The Warmadillo is complete!

o/

Well it took a bit longer than anticipated, but my 30k Auxilia / 40k Imperial Guard Vanquisher tank is finally finished! I'm quite pleased with the model overall, and am not adverse to the idea of getting several more at a later date. For the time being however, I'll just have to content myself with just this one. 

Damn it! I need to touch up the right side vision slit on the front hull.

If I were to get more, I would do a few things differently. First of all, all of the wheels in the running gear will all be of the same color! It doesn't look like much to do, but for whatever reason, it was a royal pain in the ass painting them different colors! The green especially-which didn't want to coat the primer at all! No idea what that was all about, the vallejo green had no issues covering the base coat of paint...

Also I might take a page from Inso (yeah, check out that Chimera conversion based off this same model!), and omit the tools and chains on the hull. A few of those fuckers simply did not want to fit into the allotted slots and at one point I was afraid I was going to break the tank's hull trying to force them in! Apparently snap-fit doesn't allow for even the slightest inkling of' paint!

Those two complaints aside, this was a lot of fun to both build and paint! I ought to have added some decals to the hull, but got ahead of myself with the weathering, leaving me with only the turret to apply them too. Not too many though, just aquilas on the left and right sides, ID #'s on the left and rear, kill marks above the left side aquila, and lastly, a bit of decoration on the right: the skillfully painted (by the crew, not by me) Warmadillo icon! That decal was a Fallout Hobbies' custom design that was originally intended for my now long defunct 15mm Gruntz army. That said it works just as well for 28mm scale, as it would have had for the 15.

Now all the Warmadillo needs is an enemy Landraider, Battlewagon or the like to blow up!

This week's round up

o/

For those fearing a sudden exodus of my 40k collection, well...it hasn't happened yet. Patience grasshoppers, patience... 

This really looks weird given the two different types of resin.

This week was Battletech's turn on the ol' auction block: 5 mechs and half a dozen tanks. In exchange I did recently got a new Mechwarrior Online-styled Awesome 8R for less than half the cost of the pewter MWO mechs I got last Christmas. For those not familiar with the Awesome variants, well...let's just say that of all of 'em, the 8r is the worst one. That's alright though, it looks cool and I have a fondness for mediocrity.

All told now I have a mech company, a single tank lance and a reinforced conventional infantry company. Given that we play maybe one or...two games per year at best. This little collection still ought to give me wondrous variety.

Its coming along...

As for my Vanquisher, I've managed to paint the basic camo on the turret, still needs another coat, plus details, decals and dirtying up, but its getting there...slowly. 

Here we see Chapter Master Profanitus, as he slays
the accursed leader of the Fallen!

And finally, I got in a thousand point, 8th 40k game with Bob Saturday evening. It was his first bout of the new edition, and he's only coming around to it begrudgingly, much like I was/still am. He'll be posting his thoughts on the game soon, and I'll add a link to it just as soon as that post arrives.

30k/40k Rapier Laser Destroyer Conversion

o/

So, I've been working to make my 30k armies cross-compatible with 40k as the latter is played much more frequently here locally. So much so that I've been pondering phasing out the 30k part altogether...

MOAR DAKKA! Isn't needed in this case...

Thus my 30k Imperialis Auxilia Rapier battery needed a refit. Admittedly it looked really cool with its quad-multi-laser, but it didn't really bring anything to the table (so to speak) given that my Auxilia is already festooned with heavy stubbers! True, it could take out a rhino in one volley (theoretically), however Rhinos aren't a problem, Landraiders and other heavily armored tanks are! As such, it has never been used.

So, I decided to refit it with a laser destroyer array, or rather the equivalent thereof which is available in both 30k and 40k unlike its previous weapons fit. I decided on using the Mechanicum's eradicator-beamer as it looks cool, is fairly inexpensive on ebay, and after getting some measurements of said bit from Bob (who has a dunecrawler from which this bit comes), decided it was also just the right size for my Puppetswar weapons mount. So a bit o' glue, a pinch of profanity  as well as a spare radar dish and wallah, its built!

No doubt this gun will move this little guy way up on the target priority list!

Yeah I like that. Now all it needs is a bit of paint. Given the recessed areas and being mostly mechanical gubbinz, I'm thinking that this will be a fairly quick, mostly drybrushing project.

