The First Legion: A New Hope

Time to drop the Emperor's wraith upon some heretics!

I have watched for signs & portents. I have kept the faith. Long years spent in the shadow of our former glory is about to end. Finally, all of the Dark Angel faithful shall be rewarded with a new (and hopefully improved) Codex. Even though I am nowhere near done with my Chaos forces re-do, I can't wait for the new Dark Angel Codex.

We all got into this hobby/lifestyle/obsession somehow. For many it was watching a game at the local store, or a friend who showed you this cool sci-fi miniatures game. My gateway drug into the Warhammer 40,000 universe was Adeptus Titanicus, the first Epic Space Marine game.

And who doesn't like giant fighting robots?

 It was a fun game, but I was really intrigued by the backstory. I next got into Space Hulk. Now I had the beginnings of my 40K forces and didn't even know yet. I bought some tactical marines to use in some of the missions, and that was that. My local dealer, I mean helpful friend, who worked at the comic/game store assisted me in filling out my growing space marine force into something that could be used in both games. When it came time to paint my first Marines, I had to choose a chapter. Not a lot of history yet for the Big Four Chapters, so I went with the Dark Angels mostly because I like the winged sword icon on their black armor.

Within a year of painting my small force I was introduced to a new phenomenon, the army re-do.

My Terminators turned white! Everyone else went dark green! At least I didn't have to repaint my Chaplain.

A mere two decades later and I have the entire 3rd Company, a chunk of Deathwing, Ravenwing and a Thunderhawk. What? I like the Dark Angels. So yeah, I look forward to this newest Codex. 

And speaking of looking forward (see what I did there Kenny?) 2013 should prove to be a most entertaining year for the Atomic Warlords. We have two mini and one large campaign planned as well as our league. 

I have so much painting to do. Thanks to all for 2012 and have a Happy New Year!

The Emperor Protects

The First Legion more than others

When There's No More Room In Hell

The Dead Will Walk The Earth. Or a convenient tabletop.

New Codex, old enemies. Plague Zombies have long been one of those units have have rules, and then aren't  updated for nigh on a decade. Both Pete and I have had zombies in our Chaos forces since The Eye of Terror Codex in '03. As we are still trying out the new Chaos Codex it was time for Zombies. And who better to bring their shambling bodies upon the battle field than Zombie Wrangler Pete?

It's time for the 1,000 point Zombie Challenge! Pete brought Typhus, a Drea-, er, Hellbrute, a trio of undead body constructs (counts as chaos spawn) and a whole lot of dead guys.

Commander Matt was brave enough to be volunteered as the first battle. None of us really knew how it was to play out, so Matt's Blood Angel detachment turned out to be far too few in number and had no blast/template weapons.

The Stormraven did cut a swath though the zombie horde for a turn and looked to be the deciding factor in Matt's favor. Then a single lucky shot from the Hellbrute's Reaper autocannons brought it down. Thus the Blood Angels fate was sealed. Matt fought on valiantly but the numbers were stacked against him.

The day was carried by Typhus' warband. With these lessons paid for by the Blood Angels, the Steel Legion stand ready to halt the spread of the Zombie Plague with fire!

The Emperor Protects

Just not against hot dice

Fire. And lots of it.

Somebody need a light?

Flamers have gotten more useful in 6th edition. My Steel Legion army had none, because in their Great Wisdom, GW never made any for them. Meltaguns either, but I use the Grenade Launchers as Meltas.

Many times I had suffered Ork, Dark Eldar, and especially Tyranid attacks and wished I had a few at my disposal. Now with the fun and horrifying prospect of hordes of zombies (see next weeks post) I really need some. What to do?

Pre-re-painting.

I set out with a vague plan and things went from there. The old metal Steel Legion troopers only had one pose that was good for the conversion I had in mind. I took a pair of flamers from my yet to be made Cadians, some cutting, some green stuff, and flame on! Now I need to pick up a new Hellhound...

