Tempestus Scions Command Squad

Tempestus Scions Command

Oh man - the "dog days" of summer are finally, finally here! The weather has been so bad for so long that I was starting to contemplate witchcraft, ritual magic, or perhaps the construction of a ziggurat for human sacrifice in order to placate the gods.  Thankfully, the warm weather associated with a Canadian prairie summer finally arrived a couple of weeks ago - with no human sacrifice required (this time...). 

My dogs Spencer (left) and Joey enjoying the dog days of summer in the back yard. They have the right idea!

With the lovely weather here at last, my painting volume has taken a total nose dive as I opt for being outside as much as possible. But I have still finished a few things here and there in quick bouts of painting after sundown.  Here is one of those little side efforts - a "Tempestus Scion" (i.e. Imperial Guard storm trooper) command section.

These models are from the new, dearly expensive GW Tempestus Scion box set. I started on a small group of these models a while back. You can use the box set to create either command models or standard troopers - they are listed separately on the web site, but it's the same set.

I find this box set to be fascinating reflection of GW's current gnarled c*ck state.  The amount of options you have for the figures is really something, and the detail and quality of the plastic sprue continues to impress.  There are helmets, berets, knives, a wide assortment of special weapons, grenades, swords, plasmas pistols...on and on! Not to mention the standard etc. The styling of the armour might not be for everyone, but as a I said before, these are really nice figures with many design elements that speak to both new and long-time Imperial Guard fans.

Officer and four troopers

At the same time, I can't imagine just how much time and effort had to be invested into providing so many different options on so much sprue for just five figures.  I mean, you even have what look to be laptop cases as accessories! There is a floating servo skull! How many of those am I going to need? Seriously...you couldn't find room for a couple more legs and torsos on there, huh?  GW - what a pack of douchebags.

But enough GW ranting for now.  There is already a lot of great content for that elsewhere on the Web, written much better than I can manage (see here for a great example).  Back to the figures!

The Scions can have a command squad with a senior officer and all of the little add-ons common to Imperial Guard formations since the Rogue Trader days.  You can ad a medic, a comms guy (ok, that is more second edition than Rogue Trader, but still, it's been around for a while) and a standard bearer.  I opted for berets on the command squad guys, leaving a more standard helmet on the melta gunner.

Standard bearer - skulls anyone? Sigh

The standard bearer is a tricky fellow - I will need to mount a washer inside his base to keep him from falling over.  I was pretty disappointed with the flag - much too full of skull BS for my tastes. I do enjoy markings cast directly on to flags, as they are fun to paint, but this one was a disappointment and a blank one would have been more fun (not that it always turns out better for me, but a blank flag would have been nicer than this silly skull design).

Medical trooper

The medic has the all-purpose medical kit, and a laser pistol with a little saw blade handy for amputations.  It seems in the grim darkness of the far future, every medical procedure will involve an amputation...

Lots of kit for these fellows to carry

The comms guy is a nice figure. And another example of just how exhaustive the bits are with this box, you get "hot-shot" lasguns in their protective sleeves for each of these special role troopers, to ensure your command squad can still fire with them in the event you are confronted by a WYSIWYG pedant.

Vox operator

I painted these mostly for collecting/fun. In game terms, this command squad is a rather amazing waste of points.  While the ability of the officer to issue orders is important, things like the standard bearer and the medic offer bonus abilities that are of no real use to your Tempestus Scions.  "Feel no pain" and a +1 to close combat resolution will not save these guys from anything.  The extra range provided by the vox caster is risible. A comms net measured in inches? I can get behind the retro-yet-super-advanced tech of the 40k setting, but come on!  It is particularly ridiculous when you see the advanced data slates/scanners etc. modeled right on the figures...

Nice model, but sort of pointless on the table - take a special weapon trooper instead!

