Command Group for 30k Vylka Fenryka

Commander & bodyguards for the Vylka Fenryka.

No big surprise with this blog post: I'm back with even more Space Marines! I'm just on a real sci-fi roll right now at the painting table. This is a Space Marine command group - a Centurion, and standard bearer and a pair of body-guards. The commander and the banner-bearer are resin figures from Forge World - they are wearing Mark IV powered armour, burnished with extra fancy bits, like cloaks and combs for their helmets. The two other marines are assembled from an assortment of left over plastic bits. The decals on the figures are from GW and Forge World. These marines are, once again, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astrates, the "Space Wolves".

A headquarters group like this is an "HQ choice" for the good-ol force org chart, and that tends to bring things together, elevating the assortment of Vylka Fenryka figures I have painted to this point from a scattered and random side projects into a single, coherent force. Naturally, this demands further escalation in terms of additional assets, or course...but a significant waypoint in the evolution of the collection and painting process for the Space Wolves has now been passed.

Awesome sculpt on this figure - I love this command group, great work by Forge World.

Rear view showing the shoulder pauldron & back pack.

The Space Marine Legions of the Horus Heresy setting have a cornucopia of officers, commanders, specialists, medics, engineers and other heroic figures you can choose from to serve as part of your HQ elements, but the core selection of the senior HQ level is this small assembly of a senior officer and three elite associates - referred to the list as "Chosen", one of who carries a banner.

We can have some fun with the wolf-themed symbols on the banner. These are decals from Forge World.

Carrying a banner into battle in such a futuristic setting is a ridiculous anachronism - and I just love it! I mean, it's just obvious that you would do that, right? You step out of your combat-drop-pod or your Storm Eagle gunship or your Lander Raider or your Rhino or whatever and you make sure your banner is present - it is simply how things are done, even amid the grim darkness of the far future.

I love this figure! Great sculpt again by Forge World.

I thought I would try a different colour combo for his shoulder pauldron, to help him stand out more.

This Centurion figure is a favourite sculpt of mine. Normally I hate Space Marine figures who are not wearing their helmets. Space is dangerous! The Emperor spent a lot of money making you! Wear your damn helmet! But this fellow is an exception, because I think the sculptor did a fantastic job on the figure. He looks like he just stepped off a transport, and is wanting to see the situation for himself, with his own eyes. He is cradling his helmet in one hand, ready to bellow some further orders to his underlings, with direction to be reinforced by his power sword if needed. He looks like an actual officer, something that very few Space Marine command figures actually manage to do.

Bodyguard for the command group.

The two additional figures, essentially bodyguards for combat on the table, are composed of a hodge-podge of components...when you are as "in" to 30k as I am, you start to accumulate enough spare bits that you can put together an extra marine here and there...that is what you see here. These fellows have the helmets, shoulder pauldrons and backpacks of Mark III power armour, the torsos and legs from Mark IV power armour, and arms and weapons from one of the new "Primaris" marines. As guards for the banner bearer and Centurion, I figured these fellows would be veteran fighters from The Rout, perhaps the grouchy sort that only gradually replace armour bits as required (hence keeping the 'older' Mark III helmets and shoulder plates).

A little blurry (sorry about the photo). I enjoy the animation on this figure.

The assortment of spare bits came together nicely.

These veteran marines would also have access to cool kit. I thought the "bolt rifles" from the new Primaris marines would do the trick, and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I really like the look of the longer barrel and the (redundant and over-the-top) gun sights.

Ready to lead a Great Company from The Rout into battle.

While I was sure to put a lot of wolf-themed decals on the banner itself (as well as on the markings on the shoulder and leg plates etc), I have again avoided adding pelts or any of that other wolfy-wolf stuff with this command retinue. If I ever add a Rune Priest or something like that, well...someone will likely need to wear a pelt cloak or something, but for now, I like to keep the obvious wolf theme to the decals and the banner, and leave it at that.

I've now got about 50 models or so painted for the VI Legion, but with the exception of a solitary land speeder, this budding band of loyalists is still pretty much all infantry. They are going to need some armoured support to hold up in a game on the table. Stay tuned for more on that...