The Emperor Protects

But the Promethium Helps

Blood for all my Friends

He's right behind me, isn't he?

Time to take the new Chaos Codex out for a little stroll. A timeless match-up of close combat enthusiasts.
Frenzied blood-crazed madmen against the World Eaters.

Matt took a lean and very mean 2,000 points of  "We drink blood, but's that's okay 'cause we work for some dead guy," Blood Angles. I brought a misunderstood group of Khorne followers and some allies from the warp.

I love taking skulls thiiis much!

Do not hug the Death Company Dreadnought.

We played "The Relic" scenario. Well, not really. After placing the artifact at the center of the table, neither one of us gave it a second thought.

Not a lot of cover.

I gave my Berzerkers on bikes a go. Of course now they are not Berzerkers on bikes anymore, just bikers with the mark of Khorne. A important difference that will limit their future use. Turn one had little shooting and mostly just running towards each other. The highlights of the game were:

-Matt's Chaplain-led assault squad wiping out a freshly arrived unit of Bloodletters before they could do anything.
-Kharn killing five Blood Angels and two Berzerkers in one round of close combat, and then hacking up the Death Company Dreadnought.

I only look like a Brass Scorpion.

-My shamefully unpainted Soul Grinder shrugging off repeated lascannon and Krak missile fire to crush a dreadnought.
-The Khorne's Angels biker club wiped out in a turn by a deep striking Vanguard Squad.
-And the Bloodthrister arriving to avenge the loss of the Bloodletters.

The game was close, but the World Eaters came out on top.
Overall it was a good first game for the new Codex, and I look forward to my next victims.

Blood for the Blood God!

The Throne of Skulls isn't going to build itself

B'A' Baracus needs your help. Well, just your skull, really.

Khorne. The Skull Lord. My favorite of the ruinous powers. Straightforward and easy to please.
No mindbending schemes, no disturbing (but sexy) multi-boob critters, and no great love of mucus. Just a gleeful slaughter.
All day, every day. Way, way back in the mists of time when I was playing Adeptus Titanicus and was drifting towards 40K I bought a few figures just because the were very cool.

Danger: Made of real lead.

The second Warhammer 40,000 model I bought was some sort of evil space marine, but I loved the look. Later as I played more and discovered more of the universe, I really wanted the make a World Eaters army. Alas, in 1991 this was not strictly possible. It was to be a few more years before GW released a few more World Eaters, and the plastic box of five! All in the same pose however.

Then of course came the masterpiece that was the 1996 Codex: Chaos. All the Chaos rules in one spot! New figs! A new Berzerker character, my favorite psychotic, Kharn!

With some Daemons and cultists, I had an eye-lite fighting force. All was well until that mixed bag of a codex, the 1999 3rd edition.
Lost my cultists but gained a multi-pose plastic Berzerker box set.
Soon after (in GW terms at least) came the golden age of Chaos. The 2002 Codex was a worthy successor to the '96 book. I honed my World Eaters to a fine edge, I won a Rogue Trader, and placed very well in a few more with them. Nothing good lasts forever, and six years later a dull, flavorless new codex was dropped on us.
I let my Decapitators Anonymous card expire, and the chainaxes got dusty.

Until now. With a new, better codex it's time to break out the skull polish and update my World Eaters.
The next few posts will be all about that.

Blood for the Blood God!

Family Circus 40,000

So this really happened on Wednesday. Maybe Mr. Keane is up for a game?

Tau, meet the Necrons

Wait, that building wasn't there a minute ago...

Tomb Lord Pete and I had a 2,000 point battle. It was his first go with the new Necron Codex, and I am still on my (newly-painted) Tau kick. It was a great clash of firepower.

Pete's really nice custom Cryptek.

The Tau had an outstanding first round of shooting and put down a Annihilation Barge and a squad of warriors. Both sides cautiously moved toward each other and the objectives while madly blasting away.