The biggest negative of these special role figures all of these come at the expense of the special weapons that you will need if you are to have any hope of success in the game for your Scions. A useful command squad for a 40k game will have an officer an four troopers armed with the same special weapon - all flamers, or all melta guns.  The new "hot-shot" volley gun would be a good choice as well - an officer and four troopers with volley guns would pour out quite a bit of fire.

All of these guys were supposed to be ready in time for the game during Curt's visit...oh well.  I'm sure they will get another chance to deploy...

****
NOTE - Fawcett Blog visitor Admiral Drax offered a fine rant of his own on the utter stupidity of the vox rules, and I enjoyed it so much I think you should check it out here.  It's from 5th edition, but it still applies.  GW's ongoing inability to come up with decent, workable rules for simple things like this continues to astound.

"Target: Red Barun" - 40K Battle Report

Last week we were happy to welcome back "Founding Conscript" Curt, late of the Western Chapter. So what better way to celebrate than with a game of 40K ;-)

I kid, but only a little. We wanted to try the "new 40K" again to see if it would be as much fun as we thought it might be after the last game - plus Greg was looking for some redemption for his Valkyrie bunch.

So instead of using masses of cards and random scenarios, we decided to play a real narrative game. Old Imperial adversary "Da Red Barun" (above) has been raising Hell on Rynn's World, but the Imperial defenders haven't been able to locate his base. A patrol of abhuman veterans happens on the makeshift Ork airbase and calls in Valkyrie-borne reinforcements. The Barun himself is passed out from fungus intoxication, sleeping it off in the cockpit of his plane. The object of the game is seize da Barun, and the side in control of him at the end of the game gets 3 VPs. Victory points are also scored for Kill the Warlord, Linebreaker and First Blood, as usual. This IS 40K, after all ;-)
  

I laid out the terrain as an Imperial installation that's been captured and turned into an Ork airbase.

It was also the first chance I've had to use the cool Quonsets I picked up from the Dust range!

First turn and off we go! Conscripts Mike F., Indo and me ran the Ork horde, which consisted of three mobs of 15 boyz, five assorted warbuggies and Skorcha half-tracks, two Traktor cannons (Skyfire!!), a Trukk with a mounted quad-flakka-dakka gun, two Deff Dreads, a squad of 10 Stormboyz, and lastly another Trukk with five meganobs and Warboss Irongob.

Here's the quad flak on the lookout for Valks... Conscripts Greg, Curt and Byron rolled out the Guard - a veteran squad of very cool Quar models and their Quar-mera (visible at top left), some of the new Tempestus Scions, and three Valkyries full of troops. You can just see the Scions behind the Quonset at top centre.

Here's Byron plotting his next move as a disembodied hand points the way ;-)

Curt all smiles...

 ...as his Quar head for Kenny Rogers' Roaster...

Indo made a beeline for the opposite table edge where the Quar were positioned in a wood. Skorchas are nasty... in little time at all the Orks were up 2VPs to nil with First Blood and Linebreaker.

Over in the centre, though, it wasn't easy being green as the Scions reached the prize first, dragging the semi-conscious Barun out of his aircraft. The boyz squad was angling for a charge...

Our cunning plan was to overwhelm the Scions with a devastating combo from the Meganobz and Warboss. Imperial plasma guns put paid to that plan, however, with the boss being plasma'd... 2-1 Orks as the Imperials score 1VP for Kill the Warlord.

Meanwhile the Traktor Cannon and quad flak were dakka-ing away at the circling Valks. BS2 is a bit of a bitch, but we were heartened when the quad flak scored a 6 to hit and another 6 for penetration! Outstanding! But our joy turned to sorrow when we found that all we did was take off a hull point, as the quad flak didn't have the requisite AP to knock a flyer down outright. Yeah, that's what we thought too.

Deff Dread dealt with the Quar-mera in spectacular fashion.