Meng King Tiger WIP 2

o/

I'm chugging along, albeit slowly. The top and rear hulls are now attached and base coated as well. A note on that: being a snap-fit model, once the hull is assembled, it ain't coming apart! So make sure you have the tracks on beforehand as I don't envy anyone trying to put them on with the fenders already in place...

You can see how well I planned out this project by just how poorly
the road wheel colors match up with the hull's camo...

I'm pretty happy with the camo thus far, though I'm thinking it might need a bit more green. Dunno, we'll see I guess. I lost the hull mounted MG when I tried to force the bit into it's allotted slot and it instead popped out from between my fingers and disappeared into thin air (seriously, I didn't hear it even hit the floor)! A short, profanity-laced search ensued, but ended quickly when I spotted a spare heavy stubber.

I still need to add the details, like shovels, tow chains and the like.

I shortened the length and it fit into the hull mount w/o any further modification needed. So, whilst I previously was debating using this for a resurrected (in some form) Bolt action army, instead I'll stick with my original plan and use it as a Vanquisher for 30k/40k. To that end I ordered a Onager Dunecrawler's neutron laser bit to use as a vanquisher cannon. It ought to fit to the turret's gun mantlet perfectly!

With some luck, I'll have the hull done and the turret in-progress by this time next week.

Aww, its a 'Cute' King Tiger!

o/

I first saw this model on Inso's World where he's been converting them into Leman Russes of various types. Its adorable and I wanted one to use as a Vanquisher for my 30k Outremar Militia forces. 

Even with shipping, this clocked in at less than 1/3 the price of a Leman Russ!

Its debatable as to whether or not any modifications would be required to 40k it up, though I'm still considering it. Regardless, I'll just downgrade the hull mounted heavy bolter to a heavy stubber, which is already the go-to anti-infantry weapon of my Outremar army. 

That or I could use it for Bolt Action. True, I don't have a Bolt Action anymore...however Tiger II's start at the 500 point mark, which is what my old BA army maxed out at! Barring getting lucky with the one-shot airstrike/artillery barrage, that army would have been all but helpless were a Tiger II to appear across the table from it (epitomizing the Tiger Fear rule).

Given the overlapping running gear, I opted to paint-as-I-go with this tank and thus far, the road wheels and tracks are as far along as I've gotten. Indeed, by going for the multi-colored wheels I made life rather difficult for myself as I had to go all the way up thru the dirtying up phase for them, despite the fact that most of the tank is still on the sprue!

This was far more tedious than it looks...

In hindsight, I've really been kinda spoiled by GW designed tanks, as virtually all of their tanks' running gear is concealed from both view and the paint brush! Next up will be camouflaging the top hull and fenders before attaching it, as I don't want to get paint all over the finished treads (and sloppy as I am, that would happen!). Also, this is a snap-fit kit, so getting glue all over the paint isn't a concern.

Oops. I guess there should have been one more green wheel instead of a reddish one.

There are several other tanks available in this series, and I'm all but certain that I'll eventually get at least one Sherman to use as a grot tank. I've already seen a few good examples around the ol' interwebz used for that purpose and they really do make for a good proxy!

Its just about the right size too!

Some wee little pirates...

o/

Pic from their website and entirely
too well painted and clean to be
one of my paint jobs!

Aways back, I ordered a single 'fantasy pirate' (which just happens to have the same build/stature of a Grymn) from Hasslefree minis. This order took what seemed like an inordinate amount of time to arrive, but given that (1) toys are rarely a high priority when it comes to necessities and (2) they generously sent a second, free mini as compensation for the delay, hell...if anything I encourage them to be late every time! lol, yes they're still my favorite mini company in case anyone was wondering. :-)

He'll be a Rogue Trader (force commander) leading the Outremar contingent allied to my Salamanders. I have a little fluff write up for hm already, but will save that for when he's all painted up.

The semi-insane Myr'dok in all her glory!

The gifted mini was the companion pirate to the one I ordered. As you can see, I already had one of these painted up as Myr'dok for the G-Team for Rogue Stars (you know, that game I like making crews and back stories for, but don't actually play...). So I'm not sure what I'll do with the freebee just yet. Perhaps my beloved Wolfy or Hoss will want her for one of their RS crews or something.  