The line will advance!

Hammerhead. Still the king of anti-tank.

The Tau got the edge early and didn't let it go. The Necron numbers dwindled away under a hail of Tau firepower. Both commanders still managed to meet by one of the objectives for a showdown.

Clash of the close-combat impaired!

Commander Farsight took down the Necron Overlord in a close fight on the last turn. A well fought battle, the dice favored the Tau on this day. I am looking forward to a rematch.

In honor of the Thanksgiving, November will be all about Khorne!

The Emperor Protects

Just not Xenos

4K of Tau

Click to enlarge!

Like one or two of you out there, I had an army escape the painting table for a bit. Eleven years in my case. I  was into the Tau when they came onto the scene in 2001, but that was a hell of year for me and they got built, but not even primed. Oh, I had a grand three-tone desert tan, rust, and dark green pattern in mind for them, just never the time. "Overtaken by events" is a phrase we used in the Air Force, and that is exactly what happened here.

They got fair bit of time on the field of battle, then less, and  less. Fast forward to 2006. A new Codex and few new models and my Tau army is dug out and expands. A friend of mine decided he couldn't give his Tau army any love and donated it to me in the faint hope I would someday put paint on it. Heh. I put them on my paint schedule for early 2007. Then life steps in. We buy a fixer house, move, work gets crazy, then new Orks, Tyranids, and Guard. I don't even unpack the Tau until 2010.

Then we started the Non-Human League. Matt decided he would give my Tau some use. The thing I love about Leagues, Apocalypse battles, and other special events is the drive I get to finish things. I was resolved to paint the long suffering Tau at last. 

I had hoped to get them done in before the League was done, but once again I was thwarted by life. I had a fair part of a finger ripped off, so it was a bit before I could paint again. 

And paint I did. In just about six weeks I got through my entire army, just under 4000 points worth. To celebrate the occasion I bought a pair of Forgeworld Remora Drones. I did go with a very different paint scheme, but I am very pleased with it. The army fits very nicely on two Force Organisation Charts, so now it is time for a 4K battle.

The Emperor Protects.

Mostly.

Happy Birthday, God-Emperor

September 29, ? The Emperor of Man is born. We don't know his name, we don't know what year, but we remember the date. Or we did back when Games Workshop put out the awesome 2002 Calendar.
Is it canon? Doesn't matter. it is a great reason to have a big game and cake!

We tried a narrative mission this time. The Imperial forces on Zircon IV are having a parade in honor of His birthday. All is going well until the fell forces of Chaos show up.

3,000 points per side. Matt brought Blood Angels, Gillian and Jeff commanded the Imperial guard. Pete's renegade guardsmen and cultist where backed up by my World Eaters.

The Imperials started out in a vulnerable position, but only the renegades were on the table to oppose them.
Turn two saw a disturbance in the warp and only three out of eight World Eater units showed up. Not good.
A bunch of Blood Angel Assault troops arrived dead on target and took it to the cult and renegades.
On turn three, a handful more World Eaters showed up. And so did the rest of the Imperials.

After a very good shooting turn for the Imperial lap-dogs the writing was on the wall. We called the game after four turns in favor of the Imperium. Then there was BBQ and birthday cake.
A fun game, I would like to try it again after the new Chaos codex comes out next week.
Which will lead to my next batch of modeling and painting madness.

The Emperor Protects

Especially on His Birthday

Another Dark Vengeance Unboxing

"You hate authority but like gas masks and cloaks? Well my fiend, the life of a henchman is perfect for you!"

The +4 big box of plastic krak arrived at my door yesterday evening. It did not disappoint.

The 40K box set have always been something special, all the way back to the 2nd edition. This time out we get two forces that have yet to headline, the fell forces of Chaos, and near and dear to me, The Dark Angels.