Thanks for reading, hope you are staying safe!

30k Terminators for the Vylka Fenryka

Tartaros Pattern Terminator armour for the VI Legion.

Some more efforts for my Vylka Fenryka in GW Horus Heresy setting. This is a unit of Space Marines Terminators wearing "Tartaros Pattern" variant power armour. The figures are multi-part plastic kits from GW, and they are painted in the grey of the VI Legion Astrates - the "Space Wolves".

Terminator marines with combi-bolters and power fists.

As with the other VI Legion figures I have painted so far, I am trying to avoid the over-the-top wolfy-wolf stuff with these guys. Often you see Space Wolf marines festooned with pelts (not crazy about that) and, even more often, not wearing their helmets while in combat poses. I am trying to avoid that look as much as I can - so no pelts and feathers or any other nonsense here, although the Forge World decal sheet provides some nice norse-inspired pattern decals that can be used on the armour.

Lots of power augmentation to be able to fire that sort of weapon with just one hand...

Thanks to the extra augmentation afforded by this sort of power armour, the Space Marines can carry even bigger and scarier weapons into combat.

One such weapon is the utterly bonkers "Reaper Autocannon" - the whole thing is bat-sh*t nuts, and I have to say I love the look - so utterly menacing and impractical.  Imagine clearing out various fields of fire with that thing!

Reaper autocannon anyone?

Just look at that bonkers thing...it's one of my favourite bits of 30k silliness!

Most of the marines in this unit carry "combi-bolters". After all, the best way to improve one gun is to just tie two of that gun together, right?

View of the Sergeant's fancy shoulder plates and volkite charger.

The officer has slightly more ornate armour plates, a deadly power sword and an volkite charger, a weapon that looks like a small sidearm in relation to his huge armoured frame.

Ready for service with The Rout.

These models will teleport on to the table and deliver timely fire support and strategic face-punching (courtesy of all those power fists) for the forces of The Rout at some point in the future when we can finally get together for a game.

Thanks for reading - stay safe, and happy painting.

Star Wars: Legion - Family Feud

Game 3 in my ongoing solo play testing of Star Wars: Legion, in anticipation of future games with  The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. Again, I used version 1.1 of Crabbok's AI rules [ http://www.crabbok.com/custom-content/legion-ai-system/ ] to run the Imperial side.

Leia, recovered from the first game, led newly-minted Jedi Knight Luke and some Fleet and Rebel Troopers in facing off against an Imperial Officer, leading Darth Vader and several Stormtroopers. The Imperials were given an extra unit, the speeder bikes, plus a few upgrades, to compensate for being run by the AI card deck,

Both sides were trying to recover key intelligence from a downed command AT-AT Walker. There were three objectives on the table that a unit's leader had to be in contact with at the end of the game to score. The AT-AT and starfighter models are 3D prints from Legion Terrain.




FORCES:

Imperials (Run by AI card deck):
Imperial Officer (50 + 12 = 62)
- Emergency Stims (12)

Darth Vader (Operative) (170 + 19 = 189)
- Force Choke (5), Force Reflexes (10), Tenacity (4)

Stormtroopers (44 + 43 = 87)
- DLT-19 Stormtrooper (24), FX-9 Medical Droid (19)

Stormtroopers (44 + 49 = 93)
- RT-97C Stormtrooper (26), Stormtrooper Specialist (15), Electrobinoculars (8)

Stormtroopers (44 + 50 = 94)
- T-21 Stormtrooper (27), Stormtrooper Captain (15), Electrobinoculars (8)

74-Z Speeder Bikes (75 + 0 = 75)

Total: 600 points


Rebels:
Leia Organa (90 + 0 = 90)

Luke Skywalker (Operative) (200 + 29 = 229)
- Force Push (10), Force Reflexes (10), Jedi Mind Trick (5), Offensive Push (4)

Rebel Troopers (40 + 22 = 62)
- Z-6 Trooper (22)

