong?

My Fellblade detachment wrecked some serious sh*t, blasting the Death Guard Sicaran tank detachment to tiny pieces. But that was it for meaningful success. Among many low points, the worst for me was the moment I thought I had Byron's assault marines dead to rights: surrounded by my Sicaran tanks, I was certain all of those Herakles auto cannons and heavy bolters would ventilate those sad Sons of Barbarus...but, no, Byron had blazing hot saving throws and...

Stars of the show for me - Fellblades, oh yeah!!

Spartans move ahead, carrying a detachment of tactical marine aboard.

And so...my Land Raiders broke, then my Spartans, then my Predators were blasted to pieces, then then one of my tactical detachments was broken in an assault carried out by the Death Guard assault marines who should have been misted by my Sicarans...the final blow came when my Falchion was blasted to particles...VII Legion suddenly remembered a meeting they needed to attend off world, and beat a hasty retreat, leaving the table to the victorious Death Guard.

Battle is joined - Death Guard Sicaran tanks halt my advancing spearheads...although the Fellblades (top right of the photo) will soon make short work of them...

The mendacious assault marines of the Death Guard.

Old Skool Predator tanks of the Death Guard move on through a drop pod LZ.

Another view of Byron's fine Sicaran tank detachment.

Near final dispositions (the only thing yet to happen before my defeat is the obliteration of my Falchion super heavy tank, seen hiding out near the middle bottom of the photo).

This game was a lot of fun, and again a reminder of just how excellent the "Epic: Armageddon" rules system can be.  The current editions of 30k/40k are such a morass, it is easy to forget that GW did release so many fun and excellent rules, "Epic: Armageddon" being foremost among them.  The rules reflect the character and "fluff" of the factions very well. And the 30k setting is just such a favourite of mine, so this was a great time. I hope to organize another Epic 30k game soon.

Byron's 4th, 5th and 6th Painting Challenge Submission - Greeks, Death Guard, and Mechanicum

I promised myself that this year I wouldn't fall behind in keeping up the cross posting to my home blog here for the painting challenge, but have once again fell behind anyway. So, time to catch up with everything...

The 4th entry I put in this year was more 30k Death Guard to expand my force so that I can contribute more to our groups rather large number of 30k battles that rage at least monthly.

I have a pile of figures to get done for the 30k version of the Death Guard this year, including several transports as my force so far has been almost exclusively foot based with little mobility.  However, before getting onto that, I needed to get some more infantry done (mainly due to the fact that I want to do all the vehicles at once and ran out of chipping solution so am waiting for it to arrive).

 

My 5th entry was a continuation of my Greek project, with another unit of Warlord (Immortal) Greeks, as well as a command stand of Spartans.

The command stand is made up of a pack of metal Spartans from Warlord and the quality is much better than the plastics.  Even though they still managed to get the arms wrong.  The arms are once again in a throwing motion, rather than an arm over spear for thrusting motion.  Oh well...  since I am painting a lot of the figures that have leather armour as if they had bronze armour, I probably shouldn't complain that much about things that most people wouldn't notice anyway.

I spent a lot more time on these, doing more blending and more highlights, which don't really show up in the pictures, but show up in person.  My thought being that the command stands will be looked at closer than the mass infantry units and should therefore get a bit more attention.

I then moved onto a second unit of Greeks, that are un-armoured.

Once again since they are meant for mass effect on the tabletop, they got a fairly basic treatment.  I blocked in colours, washed, then highlighted.  I then went over the shields and painted various colours and then applied decals.  After that is was a simple matter of basing them and they were done.  Not fancy but effective I think. 

So another 18 Greeks done, only about 200 left to go...

My sixth submission was more Castellax Class Battle-Automata and a transport for my 30k Death Guard. The Castellax were armed with multi-meltas, flamers, and close combat saw blades this time around.

The bases are hand made using liquitex, cork board, cut up sprue, guitar wire, and copper pipe bits.  I tried to give them an urban rubble look without going overboard as I find a lot of cast resin rubble bases have too much on them and you wonder how the hell the model is moving through it.

I also kept with the blue glow as a colour accent to keep in theme with the last batch, even though I tend to think of melta as a red/orange glow.  My thought being that it just would look like more of the same base red armour colour if I did that.

Next up is a Death Guard Anvillus pattern drop pod that I had started doing up for this weeks "flight" theme just in case I didn't get the piece that I really wanted to get done completed.  I did though, so here is the drop pod as a regular submission.

The drop pod was painted the same way I have been doing all of my Death Guard vehicles, making heavy use of Mig products.  I base coated it black, applied chipping solution, painted the off white colour with an airbrush and then once dry wet it with water and started chipping the paint off.  It gives a completely random and organic look to it, you just have to give up control though as you can go light or hard on the brushing to control it a bit, but sometimes it just comes off in big sections and sometimes it sticks and you can't get any chips, so you just go with it.  I then apply decals and clear coat it, then come back with Mig streaking products and oil brushers and make it a mess with multiple different browns, blacks, and rust colours.  Apply a bit of each, let set for a bit, then use thinner or white spirits to spread it around and cause the streaks, or to clean up areas that got to much.

There we go, a whole pile of stuff off my painting shelf, but I already have it filling up again as stuff comes in to replace it.
 

Byron's 1st Painting Challenge Entry

Here is the first entry from this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  A Nurgle rhino and a pair of Tohaa from Infinity.  The painting process on the Rhino was pretty slow on due to the large number of washes involved.

First up is a Nurgle Death Guard rhino for my 40k force.  The rhino started out as a used kit from a friend that no longer wanted it, so it was already painted for Khorne.  That didn't matter a whole lot as anything being used for Nurgle needs about a metric tonne of green stuff before its ready anyway.

Here are some photos of the green stuff work done after ripping off the doors.

I was trying to make this match an older piece so that it fits with the army I painted probably 5-6 years ago, so it has no fancy chipping solution or grime solutions added as I started doing that all after painting this army.  The base colours were all done with an airbrush and went super fast.  I think it was less than 20 minutes to get the green and all the shading done, then the slow part started.

What took so long with the rhino was the fact that all of the pustule areas are just painted bone white and then layered with sepia, green, red, yellow, and blue washes in various areas to build up the sick looking colour shades.  Each layer had to sit and dry before the next, making it a slow process.

Next up are two Infinity figures from the Tohaa faction, affectionately known as the Artichoke heads, and I think you can see why.   These two are Sukeul Commandos, and I have been needing at least one of them for a long while. 

The one with the rifle is yielding a K1 rifle, which has a special type of ammo that can hurt anything 60% of the time.  No matter if it is a weak base trooper or a mighty TAG (Dreadnought) it is always a 60% chance to hurt them, which is damn strong since a normal rifle in the game has a less than 20% chance to hurt a TAG.  Since to many players have been fielding TAGs lately, I needed something to help out against them in my force.

I took her to my game last night, and off course, basic rifle troops did more damage to the enemy TAG than she did..... figures, right?

Both the Rhino and the Tohaa were fun little starter pieces for the challenge, but now its onto some of the larger projects.