Still plodding along on the 30k front...

o/

These three are the latest painted editions to my 30k Salamanders & Outremar (Imperialis Auxilia) army. Nothing fancy, just a bolter grunt along with two lascarbine grunts. One thing of note is the Iron Warriors debris on the Outremar bases.

Whilst armed, armored and capable of killing a marine or two (total, per game...for the entire allied contingent), they're hardly frontline troops. Instead they're more like a rear guard*, mopping up after the Salamanders, dispatching enemy wounded, and salvaging what they can to help the Salamanders replenish their woefully depleted stores of equipment.

*Which explains why they're not mentioned in the linked bat rep above.

Some Salamanders & Friends

o/

As a reward for their victory this past weekend, the 3 Salamander bolter grunts have made it into the painting queue. I realized after base-coating that two of their bases were plain, so I had to go back and add stuff, hence the odd colors on those bitz.

Ack! My cell phone's flash cast these in a really harsh light!

The one with the red shoulder pad will be a Sgt., who has a 'master-crafted bolter'. Previously, master-crafted bolters just got a scope, a lick of gold paint or something like that. However with the advent of the Primaris Marines, their bolt rifles are a great way to make an upgraded bolter stand out a bit from just the 'regular' variety.

Ugh, the flash was even worse on these two!

I also finished painting another Grymn in the more normal-ish uniform and armor colors. I'm basing them (which includes rebasing the first) the same as I am both the Rainbow Warriors and the Salamanders. This will allow them to be used as allies in some form or fashion in the future.

The 30k Blast Pistol

o/

In the Forgeworld's Imperialis Auxilia army list there's a curious weapon that has a stat line but no descriptive entry. Its just an oversight I'm sure, and considering the typos that Forgeworld had in the previous publication of this list, if this is the only issue then I'm good with it! Anyways, this is the Blast Pistol:


Type: Pistol

Basic Stats: Range: 6", S:5, AP: -

Special Rules: Twin-Linked, Gets Hot.


So...a pistol that hits like a truck, but has no penetrative power. Its pathetically short ranged, but has a high probability to hit, except when it blows up in the shooter's hands. I pondered that a bit, and to me that sounds like the 40k equivalent of a Blunderbuss.

Unglamorous as a blunderbuss is, I find it curious that it only squad leaders and officers can get them. I suppose then that its meant to either be an aristocrat's weapon, or...that anyone of seniority in the Imperialis Auxilia potentially bought the rank rather than earned it, and is assumed to not be able to hit the broad side of a barn.

So why am I bothering with any of this you ask? Well, I wanted to give my Outremar Platoon Commander a weapon that would set him/her apart from the rest of the platoon. Hasslefree's Grymn miniature line has a lot of different sculpts, however the variety of weaponry is somewhat lacking. Its mainly 2-types of assault rifles (which easily pass for either autoguns or bolters), dual pistols and lastly heavy and/or special weapons.

Note: The shells in the bandolier on her back are now almost as big as the gun itself!

So I took one of my Grymn grenade launcher troopers (the unpainted one), clipped the barrel of the grenade launcher off. From the barrel I clipped off the grenade launcher's tip and glued it neatly onto the GL nub that the (now former) GL trooper was holding, and with that: tahdah! Due to her funky little pistol, I now have a Platoon Commander who stands out of the crowd.

That said, in a squad full of Heavy Stubbers, my PC armed with a blast pistol will be a complete waste of points, but...well, at least she looks cool.

Perhaps it was faulty intel...?

o/

I took my Alpha Legion/Outremar army on its first official outing this past Saturday vs. Bob and his Iron Warriors. This was to be the point where theoryhammer would be put to the test. I was using the Sacrificial Offering Rites of War, where my Outremar only deploy and more or less act as bait, and all of my Alpha Legionnaires would arrive via reserves and outflank. Sounds great on paper and I was dying to see how it would work on the table top!

Turns out, Bob's army was the perfect foil for this tactic, as his army included a pair of landraiders full of Cataphractii Terminators on the flanks, ugh! Anti-tank weaponry is sorely lacking in my army which is something I've needed to address for quite some time but never actually got around to doing. Still, my Alpha Legionnaires pressed the attack!