Rebel Troopers (40 + 22 = 62)
- Z-6 Trooper (22)

Fleet Troopers (44 + 11 = 55)
- Fleet Trooper (11)

Total: 498 points

Commands: Son of Skywalker (1), Coordinated Bombardment (1), No Time for Sorrows (2), Full of Surprises (2), I am a Jedi (3), Somebody Has to Save Our Skins (3), Standing Orders (4)


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Both sides set up in large, L-shaped deployment zones centered on opposite table corners. Luke and most of the Rebels moved towards their own left flank, while Leia and a squad held the middle. Vader and the bikes moved to the center, and the three Stormtrooper squads moved kinda towards the three objectives.










The Imperials were wrong footed when they lost a Stormtrooper squad and the scout bikers early on.













Vader confronted Luke and the Fleet Troopers, and almost succeeded in carrying that flank all by himself. He couldn’t quite stand up to both massed blaster fire and Luke's repeated lightsaber assaults. Luke's abilities to Disengage allowed him to leap in and out of hand to hand, and his use of  Jedi Mind Trick causing an extra 2 Suppression per activation helped shut down Vader's action efficiency. Meanwhile, Leia supported the troops with Dodge counters and sniped Stormtroopers.

At one point Vader had 9(!) Suppression counters on him, and Leia was holding off a Stormtrooper squad all by herself!



















Overwhelmed, the Imperials only managed to seize one objective, to the Rebels’ two.




When the smoke finally cleared, Leia and Luke could not find any trace of their Sith patriarch...




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I have prepared army lists and plans for the next, fourth game in this narrative campaign play-test. This will involve Boba Fett as an Operative for the Imperial side, hunting for Han and Chewie on a Scarif-like beach table.

Space Wolf "Destroyer" Squad for 30k

Destroyer Squad from the VI Legion Astrates, the "Space Wolves".

Something very strange has recently happened to our climate here in the Canadian prairies. A blazing orange globe has appeared in the sky, causing the sh*tpiles of snow to finally melt, and we are now confronted with all manner of strange growth appearing in lawns, gardens and forests. Warm temperatures make it possible to be outside of the house without multiple layers of coats and clothing. One can even sit outside for an extended period without freezing. Experts claim this phenomena is known as "spring"...hey, it's weeks and weeks late, but better late than never!

Pistols and grenades all around...but the one fellow is carrying a rocket launcher that can use some pretty terrifying ammunition.

So, my painting rate has slowed with the arrival of nice weather, but I never totally stop painting - I'm kind of obsessed with it :)

My paintbrushes are still locked very much on Horus Heresy subjects at the moment. In this spirit, here is a small addition to my loyalist forces for GW's Horus Heresy setting. This is a "Destroyer Squad", five Space Marines in Mark IV powered armour, equipped with jet-powered jump packs and a variety of nasty weapons. They are painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astrates, the "Space Wolves". The figures are from Forge World, and the decals are from Forge World and GW.

A view of the "jump packs", they let the Marines jump in, get the job done, and get clear.

What is a "Destroyer" squad you might ask? After all, "destroy" a basic function of all Space Marines. What could possibly set this unit apart from the others? It's true - much about The Emperor's Space Marines are scary - they are terrifying, genetically-engineered instruments of total war.  They show up in orbit, and the fate of your world is sealed...the brutality a matter of degree. They either destroy your government (Raven Guard, Imperial Fists, Blood Angels), issue a press release while doing so (Ultramarines), or destroy your capital city, (Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, Iron Hands, Dark Angels), or destroy every city on your world (Death Guard, Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, White Scars), and maybe kill everyone while doing any of the above (World Eaters, Night Lords), and possibly steal all of the pension funds too (Alpha Legion). Seriously - what war function could possibly cause this bunch any sort of unease?

