From Honour, Cometh Iron - Further Iron Warriors Escalation

Taking advantage of a few things today - the push to get a few final models done for the big New Year's Day game (Siege of Terra part 2), plus a day off from work and a chance to do some photography and blogging. Gilles (seen above) is helping too - so let's get at it!

First up is a Rapier Laser Destroyer and crew.

The crewmen's armour sports the markings of my IV Legion artillery troops - a single chevron on the right pauldron.

The Rapier carriage was done in the same style as the rest of the Legion's vehicles (and indeed the infantry models too) - Leadbelcher and Brass Scorpion basecoat with an allover Nuln Oil wash, followed by Reikland Fleshshade on the gold. The chevrons are Averland Sunset heavily weathered with chipping (black and Rhinox). Earth tones on the model are drybrushed Mournfang Brown and
Steel Legion Drab. Tracks are finished with a diluted rust powder wash.

The Master of Signal will stand in as a techmarine for the force. The communications gadgets on his armour are pretty cool.

Narik Dreygur also got done in this batch. A pretty cool character model.

Of course, one always wonders why these guys don't wear their helmets. What do the think they are, 1970s pro hockey players???

The main bunch of models I wanted to get done, though, were the Breacher siege troops. How cool are these guys? MKIII power armour and giant shields! I was torn between leaving the shields black-faced with a "IV" Legion decal, or doing the hazard-striping. Industriousness won out over laziness, for once.

The poses are great, with the Marines really leaning into their shooting. The models were pretty easy to assemble, too - the bolters rest nicely on the shields giving another purchase for adhesive.

Painting the viewscreen was a little tough given the close quarters. It would've made more sense to paint the shields before assembly, I guess.

Weathering on the shields turned out pretty well, black-brown followed by Leadbelcher sponge chipping.

A few closeups from the group shot.

Really looking forward to fielding these chaps tomorrow in the Siege game. Mike's bringing his giant Terran Wall terrain (no word on who paid for it, though :-) and I think the Breachers will be right at home... "breaching" it!

And as that's likely it for my blogging activity this year... Happy New Year to everyone!

Kill Team, Heresy Style

A couple Thursdays back we decided to dust off the Heresy armies for a game of GW's new opus, Kill Team. For those who've been living under a rock, KT lets players field real skirmish forces of 3-20 models and is a skosh more detailed in its gameplay than 40K. In truth, it's meant to be a gateway drug for new players... collect and paint a Kill Team and you're on the way to having a 40K army, or something like that... Of course, for grognards like us, Kill Team is more a matter of picking out some models from the 10-or-more 40K armies we already have, and playing a game with those. Not much danger of KT escalation hereabouts.

Anyway, Conscript Greg and I ended up picking very similar Kill Teams - his, Sons of Horus and mine, Iron Warriors. The scenario involved a very lost Herald of the Warmaster who needed to be picked up and "protected".

I laid out a congested urban table 4 feet square. We deployed in opposite corners. Four markers were placed near the centre of the table as possible locations for the Herald. The Kill Teams were tasked with finding the Herald and escorting him off the table. Above you can see some of the initial Iron Warriors deployment. We also placed a Marine with Missile Launcher on the third storey of the red-brick building at upper right.

Sons of Horus deployed on the street ready to rush the objective markers/tune up Iron Warriors...

View from the SoH side. IW missile dude is in the building at centre top.

The battlefield as seen through the sights of an IW missile launcher.

The first turn saw the ML score a counter-sniper hit on SoH heavy weapons Marine hidden in building behind their lines.

Iron Warriors rush to check markers in no-man's-land. Unfortunately for them the SoH had set up in overwatch and after a furious gun battle the Iron Warriors were down!

The other three markers having been confirmed as duds, the remaining Iron Warriors close in on the confirmed location of the Herald. SoH Marines are all around - on overwatch at top centre and out of sight by the wall at centre left and behind the building at centre right.

SoH boss closes on the objective, with a minion just behind the building in support. IW trooper did not live long but help was on the way!

Oooof... that didn't work either as the SoH boss took out the "help"...

Never fear, here comes the IW boss... but the SoH leader took him out too.

Sons of Horus escape with the Herald in tow!

That was a fun game with a real ebb and flow of fortune. With only 6 models per side, taking out one or two models really makes a difference! Note the "flesh wounds" being carried by the SoH boss in the pic above... I got pretty unlucky with Greg's wounding rolls but them's the breaks! I really enjoy Kill Team as a skirmish game as the departure from strict IGO-UGO is really fun.

From Faith, Cometh Honour - Massive Heresy Iron Warriors Update

So, as prep for the New Year's game, some desperate last-minute escalation occurred on the Iron warriors front, in the form of a Leviathan Siege Dreadnought, two squads of Iron Havocs, and a mighty Typhon Siege Tank!

The best thing about the Iron Warriors, though, is how quickly the models paint up. Even assembling the Leviathan went quickly. I used magnets to attach the arm weapons for quick swaps, so the model can be equipped with any two of the Siege Claw, Cyclonic Melta-Lance (!), or Grav-Flux Bombard (!!)