The following of more of a highlight reel rather than a proper battle report:

It wasn't till the bottom of turn 2 that I thought to start taking photos. Here you see the Alpha Legion arriving enmass on turn 2. That said, I never bothered to take pics of the Techmarine & Servitors, Predator and Exodus' paltry right flank assault force. Despite Exodus killing nearly every marine he shot at!

Everyone knows how this one goes, we've all been there: 4 meltaguns in point blank range = 1 penetrating hit which turned that curious looking twin-lascannon sponson into goo. Yeah, good job guys. The termies wanted none of that and jumped out to eliminate the threat. One was vaporized via overwatch before they tore my tactical support squad to pieces...

Ya know, the Iron Warriors' trait which allows them to not have to take morale tests inflicted by shooting casualties? Yeah well, my Centurion was starting to loathe that right about here...

The Outremar cower in fear as death itself approaches the other side of their Aegis defense line.... 

To their credit, the little bastards passed their LD check due to being stubborn in their deployment zone, and kept these monsters in place for another round...

My flank assault is caught in the Iron Warriors' lethal crossfire, and quickly the ranks start to thin...

You know how this went, but it made for a nice photo op at least.

The shattered remains of my Centurion lead blob finally reaches the Breachers marines, and they would spend the rest of the game there (with the Centurion and Apothecary becoming my army's only survivors).

The Iron Warriors Praetor and command squad charge my Outremar Force Commander ("The Gov'na") and his Grenadier bodyguards. They Outremar were eradicated w/o inflicting any return casualties.

In the end, we tallied the Vps as: Iron Warriors 12, Alpha Legion 0. In hindsight I'm not sure how we reached that number as Bob had 3 objectives, 1st blood, line breaker & martial hubris (i.e.: Alpha Legion arrogance) VPs., which totals 6...that said, I still had none. So mathematical skills aside (of which I have few), it still totaled out to Iron Warriors: lots, Alpha Legion: (still) at 0. At least I didn't get tabled!

Still it was a fun game and Bob and I reminisced a bit mid-game about how our 30k game was 'like how 40k used to be'. As such whilst it may be back to the drawing board for my army, I'm looking forward to more 30k in the future!

On a much different note: Playing a game of Rogue Stars vs. Hoss,  my Beloved Wolfy killed half of his force with brutal efficiency and caused his survivors to flee the field! Thus, if we lump our two games together it comes out to a draw!

The Outremar are getting even MOAR DAKKA!!!

o/

Originally these were intended for different squads, hence the different should pad colors. That said I'll probably just leave em as is for the time being.

Back in October I placed an order with Hasslefree minis. They were running a sale for Halloween and as usual, I couldn't resist. Whilst these minis arrived about two weeks ago, things have been so busy I haven't had a chance to do anything with them yet.

They have the usual 2 wounds, but I usually put 3 Grymn on each base. These squads don't have Sergeants, but the team which will have the Grymn with the laptop will visually serve as such.

Imperial Auxilia fire support squads require a minimum of 5 teams, and like all 30k fire support units they all need to have the same type of weapon's fit (which makes my heavy bolter team sad). However as Rob and Screech will (probably not so fondly) remember, multiple twin-heavy stubbers, all firing at one unit are something to be feared! Think of it like this:

15, twin-linked, 36" ranged bolter shots aimed at your blob of Marines

My 2 old Quad stubbers laid some serious hurt on the nids, and space marines weren't too fond of being on the wrong end of that either! So if I park this squad behind an aegis defense line with my quad-multi-laser team back there as well and hell, my Alpha Legionaires may just sit back and watch that light show with amusement!

Just trying to map things out.

o/

Not a whole of physical progress on the hobby front this week. I did however make a chart showing how my 30k army is coming along.

Its about half painted...which is already better than most of my past armies.

If everything was assembled (and its not), the army tops out at about the 1750 point mark. Its still a bit light in the anti-tank department but that aside its fairly well rounded. You'll also note from the chart that Centurion Asirnoth has been demoted to a mere Sgt. As cool as that mini looks, I want a commander who brings a bit more oomph to the tabletop. Thus I managed to p/u the BoC terminator Captain for $6 on ebay who will now lead the army.