Yet even among the ranks of the Space Marines, "Destroyers" are something of a breed apart, because they are equipped with terrifying radiation and gas weapons that your average Space Marine Commander - even a very cold, uncaring and jaded one - is reluctant to release into battle - any battle. These fellows carry "rad grenades" and "phosphex" grenades and missiles, in addition to bolt pistols and their nasty demeanour. Assignment to the Destroyer units is not considered much of an honour, and the officers and marines put into those units seem to be ones that the Primarch and the other senior commanders in the legion don't much care for.

A view of the shoulder pauldrons...you can also see the extra layer of amour plated on to the shin guards.

In the 30k setting, "phosphex" is a kind of WMD - can burn right through any armour, even the power armour of the Space Marines, and will also burn the marine alive as well. If it can do this to power armoured troops, think of what it would do to everyone and everything else on the battlefield? Not a practical weapon to unleash, unless you are really desperate or really mad at your enemy...

This is the officer leading the squad...no fancy comb for his helmet (would just get burnt off by the chemicals), but I threw a decal on his chest plate to give him a bit of distinction from the other members of the unit.

Anger and desperation - that is why I painted up such a unit with the loyalist side of the setting. The Space Wolves are The Emperor's executioners, and when they were sent to Prospero to tune up the Thousand Sons, they used every terrifying weapon they had - Horus even "helped" to make sure they could. So the VI Legion put their Destroyer units into the battle.

Later, Once Horus' rebellion started, Legions like the VI were caught on the back foot, ambushed and betrayed...the loyalist commanders were both desperate and really, really, really mad. I can see them shouting down the vox at their underlings - "The prohibited stuff. Get it from the magazines, and get it ready. NOW." In the race to stop the Warmaster and his plans, everything was on the table.

I painted the grenades really bright yellows and reds, trying to emphasize the extra-scariness of these scary fellows.

Of course, it is a perfect 30k twist that the Space Marines would deploy these terrifying weapons in in a relatively up-close-and-personal fashion, arriving on jump packs, releasing their grenades, making sure the job is finished before clearing out, hopefully before any substances they released destroy their own armour. The pride of the Vylka Fenryka is such that they would be reluctant to unleash these weapons, but once provoked by betrayal and driven by revenge, I'm sure the The Rout would not hesitate...

Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!

What a Tanker! - Girls und Panzer

Well, some folks were idly discussing Girls und Panzer ("Girls and Tanks", that Japanese anime franchise) and What a Tanker! I searched online for a good deal, and found a Girls und Panzer Panzer IVD, complete with its high school student crew.

It's basically a "super-deformed" 1/48 scale tank.






The hull and tracks are shorter and slightly wider than those of the New Millennium 1/48 scale Mk.IV's I have.




The tank commander from a 1/48 Bandai Mk. II does not look too out of place in the Girls und Panzer Mk. IVD's uP turret.






I sure we can cobble up some What a Tanker! modifications to simulate competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. There's no need to use only the official Girls und Panzer models.

Aurora 1/48 US Army M109 SP Howitzer

One of the historical periods I really love to game is the '80s - much as it pains me to consider that a decade in which I was a teenager is now "historical" :-)

In 15mm scale we game the period mainly using Battlefront's excellent "Team Yankee" rules, while in 28mm we've used several sets as bases for our gaming, including but not limited to "Bolt Action", our own set ("Red Storm!"), and even a variation the venerable "Lord of the Rings" skirmish set...

Large-scale gaming is also fun because of the painting involved, and for modern periods like the 1980s, part of the fun is the challenge of sourcing the models. While there are a small number of companies making vehicles for the period, lots of these are skewed towards more modern stuff from the '90s and forward. Finding '80s stuff can be tough.

It was on one of these searches that I discovered the Aurora 1/48 model kit of the M109 SP Howitzer. The basic kit actually dates back to 1965 (!) but the copyright date on my instructions is 1977. I think this date tracks to an updated kit that also included the long-barrel 155mm gun update from the M109A1 variant. These kits do appear on eBay from time to time but oftentimes sellers ask the Earth for them - like $60+! I refused to pay this and bided my time... eventually I found one on sprues, sealed in factory plastic, with instructions and a boxtop-style insert. I think I won it for $10 plus shipping, which certainly suited me :-) 

The kit was apparently a "Young Model Builders Club Selection" and it shows a bit... the rear of the vehicle shows little detail - even the rear spades were left off altogether! Unfortunately, unlike some, I wasn't so fussed with this and I didn't bother with any scratchbuilding to address it.