As a side note, it was pointed out at the game how comical the naming conventions are for the Heresy-era Forge World weapons. It's like the designers take one adjective from column A, one from column B, and stick a noun in from column C, and there's your weapon name:

Volkite	Melta	Caliver
Grav	Plasma	Culverin
Heavy	Reactor	Blaster
Cyclonic	Rad	Cannon
Thermal/Thermic	Flux	Bombard
	Las	Projector
Atomantic	Beam	Lance
Nucleonic	Fusion	Charger
Infernal	Storm	Flamer
Volcanic	Bolt	Incinerator
	Inferno	Destroyer/Destructor
	Graviton	Annihilator
	Punisher	Blastgun
	Fission	Launcher
		Beamer

 

Magnets are fun... and the economy that results from easy swaps is undeniable.

Five missile-launcher equipped MKIV Marines add some flexible firepower...

...while a lascannon squad adds some vehicle-killing capacity.

The Typhon Siege Tank is another key addition to the Iron Warriors contingent.

Assembly was mostly straightforward. The sponson lascannons were a bit tricky but still went together OK.

Decal is from the Iron Warriors transfer set with an added numeral.

The Typhon is a mighty chunk of resin for sure! The main gun itself is ridiculous, but cool-ridiculous, if you know what I mean.

Tracks are ready to roll over the enemies of the Emperor Warmaster!

Of course, all new models acquitted themselves admirably as detailed in the battle report!

New Year's Game - Horus Heresy Siege of Terra!

We usually host a lunch and big game on New Year's Day each year. However, this year the schedules didn't quite work out for January 1, so we postponed the game until January 7.

Many of the Conscripts and their significant others were able to make it out for the lunch, a delicious roast pork loin with vegetables and salad prepared by the amazing Pam (in apron). After stuffing ourselves silly with food, we (eventually) retired downstairs to Conscript HQ where the terrain had been laid out for the game - a Horus Heresy extravaganza using the 40K 8th edition rules and the excellent codex material from the forums at http://heresy30k.invisionzone.com/login/

I further amortized the trench terrain by laying out an 8'x4' table for the Loyalists to defend. The board was 30K'd up a bit with slurm tanks, billboards, statuary, a comms mast, and some Gothic looking ruins, not to mention a bit of Conscript trademark scatter terrain...

Terra would be defended by Conscript Mike's excellent looking Imperial Fists...

...supported by Conscript Greg's superb Solar Auxilia.

"God Box 2.0" makes an appearance, along with the Solar Auxilia commander "Marshall Facecane".

Nasty Imperial Fists Terminator squad "supporting the front line" behind a slurm tanks :-)

First wave of Iron Warriors and World Eaters attackers roll on. The Traitor objectives were the tanks at centre left, the comms mast on the ridge, and the statue column at centre top.

There's not a ton that you might consider "broken" in 30K but if anything comes close, it's the Iron Warriors Siege Tyrants at top left...

Racks spit out two krak missiles (or 2d6 frag missiles!!) PER MODEL per shooting phase... that's a ton of hurt heading downrange.

Defending Terra all day really works up a thirst! Fortunately there are ample tanks around to feed the Slurm machine.

Iron Warriors reinforcements arrive, in the form of a large tactical squad and Leviathan Siege Dreadnought (ooooh yeah!)

Massive traitor firepower facing off against the newly arrived Imperial Fists Land Raider Armoured Proteus (top right).

Warriors hop out of their Rhinos ready to assault the trenches.

But then... oh crap... Imperial Knight arrives.

It's great fun to take off the top of the ridge and play in the tunnels underneath. Infil-traitors under the bunkers!

Loyalist Sicaran is taking fire as a Traitor Rhino moves to block off the tunnel entrance.

A good view of Mike's Contemptor and Land Raider.
 

Iron Warriors approaching the trenches. Solar Auxilia are tougher than they look, especially when overcharging their lasrifles.

Siege Tyrants look right at home, don't they?

Iron Warriors have taken the frontline trench!

Terminators scramble to interdict the Traitor Marines in the tunnels. Sadly they would fail their charge roll with a double 1 - not the only charge that was failed that afternoon either!

Sadly for the Traitors their assault just stalled as time was called. It has to be admitted that we seldom actually finish one of these huge game, but they sure are cool to look at! Lots of stuff blew up, and I think the game pointed out to both Mike and me what we need to do with our respective forces. Mike came out with a bit over 100 power levels and I think he realized that he needs more BIG GUNZ :-)

The Iron Warriors, on the other hand, can muster close to 200 power levels and lots of big guns, but I think I need to paint some more boots. Most of my points are tied up in the 10-man Siege Tyrant squad (44 power levels by itself!) and the Typhon represents 26 or 27 as well.

Anyway I think we all had a fun time having lunch with friends, and playing with some amazing toys on some beautiful terrain, and isn't that what this hobby is all about! So thanks to everybody for coming out, to Greg and Mike for bringing their toys, and to Conscript Frederick for taking some great pictures!