Speaking of, I think I'm just going to build what I have so I can at least play a game of 30k if the opportunity arises. The current rate of build/paint/repeat method, odds are I wouldn't have a field-able army for at least another year at best. Not sure if I would ever complete my Alpha Legion with that sort of neverness-like timeline...lol.

Edit: Thus I assembled another Sgt., but it'll be easier to paint before assembly is complete...so I guess I'll go into build everything mode after this mini.

The Outremar NEED MOAR DAKKA!!!

o/

As my Outremar lack the number needed to field an Infantry Fire Support squad of (5) twin-heavy stubber teams (whereas I only have 2), they're sorely lacking in massed firepower. The slow roaming cannon-fodder blob squad of 20 Outremar only have an 18" range with their auxilia rifles, and the grenadiers have bolters and grenade launchers which is better but still lacking. My Leman Russ does have a multi-laser and heavy stubber, but those are little more than an after thought as its main job will be tank-hunting with its vanquisher cannon.

True the Alpha Legion will be on the table too, but they'll be busy securing objectives, taking out enemy characters and other important targets. Hanging back and saturating the other end of table with massed fire is what the Outremar are for. Going the cheap route (rather than buying those 3 more Twin-Heavy stubber teams),  I opted for a Quad-Multilaser Rapier team.

A grymn for scale, though not one of the crew for it. I kinda like the fact that it looks a bit like a robot!

I say cheaper as I didn't buy the Forgeworld model, but rather an alternate model from Puppetswar. No guns were included with that, but they weren't needed as I already had 2, twin-gatling guns that were originally to go with this mini (which was given to a friend sans-gatling guns).

I put it on the base as to minimize the wear and tear on those little legs.

This little bugger (and its 2 crew) will give me 6, twin-linked strength 6, AP6, 36" shots per turn! Oh yes please, whether hosing down infantry squads or hull pointing rhinos to death, this little unit will bring some much needed dakka till the twin-heavy stubber squad can be brought to bear.

My "Brexit" purchase

o/

Whilst the world reeled in shock at the unexpected voting result in the UK, and the value of the British pound dropped to its lowest point since 1978, I thought (as most everyone did): "how does this effect me?"

The answer:   FORGEWORLD'S ON SALE!!!!!!

lol, actually Hasslefree Miniatures has been all too happy to tout the low price of their products to foreign buyers in all of their news letters since the Brexit vote, so I'm not the only one to cash in on the event. Whilst that is tempting, I instead spent my $$$ on Forgeworld given I had recently gotten a bunch of Grymn anyways.

The nightmarishly frequent typos in the 'Tempest' FW book's Militia army list have been corrected in this tome.

Though still on a Grymn related note, I bought the Crusade Imperialis army list book. Now my Grymn-turned-Outremar Imperial Militia have an actual rulebook and not a hacked Russian PDF!

True to form for a legion that prefers a shroud of secrecy, their decal sheet was decidedly difficult to photograph. This photo is the best I could manage.

The Alpha legion weren't left out either, as I got their decal sheet. I'm waiting for the updated and combined into one volume HH Space marine 'red book' to come out and then I'll get that for my Alpha Legion as well. Shouldn't be long now since the 'special edition' of it sold out near-instantaneously!

New Toys!

o/

As I mentioned previously, I sent a bunch of minis off to Noble Knight Games for trade-in credit, and I received my credit just in time to buy some goodies on the last day of Noble Knight's spring sale! As you'll see, I got a bit of a hodgepodge of stuff for a variety of games:

Runts for the Runt God!

First up, some more (and much needed) Grymn for my 30k Outremar army. I can now field legal army with 1 HQ and 2 Troops choices in the primary detachment. These little guys and girls will flesh out my Grenadier squad to the 10-strong minimum. They're armed with bolters, and the Sgt.'s 2 pistols will count as a blast pistol which is twin-linked, STR: 5, and of such short range its liable to only ever be used in overwatch…but still looks cool which is the important part, right?

Right.

Next up: A TIE/FO Fighter for X-Wing. This gives us a trio of the new TIEs, only now we have all of the pilot options available. 

Vroom, vroooooom!