I spent last night putting the models together. All went smoothly, I used just a bit glue to keep them in place, but this is not at all necessary. Except for the Chaplain, he has to be glued. Cutting the models off the frames was a bit dicey in a few cases, due to a couple of long thin parts; the Dark Angel Captain's sword & head come to mind.

I have played Dark Angels since they were black. We will be getting to my collection once the new Codex comes out. I will happily add these the new figures to my army.

The Chaos models are damn nice as well. The huge Hellburte, The Chaos Lord and his six chosen buddies are all great additions.

But the most welcome is of course the cultists. A missing element from the game for a long while now. Important to the fluff, lots of fun for a campaign, and all around fodder, it is great to have them return in grand style. Hopefully the cultists box set will become a reality.

We are going to play thought the six missions that came with the set, just for fun. I'll report on that soon.

The Emperor Protects

Valkyrie's Teeth

Stupid adult life has totally gotten in the way of my playing with plastic army men!
I have been taking my 40K hobby in small doses, and working on a few neglected projects. I have been painting up my Tau army, which has been assembled since 2001, with a minor expansion in 2006. After painting up 48 Firewarriors and 17 Crisis Suits I needed a small break. I looked over at the shelf of half-done units.

I have been sloooowly working on three Valkyries and one Vendetta over the last year and a half. The lead model did not need much more work to get it finished. Two hours later I was done. It is such a good feeling to get a unit finished, especially one that had been put aside for such a long time. Now that this Valkyrie has been completed,  the next two should go much faster now that I know this is the way I want them to look.

 I know I am not alone in the fact that I have quite a few units and even armies that are being working on at the same time. I find it interesting how the ebb and flow of different projects happen. I find that planning to play in a League or a Apocalypse battle is a great motivator to finish up a project or two. We all have these slow burn projects, just waiting for the right motivation and or time to get them to the finish line.

I am trying to get better about this, to focus on just one army or unit and get it done before starting another one. With so many cool things to build and paint in the Grim Darkness, it gets hard to just pick one at a time!

First Stab at Sixth

Three games into Sixth and the sky did not fall. The game is not ruined. I do wonder how many gamers did "get out for good", as many threatened.  We like it. All battles have been small (1000-1500 points) so no allies yest, but maybe this weekend. Here are just the quick hi-lights of the rule changes for us.

Snapfire: Sure you only have a 1 in 6 chance, but it is a lot better than nothing, and did prove useful a couple of times.
Pre-measuring: We all were a big fan of this, and seemed to speed up play a bit.

Hull Points: The curse of the unkillable vehicle is finally over! The tanks and such seem to have a shorter lifespan, but we are all okay with it. All of us have suffered the endless cycle of rolling a hit, a pen, and then getting a one on the damage table. Now every glance/pen counts. Also, the random weapon destroyed is much better that having your opponent always take the big gun first.

Psychic Powers: Having the choice between your standard codex powers and the BRB powers is nice, and there are some nice powers in the BRB.

Assault Phase: A bit more steps, but does flow nicely after you get it down. The Look Out Sir rule is fun and a good balance against having your characters lead from the front. Precision Strike(and Shot) are an excellent counter to the lone figure with a Power Fist/Klaw hiding in a squad. We have not yet tried out challenges, but soon. Hammer of Wrath is so much fun, and just "feels right" for the game and the units that have it.

Missions: We have only played two of the different missions so far, but the addition of secondary missions is most welcome.

Flyers, fortifications, and allies will be in our next batch of games.

Overall we really enjoy what Sixth Edition has brought us. No, no huge changes, lots of refinements. Many small things that give the game back some of it's flavor from long ago.

For a little while to come this will be a common scene, play halted and rule books open. But a least the book itself is laid out pretty well. Just waiting for the mini edition.

The Emperor Protects

Battle Pict Captures

Lupis Rex backs up the Steel Legion and its (very) temporary allies.

Armageddon 23rd standing by for deployment.

The Gaze of Mork! (or Gork)