Counts As Coteaz and Henchmen

I apologize for screwing up weekly posting already. It seemed a stretch in the first place that I would manage it, but even I didn't think I would miss the first week's post. I'll get on top of things around here. My excuse is work has been a blur of late; my project is ending and I am preparing to move to another. It's been all nerves waiting to see who lands where so far. My posting is secure as of yesterday.

Enough of that.

I have mentioned before about how I wanted to expand the Adeptus Mechanicus theme to more Imperial forces. There are a couple things that happened today that excite me even more in this regard; Forge World has released Tech Thralls, and Blight Wheel Miniatures has announced the Brotherhood. I'm sure I can find a home in my ever expanding forces for these beautiful miniatures. I have used the Blight Wheel Miniatures bionic arms as Servo Arms for my AdMech Marines, and they are crisp.

Today though, my expansion focuses on the Grey Knights codex (also the Inquisitor supplement I suppose, but I haven't seen it). I wanted to include Coteaz as an Allied Inquisitor in my force. He has been in my army since Codex: Daemonhunters. I've always loved the look and feel of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, and to include them I need him. So I set out to create a 'counts as' Coteaz with an appropriate Mechanicus feel.

I started with these bits. Coteaz is in power armour, right, so I planned another Techmarine, this one with a great hammer and some servo skulls to count as the psyber eagle. When I laid out the bits, though, I really wasn't feeling it. I tried a few different heads, including a couple IG heads thinking that sure, he is in power armour but he isn't a Space Marine. Still not there. I dove back into my bits box and tried to find better bits. No dice. But I did find one Techpriest Engineseer.

I had won him off eBay over the summer and forgotten about him. The Engineseer model has the baroque armour that fits an Inquisitor. He has a power pack and servo arm, which I modified to be a bit more dynamic. The model also has a two handed tech axe, which I handily converted into Coteaz's daemonhammer. I can't say this is an original idea. since I swear I've seen this conversion somewhere before. I wish I could give the guy credit. The model even has a searchlight, just as do the rest of my AdMech Marines. I did add three different servo skulls to count as his familiar. The psyber eagle gets extra attacks in assault, so I figured a swarm of servo skulls would represent that well.

At the same time I was working on getting my 'counts as' Coteaz finished, I was waiting for some greatcoat legs to arrive from Mad Robot Miniatures. I had ordered them as part of the Roll Call Steve ran to raise money to produce the amazing Kurgan Winter Guard. Sadly, my order was stolen right out of my mailbox. I waited a few weeks then, until I could afford to order more greatcoat legs. This time, I was able to expand my order somewhat, including 20 luminous CQ battle rifles, 10 combat shotguns, and 6 each of the flamethrower, grenade launcher, thermal gun, and plasma rifle. I have torsos aplenty standing by, as well as arms to build some 'counts as' Inquisitorial Henchmen.

But wait, there is more! I want each unit of Henchmen to be able to double as a squad of Stormtroopers or Veterans in my IG force. So there will be a de facto sergeant for each unit. For this I ordered Mad Robot Mini's Personalities head set. With all these details, I'm guaranteed to get a unit that stands out on the battle field.

I used Cadian torsos, heads, and arms. It is a pain in the ass to remove hands from lasguns, but it has to be done. The sides of the heads have been shaved down, the eyes filled with so called liquid green stuff, and then respirators from the Cadian command sprue added. For this initial squad I chose flamers and combat shotguns, which will be 'count as' hotshot lasguns.

They paint up real easy with red armour over grey coats. The exact mix was Adeptus Battlegrey, drybrushed Codex Grey and Fortress Grey. Black wash, repeat drybrush. The red armour was simply Mordian Red followed by Blood Red and Baal Red wash. Eventually my supply of paint 1.0 will run out and I will have to upgrade.

'Counts as' Coteaz all finished. His armour was painted exactly as the rest of the AdMech Marines in my force. The robes were based with Graveyard Earth, then overbrushed Kommando Khaki, followed by drybrush coats of Bleached Bone and Skull white.

I have to cast up some more custom bases for these guys. More to come on these guys soon. I'm waiting for respirators to arrive from an eBay win so I can get back to it with them.

Cheers,

-Xi

2014 Wishlist or Whatever

Happy New Year.