Next on the list is a pair of Antenocitis Workshop's Anomala car terrain pieces for Infinity. Aren't they adorable??? One of the Scotts (in name not heritage) at the FLGS who play Infinity (of which we have at least 3) has a bunch of these of various designs. Both my beloved Wolfy and I have always wanted some of our own even though she rarely plays the game and I don't. Infinity still intrigues me though and I'm liable to give it another go at some point.

Speaking of Infinity, I've always liked this Bombshell mini, and am thinking that I could use her for Infinity. Whilst she looks a bit top heavy (and not in the usual buxom manner), once painted she'll look better with her space suit's clear acrylic dome attached (and probably look even more off balanced too!). I was thinking she'd make for a good Mercenary Wardriver Hacker stand-in, as currently Corvus Belli doesn't make a mini for the Wardrivers. I guess she's hyper-allergic to the rest of my little Ariadna force, and is stuck wearing the bulky enviro-suit as a result…or something.

Last up is another Bombshell Miniatures mini: The HOpR Bot. I have no idea what I'll use this for, maybe Gruntz (not that I'll ever apparently play that game) or something. Who cares though, as again its kinda cute even if only as a shelf decoration.

….aaaand with that I had just enough of a credit left to cover the shipping cost.

Outremar Pattern Leman Russ: Work begins...

The pics I took of my latest finished Alpha Legionnaire, which...true to form for that particular model (whom I've dubbed 'the problem child') came out lousy. So, into the trash those pics went and to be honest I did't feel like retaking them, as such I'll just save that for later. Instead I'll just make this a short post showing that the painting has started on my Outremar Pattern Leman Russ.

An Outremar Servitor, dutifully guards it's assigned tank.

The Outremar are too short to 'reach the pedals' or see out of the gun sights, etc., in the human scaled interior of a standard Leman Russ. Similarly, due to the imperium's mediocre understanding of technology and the resulting lack of an auto-loader in the turret, man-handling the massive battle cannon shells was also out of the question. So a complete redesign was needed (not that you can really tell from the above pic).

My 1st Leman Russ in....years.

o/

As I've mentioned several times now, my fledgling Alpha Legion/Outremar army for 30k is very lightly armed. Previously, the most powerful weapon in their inventory was the autocannon on my Predator tank, however soon I'll have a leman Russ and its mighty battle cannon to add to their arsenal.

Dust. Why are these things always coated in dust?

I haven't had a Leman Russ in my last 2-3 Imperial Guard armies, mainly because its primary armament looks just plain dumb! The ridiculously over-sized gun mounted on an equally under-sized turret is laughable. A gun that large belongs on a WWII battleship, not a tank. Its been something of a long standing joke in the 40k community as to how the interior of a Leman Russ' turret actually functions. Officially I think GW's explanation is: 'Its shrouded in mystery...'. Unofficially i think its: pure fucking magic.

HERESY! *BLAM*!!!

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of Leman Russes over the years. Hell, at one time (4th edition I think) I had a full armored company of them! That said, the one with the old Forgeworld Conqueror turret was always my favorite. With much more realistic proportions, I'd say about 90% of the time I simply used the Conqueror as a standard Leman Russ.

Coming back to the present however, another complaint I have with the Leman Russ is: when did the damn thing rise up to a price of fifty-freaking-dollars? Yes, yes, I know EVERYTHING made by GW is overpriced but seriously, what the hell?

Looks like it was put together well at least (I hope!).

Trying to keep costs down, I turned to my trusted friend ebay, where I proceeded to lose at least a half dozen or more auctions over the past few weeks to obtain a cheap Russ. NIB auctions save at best $5-$10 off of retail, assembled (often poorly) models go often for close to regular MSRP (or so many of their very proud seller's price them), 'pro-painted' (those that actually are and not those that laughably claim to be) go for about triple that number.

Eventually, I got the old jalopy pictured above for twenty bucks which is more than I wanted to spend, but all things considered I guess I ought to count myself lucky. I wanted one without sponsons and skipped many an auction with shitty/blurry/unfocused pictures (which oddly, is a fairly frequent occurrence), because I didn't want glue scarred sides resulting from where the side-sponsons had been ripped off either.

Hopefully this old wreck will get here sometime this week, and won't have any unpleasant hidden surprises in its construction which is always a concern with used ebay acquisitions. If all goes well, I'll have it converted (in a decidedly non-standard manner) and ready to paint here sometime in the next 2 weeks or so.