Those Valks were pesky indeed though, dropping "pie plates" that chewed through boyz squads with ease. Greg and Byron were particularly deadly with the scatter dice :-)

Luckily the Stormboyz were able to stick their landing (not shown) and grab da Barun from the decimated boyz squad... They in turn were wiped out almost to the last boy by Imperial fire.

Guardsmen deploy by poop grav chute (sorry, Ork joke) and light up some boyz, but it was to be too little, too late, as the Skorchas dealt with them. S5 AP4 is a sure-fire Guard killer, especially when you don't need to use BS.

Only a couple of Ork Meganobz left to safeguard the Barun but it was enough. The Imperials were out of troops and Valks can't grab the target.

Losses were heavy on both sides... as it should be in 40K :-) The final tally was Orks 6VPs to Imperials, 2.

I think the lads had fun and it was great to get the quad flakka-dakka and buggies out on the table. I quite like the new 40K and I'm sure we'll play again - we're planning a big Heresy game for later in the year so stay tuned!

Tempestus Testus - GWs Imperial Guard Storm Troopers

New Tempestus Scions (a.k.a. "Storm Troopers) from GW

Our good friend Curt is coming to visit later this week, and we are preparing to host one of his favourite games - Warhammer 40k! HAH.  Well, yes, it's true! Not that Curt loves 40k, but that in the spirit of flagellation, we will be running a 40k game during his visit this week!  And I am rushing to get some new figures done in time to participate - "Tempestus Scions", the new plastic storm trooper figures for the Imperial Guard.  

Five dudes for $42CDN - OUCH!

Tons of bits and options - but still, only five dudes...f*ck you, GW

In the fluff of the 40k setting, we know that in the event of a real threat Space Marines are dispatched to "deal with" the problem. These Space-Marine-situations generally involve outright, often hopeless, heavy duty fighting which the Marines are literally bred for, and well-equipped to deal with. 

Assembled and waiting to be primed

The Marines are of course very elite troops, but "elite" in the sense that you can send 100 of them to open battle and they will subdue an entire planetary rebellion, not "elite" in the sense that they deploy quietly to operate in a commando-style fashion.  Sure, the Marines will deploy behind the lines, but that's only because they have found the source of the problem, and are sending a bunch of nasty fellows in drop pods to deal with it directly. Who needs a long walk when you can just hop out of the drop pod and smash the Emperor's enemies right away?

The "Tempestor" a.k.a a sergeant

I tossed the vox caster on him...I liked the look of this, but I don't intend to use the vox casters on the table as they are pretty useless...and if you give one to a trooper, he loses his weapon...

The Imperial Guard storm troopers have laboured long in this shadow, a favourite troop type of Imperial Guard players. Elite army soldiers, well-equipped for commando-type jobs and special missions that would occur in the context of an Imperial Guard deployment, like sabotage, long-range recon, demolition of high-priority targets, abduction of prisoners, rescue of prisoners, assassination etc. Cool stuff, but not stuff that a Space Marine Chapter Master would worry about dispatching even one of his payroll servitors for, much less a company of valued Marines.  The storm troopers filled this niche gap, albeit one that existed mostly in the minds of dedicated Imperial Guard fans. 

Hot Shot Volley Gun - this gun looks super cool, but has the incredibly dumb "gets hot" special rule attached to it...sigh

You can see a bit of the back pack here - they sure carry a lot of stuff into the field!

As far as I can tell (and I know a more knowledgeable hobby fan out there will correct me if I'm wrong :) the Storm Troopers first appeared in the second edition of the WH40k game - this would be in mid-late to late 1990s, I think?  They had things that appealed to an Imperial Guard player - a better ballistic skill, and lasguns that could really hurt! How cool!

The original 40k storm troopers...the first plastic versions were faithful to this art work, and are prized parts of many Imperial Guard collections

 
The original storm troopers were plastic monopose figures, with metal officers, metal special weapon troopers and a metal heavy weapon team. They wore berets and stoic expressions. A lot of Guard players I know look fondly on these original figures, and they often fetch a premium on Ebay. I have personally never really liked the originals - the poses were very limited, and the two-man heavy weapon team was silly.  But I loved the overall principle! Elite troops to buck up your regular hapless grunts. As an Imperial Guard fanboy, I was in!