Yes I am aware that it's been two weeks or so since 2014 began. Meh.

Also, for those of you who have been kind enough to follow me, I do seem to hibernate when it comes to be the winter. My apologies for the resultant silence. As a result though, I have a few things to show you since last time... just not all at once.

2013 in summary: Unproductive. I painted only 24 models this year. I also began four separate terrain projects that sit unfinished. There is no excuse since I can lay hands to all of my projects right now as I sit typing. On the assembly front, I fared little better; building out 5 AdMech Marines and one generic AdMech Marines character. I should say that these are the only things built that were not painted.

On a better note, I did manage to finish the first AdMech Marines tactical squad for my army, along with a Contemptor Dreadnought. I have also got the army's first three Devastators completed. An Imperial Guard Enginseer was converted into a 'counts as' Coteaz, who will lead my 'counts as' Grey Knights force (I expect bits for this project to arrive this next week). For my Imperial Guard army, I painted up an old Rogue Trader era Rapier, two Steel Legion heavy bolter teams, the Azog pattern Rough Riders, and a Catachan lieutenant model.

2014: Setting Expectations

I promise to try to make an effort to work on getting at least one project mostly finished each month this year.

Seriously, I plan to finish at least one model a week this year. I have at least 15 AdMech Marines to finish and paint, so that is a good start right there. I have the 'counts as' Grey Knight force to work on once my order from Mad Robot Miniatures arrives. Currently on my work bench are a third Steel Legion heavy bolter team and a Sentinel. Finally on the to-do pile of miniatures is my AdMech Marines Master of the Forge. I need to finish sculpting his robes, rebuild his weapon mount, and then paint him up.

I have those terrain projects I started, as well. I have started an elevated pipeline/catwalk for my board, so I will need pillars, pipeline, and walkways. I also have the Necromunda card terrain I am replicating in foamboard. The last project will be shelved for now, in favor of working on a new project.

So I have some work for me this year. And my Oath of the Moment, right now, is that I will post weekly in 2014.

Cheers,
-Xi

Terraforming Necromunda

Remember these? I think I was actually hooked by GW's card terrain back in 1998 or so, when I saw the Imperial Firebase kit. I wasn't even playing 40k yet, but this kit had potential. I mostly forgot about it until I got into the hobby, but by then they were largely out of circulation.

Fast forward to last week or so, and I scored a massive bundle of Necromunda bulkheads and the card that goes with it. Now that terrain is great fun, but not super durable. The eBay auction I won indeed showcases what happens when your card terrain is much loved and hard-used. What to do, then?

Build em better, that's what.

I started with a sheet of .25 foamcore and some of the card levels I want to produce. I traced the sections onto the card and then cut them out, leaving me with this:

You can see on the cut sections where I marked out the slot lines. The biggest challenge in this project is to retain the modular nature offered by the card terrain. I have some ideas about how to best this challenge.

Closing, I'd like to once again plug Terragenesis, and thank the creator Gary James for putting it together in the first place; as well as thanking Andy Slater for keeping it up all these years. The community is amazing over there, and very supportive of all comers. This project was inspired by one of their monthly competitions. I encourage anyone interested in wargames terrain production to check it out.

Cheers,
-Xi

Forgeworld Updates and You!

Or more specifically, Forgeworld's latest PDF releases and what it does to my list. Armenneus Valthex is still the same price, points wise, but his warlord traits and bonuses only count for units with Chapter Tactics: Astral Claws. I'll go back to using a generic Master of the Forge with conversion beamer now, and keep using Chapter Tactics: Iron Hands.

In case you might have missed the Forgeworld updates, they are here:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/C/Charcterupdate.pdf

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/F/FWchaptertactics.pdf

Cheers.

Adeptus Mechanicus Devastators

So I happened upon these models on eBay and at a glance they seemed uniquely suited to my purposes. I snatched them up and what a deal, I must say. All of the Space Marines have the driver chest piece with the cog sigil, as well as the Mechanicus shoulder pads. When the models arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see that all the bolter marines had SM Scout Biker combi-bolters. The close combat marines had a variety of bits, including two of the old Blood Angels Honour Guard tech-axes, two each of Space Wolves power axes and swords.

