Blackstone Fortress Explorers

Let's get to the mighty heroes(?) of Blackstone Fortress! Starting with the man who puts Rogue in Rogue Trader, Janus Draik the Stylish.

Always hungry for knowledge and tasty raw flesh it's Dahyak Grekh the Kroot Warrior.

With a warp-blasting third eye and a thing for fancy headgear, please welcome Guild Navigator Espern Locarno!

They go together like fire and jelly, Holy Space Cleric Taddeus and everyone's favorite firebug and chainsaw murderer, Pious Vorne.

Deadly, enigmatic, and alluring, Eldar Ranger Amallyn Shadowguide has it all.

Twin little tea pots of death and larceny, Rein & Raus the ratling brothers.

Voted mostly likely to kill all humans, it's UR-025. Just don't call him a toaster.

The nine character figures were a lot of fun to paint with lots of little details. I decided to paint the mins close to the way they are in the game. UR-025 being the notable exception. I just really disliked the pastel paint job he is shown with. I figured a more traditional Adeptus Mechanicus paint scheme would do a better job at reinforcing his cover story.

Next week, Blackstone gameplay.

Go Throw Some Paint

In a Controlled Fashion, of Course

Blackstone Fortress Villians

The painting for Blackstone Fortress is complete! I had a good time painting them, very nice sculpts with crisp detail. Today let's look at the Bad Guys.

With the starting lineup of adversaries, the Traitor Guardsmen are numerous and belligerent. Two squads of seven give a great variety of poses and weapons. The Flamer can be quite deadly as can the Grenadier. Best to cleanse them all with fire.

Spindle Drones are (probably) native to the Fortress and get madder the more of them you kill.
Best to let UR-025 have its way with them.

Negavolt Cultists are another new creation for the game, and they are unpleasant "people".
Best to purge them from a distance.

The Ur Ghuls infestation is a classic example of what happens when you bring pets along on a picnic and then leave them behind. Best to cull the pack with fire.

Chaos Beastmen (as opposed to the "good" kind) are very smelly and dangerous.
Best to target and eliminate first.

Rogue Psykers can negatively affect your team from anywhere on the map.
Best to eradicate these floating abominations as fast as possible.

And most foul and dangerous of all, Chaos Lord Obsidius Mallex and his two Chaos Marines. Best to concentrate fire early and often.

Tomorrow a quick look at the Explorers!

Go Make Something

And Make A Board Game Better

Magic Robo Arms

I'll be honest, some of us laughed at the Citadel Assembly Handle when it was released. It just looked goofy, and kinda impractical.

I received one as a birthday gift, so I decided to give it a fair chance the next time I built something. 

A few days later I was deep into painting the Blackstone Fortress guys, when disaster struck! I lost track of where Ms Eldar Ranger was on the table and bumped her long rifle with my elbow and broke the slender weapon. 

With Vaul's grace I was able to find it on the carpet, but how to fix it? I wanted to use plastic cement so it would kind of weld back together. It is a super thin part so holding it in place for a few minutes for the glue to set, and then at least half an hour to really cure was going to be difficult. 

Unless one had some kind of wonder tool! I quickly set it up and did a dry fitting with no issues. A little bit of glue and presto! I placed the handle someplace safe from the cats and me. About a hour later I checked on it, carefully removing the clamps to find the rifle perfectly straight and solidly fixed.

I have since used them a few time for similar type of construction. The "arms" are well segmented to achieve almost any position. Very useful to secure a tricky part and let it dry while you move on the something else. Fun to use, inexpensive, and quite handy.

Go Build Something

And Let the Robo-Arms Help

Party Like it's 39919

Happy New year! Momentum has been increasing here now that the holiday season is finally past us. The Industrial terrain is complete, and the new city buildings are going well. I decided to go with the dusty tan look because I like it, and it gives good contrast to most models.

When the City is done we are going to try a short Kill Team Campaign followed by a full-blown 40K/Kill Team campaign kicking off in March.

There is a good backlog of board games we shall try in the upcoming months and report on.

I am going to do my best to keep my slightly aggressive painting/building schedule. Next on the bench will be the figures from Blackstone Fortress, and some after action write ups on the game as well.

I'm sure GW will have some surprises in store for us as the year unfolds. What happens after the next two Codexes? (Genestealer Cult and Sisters of Battle) We shall find out!

The Emperor Protects

With Champagne and Gunfire