"Tempestor Prime" (or something like that) a.k.a. "Captain" - you have several posing options for him, but they are all pretty melodramatic

Not sure this get-up makes sense for a commando operation, but hey - it's 40k :) There are a depressing number of skulls on this model - too many to remove sensibly, but he certainly looks unique...

As 40k evolved into the 3rd edition (and since then, into what I like to think of as the 34567th edition, as I find them all to be so similar to each other) the Storm Trooper models changed.  I can no longer recall what year they were issued, but metal storm troopers appeared, and these were (and still are) some of the coolest sculpts GW ever issued. These looked like dark future SEALS! Cool guns, lots of optics, heavy armour, but still sort-of-sleek and ominous looking.

A group of Scions

A further evolution came in the form of the "Kasrkin", originally elite Cadian troops.  These were also some of the nicest GW sculpts I have seen, certainly a lot nicer than the plastic Cadians. The Kasrkin, to me, looked more like "heavy infantry" than commandos - some heavier armour and guns, but with the bulk and the heavy cables for the "hot shot" lasguns, I couldn't really see them sneaking around behind the lines. I still loved these models - and I painted 30 of the frigging things about 10 years ago to play a "Grenadier" Imperial Guard detachment - heavy infantry in APCs, backed by tanks etc. So fun.

Another view of the pack - each one is a little different - some have grenades, some have knives etc.

The actual game performance of the storm troopers was very poor - after all, their lasguns were S 3, and in the era of the 34567 edition it is the AP of the weapon that matters (and yes, a lot of 40k players will spew disagreement about this, but I stand by it).  Increasingly, the 40k has become a duel between heavy weapons (that is, until you get into "close combat"), and the "hot shot" lasguns were of dubious value (i.e. none).  Same with the 4+ save - it sounded nice in theory, but never showed its value in practice. You played storm troopers/Kasrkin because you liked the figures, not because you got good results on the table.

A five-man storm trooper squad

In the sixth edition Imperial Guard codex, out of the blue, GW's fickle rules flakes suddenly gave the "hot shot" lasguns an AP 3.  This is sufficient to knock out a Space Marine! And yet...the gun is still S 3...so...whatever you need to do to sell figures, I guess...this post is already too long, but I guess all I will say here is this is what happens with the S/AP system...that's a rant for another time.

Through the ages - a SEAL style metal trooper on the left, a "Kasrkin" in the middle, and a new plastic Scion on the right

Another comparison of the different models

In the era of the 34567th edition, there have been different ways to try and field a force of storm troopers.  For a time you could use "doctrines" and have them as "grenadiers".  You could get "sort of" storm troopers by taking veterans (who could get carapace armour, but not the "hot shot" guns).  And now, we have the "Tempestus Scions".  They have their own pamphlet-codex (which I won't get into here, other than to say don't bother with it unless you are a storm trooper fan boy like me) and a whole new set of plastic figures.

Which direction is Regina?

The set is pretty neat.  You are now able to make command figures and command accessory figures (like the medic, standard etc), something the lead figures of the third-and-later editions never did have beyond a couple of sergeant figures.  The Tempestus design pays homage, in my view, to each "era" of the storm trooper figures. There are beret heads (assuming the Catachans haven't ruined berets for you) as a shout-out to the originals.  The "hot shot" guns look very much like the SEAL version of the storm trooper, as do many of the helmet-variant optics. The armour plates somewhat evoke the heavy-infantry "Kasrkin" look, as do the hulking packs and weapon cables.  But they are still unique, with elaborate, flowery armour accents that suit the setting.  And, sadly, a LOT of skulls...but since they are plastic, you can shave quite a few of them off with minimal effort to leave a slightly-less skull-heavy figure.