Now unfortunately, these guys were assembled poorly and pained sloppily. Worse, even though they all sport the cog shoulder pad it is on the wrong side of the model. I carefully snapped all the arms off of the figures. They had quite a few layers of paint that a brake fluid bath took care of nicely. Once they came out, there were blobs of superglue revealed everywhere.

I did my best to scrape it out where I could.

Meanwhile, having this lot of marines arrive meant that the time had arrived to get some more heavy weapons, in the form of a SM Devastator box. I really can't say too much more to sell it than eight heavy weapon options. I've started out with the heavy bolters, since my first ever 40k figure was one of the 3rd edition versions of the same.

The challenge that the heavy weapons present is that they all have shoulder pads moulded as part of the sculpt. They also happen to be in the same wrong place for my amry... time to break out the razor saw.

It took a bit of doing, but I managed to get the pads replaced on the heavy bolters. The first taught me quite a bit about how to screw it up, but some greenstuff will fix that. The second went much smoother. Seen here as well are the bits for a missile launcher Devastator. I have a second set prepped somewhere. These were much more straight forward to convert once the moulded in shoulder pad was removed, just insert cog pad and viola. The rest all sit against the weapon or the power cables. I say its all worth the work in the long run.

Cheers,
Xi

90 Minute Time Limit Not Enough?

This post is in response to another I spied over on 40k War Zone. I had originally intended it to be a comment reply to their blog post, but it just sort of sprawled.

I think that 90 minutes is plenty of time to complete a tournament game. The thing about a tournament is that if you are playing here, you ought to have some idea of what goes where.

Organizers should have briefing time built into their schedules between games, to go over the scenario and answer questions related to them. Tables should be set up before hand, and not dicked with by players. Organizers should be clear beforehand about rules and rulings. Informing your players which rules will be allowed and that disputes will be read Rules as Written, so don't bother to argue and whine, thank you. A tourney organizer should never run an event alone, this guarantees shenanigans. They should instead appoint referees who can also field disputes and just keep an eye on things. When a game round ends, and a match is only 3 1/2 turns in, there is a problem.

Players should have their army lists ready when they arrive, and exchange them during the briefing period between games. They should also be able to deploy their army in a timely manner. Any follower of mine can tell you that my army of choice is the Imperial Guard. Of late, I am taking an IG force of nearly all infantry. My 1500 point list is something like 100 models, and I can get 'em all out of my army bag and onto a lunch tray for pre-deployment with ease. I reset units between games, and deployment, while not always artful, is quick.

Players who come unprepared don't get to play, period.

The first tournaments I attended, I placed poorly. In fact, in my 40k career I haven't had any tournament wins. I do always have fun, though. These tournaments had scoring based on performance, as well as army comp and painting. You didn't have to be the best painter to score a quick five points, either. There was usually about 20 guys turning out, to play three games. There was first, second, and third, as well as best painted and sportsmanship awards. Of course, Games Workshop used to maintain Outriders to run the tourney circuit, and offer prize support as well. We had pizza more often than not, and hearing '4,5, or 6 it' to settle something was the rule more than the exception. 90 minute rounds were what we played, and usually with 2500 points.
/rant

In other news, I've been building some terrain after spending most of September not accomplishing anything. Somehow, I was moving for the whole month even though the actual move took a day... someone will have to explain how exactly that works sometime.

I've got a pile of new stuff to work on, due to some killer eBay gets, so stay tuned for that.

Steve over at Mad Robot is working the Kurgan Winter Guard now, and I have a platoon of guardsmen waiting for when the greatcoats are released. I haven't quite decided what to do with them, either a third platoon for my existing forces or more 'counts as' Mechanicus, maybe Inquisitorial henchmen this time around. Time and finances shall tell.

Until next time,
Xi

September Update

Just a brief shot to show where I'm at.

Going into September, I have completed the first squad of Techmarines for my Adeptus Mechanicus themed Space Marine force. I have also finished my first ever Contemptor pattern Dreadnought. The next step is to take some decent pictures of the completed squad and their custom bases so I can show off.

I mean, you do deserve better pictures than these.

I have also finished making moulds for the aforementioned custom bases, and a related post is forthcoming.

Next on the workbench is another unit of Techmarines. I've already began assembly.

With what I learned from the last squad, assembly of servo-arms should be easier, and construction smoother.

Cheers,
Xi