I did add a bit of stowage to the vehicle just to give it a bit of a lived-in look. I left the front hatch unsecured so it can be opened up - one of the converted crew from my M113s fits nicely there just to give some MOPP-suit flavour.

I rigged up some magnets on the barrels and gun mount to allow the short 155mm to be swapped for its longer-barreled successor. Scale is demonstrated by some Eureka US Army soldiers in MOPP suits.

The newer M185/39 gun is really unfeasibly large. It looks like something out of 40K doesn't it!

Here's a pic with the hatch buttoned down.

Front view of the vehicle. I did lightly weather it with paint and some light earth powder, but I think the powder may have been diluted somewhat by the subsequent Dullcote. Another word of warning: I primed the vehicle with the tracks attached - I should have known better. Never spray prime vinyl tracks!!! The primer reacted with the vinyl to turn the tracks sticky, and although subsequent brush painting improved things it didn't eliminate the stickiness altogether. Can't believe I did that.

Some reference material... there are a couple pics of M109s in the Reforger book as well as some detail of the other markings. Similar to the M1 Abrams and M113s I've painted, I didn't put national insignia on the M109, but instead limited markings to an "exercise" marking as used in the Reforger exercises.

I'm pretty happy with how the build turned out and I think it'll be fun to have on the table in a game. Of course the 155mm main gun is not really suitable for tabletop action in 28mm but we'll figure something out!

Land Speeder for 30k Space Wolves

Javelin attack speeder for the VI Space Marine Legion, the Vylka Fenryka.

The sci-fi diversions continue! This is a "Javelin Attack Speeder", an anti-grav/skimmer vehicle from the arsenals of GW's Warhammer 30k/Horus Heresy setting. The model is a resin kit from Forge World, GW's sub-unit/division/whatever that is home to 95% of their Horus Heresy products. The vehicle is carrying the colours and markings of the VI Space Marine Legion, the "Space Wolves."

Closer look at the crew - they are wearing Mark IV power armour.

With Space Marine combat kit "light" is a relative term, but this would count as a "light" vehicle for them, skimming ahead for recon duties and flanking actions. For all that "light" sounding role, it still can mount some heavy weapons, and this vehicle has some - a heavy bolter manned by one of the crew, and the option of laser cannons or rocket launchers on the side sponsons of the vehicle. So these speeders can still damage the legion's enemies.

Sensor probe mounted to the front...I am worried about how soon that will get snapped off on the table.

View of the engine mounting on the rear of the craft.

Thanks to magnets, I am able to swap out the missile pods for the laser cannons, depending on the role the vehicle will be expected to play in a given game. This is thanks to the hobby engineering brains of Steve B, who assembled this model for me - for my part, I tend to make a hash of efforts with magnets.

In this photo you can see the rocket pods are mounted on the sponsons.

I quite like the design of this vehicle. Its look is rather different from the other Space Marine combat vehicles - not so brutal, and much sleeker, almost sporty, ready to cruise the town (and then waste said town with laser cannons). The look makes sense given its intended role, but the aesthetic looks as much "Star Wars" as it does grim and dark. It is an interesting mix, and it helps to retain the different/apart look for the miniatures set in the Horus Heresy setting vs. the models set in the "current" Imperium of the 40k setting.

Maybe only one quibble with the design...the long sensor probe mounted on the bow of the craft. It looks cool, but is exactly the sort of thing that will be snapped off, and almost impossible to remount, on the gaming table. Oh well...

Another view of the crew, and the housing for the mysterious sci-fi drives.

Adding a vehicle, even a "light" one, always makes a force a little more "serious", and I'm enjoying this diversion into 30k painting subjects. We'll see what comes next from the painting table. Thanks for reading! Hope you are safe and healthy, wherever you are.