The expense of the new models is horrifying ($42 CDN per box of five figures), but if you are like me, and you painted a bunch of the older storm troopers, you will find these can fit in with those older sculpts with a bit of imagination and a similar paint scheme.  That's my plan, and if I can bear down at the painting table (kind of hard, as the weather has been so nice for once), I'm hoping to finish enough of these to see some action this week. Will they suck on the table? Maybe! We'll see!  

40k Vostroyans

Imperial Guard Vostroyan Squad

Apologies for the couple of weeks off-line.  Work, life, etc. was getting in the way.  But I thought I would try and get back on track with another submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - a squad of 28mm Imperial Guard "Vostroyans".  These were a Christmas present from my lovely wife.  

Vostroyan rankers - those lasguns are really something

The figure are metal beasties -no "Finecrap" here. An NCO with a pistol, a two-man heavy bolter team and a dude with a flamethrower.  The rest have laser rifles. I think the range was originally released sometime in 2006 or 2007, and as far as I know it is one of the very last "themed" metal Imperial Guard ranges GW ever released. You can still find them in the odd corners of GW's web site as they sell down the remaining stocks (or just wait to have them melted down).

Guy on left was painted like seven years ago; guy on the right painted recently - they match OK

I painted two squads and a command group of these figures back when they were first released.  I maybe used them on the table once...20 guardsmen is not very many figures for a 40k game, so they mostly just stayed on the shelf more as a collector-type thing. I tried to match the original paint jobs with these new figures.

Love those crazy bearskins - and what's with the "bayonet"? That's huge...

I think in the fluff we are meant to see the Vostroyans as paying dire penance through service - the planet has to send all of its first born sons to serve in the Imperial Guard as punishment for denying the Imperium some manner of tithe during the Horus Heresy.  The ornate equipment of the troops is meant to symbolize some level of extra commitment to this cause, I believe.

Officer tripped out with trinkets

Is that really a dark fate? Considering the Imperium's rather grim approach to "governance" - entire planetary populations are often wiped out, or conscripted, or both, and rebels are hunted through the generations and the worlds that support them are pounded to dust - it's hard to feel too bad for the world of Vostroya. I would just assume any world refusing to help out during the Horus Heresy would have been subjected to the "Istvaan Treatment", accompanied with a note along the lines of "since you like Horus so much..." but I digress.

Lots of detail on these sculpts

These figures provoke strong views. People either love them or hate them. I'm obviously in the first camp - to me these castings really capture the dark, dystopian spirit of the Warhammer 40k setting.  Even though they are (relatively) contemporary sculpts, they very much capture the feel of the original Rogue Trader game, much more than any of the other conventional Imperial Guard figures available today.

Flamer-equipped special weapon trooper

Clad in bearskins, bits of medieval style armour, armed with rifles that look as large and ornate as pole arms, to me they are spooky and beautiful.  The faces that are visible are drawn, worn and dark. It's like someone gave a picture of an Austrian Grenadier from 1809 to John Blanche and said "go nuts".  These models are kind of bonkers, in an awesome way.

The spent shells are a neat touch that comes with the heavy bolter team

These seem to me a very fitting portrayal of a "regular" force army that would be assembled in the setting of the Rogue Trader rulebook, either to defend the planetary governor, or slog through a horrible military campaign somewhere in the "grim darkness of the far future".

Many people loathe these same design features, particularly if they already dislike the GW style and the 40k setting. I don't share that view, but I see where they are coming from. At any rate I don't think they will last much longer in GW stock, if for no other reason than I suspect GW will just want to move on at some point and leave these in the ether of history.

So I have about 30 of these guys painted now, and a rummage through the horde has turned up more, including a few heavy weapon teams and other assorted bits.  These were a lot of fun to paint, and I look forward to adding more of them through the year.