The Pups geared for war

As I said in my previous post, I’d also finished 5 Blood Claws, well, here they are…

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Abaddon? Abandoned more like….

So what have I been doing since my last entry? Anyway, when was my last entry? August 2007? Really? Well bugger me…

GW has kind of taken a back seat for the last year or so. In that time I’ve completed my degree (I got a 2:1), got a full time job (at Bosch), got married (to the lovely Emma), got a part time job (at the Pub) and bought a house (in Diglis)!

But what of gaming related pursuits? Well…

 After my last outing in Brecon I went a bit mad and bought loads of Magic the Gathering cards and got a few of my mates at Uni into playing. It’s a bit of a laugh after you’ve had a few beers…

 I’ve got back into playing and running D&D which happens to be an age old passion of mine and something I thoroughly enjoy

 I’ve dabbled with my GW fantasy projects. I’ve played around with some army lists to make my Cult of Slaneesh into separate Dark Elf and Slaneesh armies but I’m not up to date on the new releases of Army books and figures etc so this is still a work in progress…

 Even without an army list to work to I can carry on painting! The Witch Elves are painted with the exception of finishing the detail on the command group. In addition, I’ve got one bolt thrower painted and I’ve done plenty of work with spray undercoat! I also managed to get loads assembled during those penniless months spent in University accommodation!

So, anyway, Brecon 09 is nearly upon us and for those who didn’t know its Warhammer 40k this year. I’ll only be there till the Wednesday due to my University Graduation ceremony being on the Thursday and picking up the keys to my shiny new house on the Friday. Got to get my priorities straight apparently, or so the wife tells me anyway…

Now I’ll freely admit that 40k is not my first choice when it comes to game systems. I think I’ve played 4th edition twice and both times my army ended up with more holes in it than the Royal Bank of Scotland’s end of year accounts. So this time will be different. I have a single goal for the week. To win one, single, solitary game. That’s it. Hardly ambitious I know, but surely even I can manage that……

So what army will I be using? Well there’s a funny story there! My first choice 40k army has been on the drawing board for a couple of years now. When they released 4th edition 40k I decided to get my arse in gear, learn the rules and build an army. Well I got as far as buying the army and that was it! So I have a nearly complete, 1500pt Black Templar Space Marine army sat patiently on their sprues and in their blister packs waiting…and waiting…and waiting…

And unfortunately they will still be waiting. With all the good will in the world I planned to put them together in the run up to Christmas and use the festive period to get them painted. Black Templar’s by their very nature should be easy to paint. They’re black for sake! However, in order to afford to put furniture in my, afore mentioned, shiny new house I’ve been working my butt off instead. As well as only having the standard Christmas Bank Holidays off from Bosch, I pulled double shifts at the pub as well. So, as you may have guessed, the Templar’s will not be crusading just yet.

“So what are you using?” I hear you cry.

Well, a while ago, I bought a second hand bargain off that well known auction website. I bought a standard sized Games Workshop hard sided carry case for £70.

“Bargain?” I hear you cry.

Well yes, I know I could have bought a brand new one for £30 but this one just so happened to come with an almost fully assembled, and quite well painted, 1500pt Black Legion Chaos Space Marine army!

The army contains (with photos):

Abaddon (I thought that was a place near Oxford, but apparently not…)
Plague Marines
Khorne Berserkers
Thousand Sons
3 squads of Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Dreadnought
Predator

And an expensive carry-case

So, in my opinion, that’s a damn good start!

Not knowing whether this was an army that’s ready to go war, I’ve consulted some other 40k players. Consensus is that my army list is a bit light on Heavy Support and Fast Attack. So I’m off this weekend to spend some of my hard earned Christmas cash on:

A squad of Chaos Havocs
A couple of Obliterators
A squad of Chaos Raptors
And possibly a squad of Terminators if I can stretch the cash and / or credit card that far…

The wife will just have to wait an extra month or two for some new curtains for the guest bedroom, or doilies for the coffee table or whatever else it is she insists we need. I can feel my priorities swinging back in my favour…
However in the current economic climate in makes prudent financial sense to try and conserve cash reserves, so I think I have 2 Space Marine rhinos and possibly a Land Raider that I can convert and claim were ‘captured’. The standard additions of skulls, spikes, chains and axes should give them sufficient chaos flavouring!

These more recent additions to the army will hopefully be assembled and undercoated in time to make the trip and should give me more than enough to field approximately 2500pts. Hopefully by the end of the week through trial and error (and learning the rules) I should have a good, balanced army and have hopefully won a game!! And then probably never ever use them again……

I’ll keep you all posted!

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Winter Wonderland

Wow these last few months have flown by and it’s nearly time to Mosey on down to Wales for another week of Gaming madness. Ive spent the last few weeks busily painting more Blood Angels completeing two more troop choices and a fast attack unit. Pics will follow in the next day or two once the camera is charged and it stops bloody snowing…..
There is still plenty of stuff that needs painting, such as HQ’s, plenty of tanks, terrain and hopefully i can squeeze in some extra stuff.
I have seven more days at work then my long weekend, which i hope to complete the rest of my foot troops. so fingers crossed you see a 2nd entry this month, maybe even 3 if i can get my tanks done in time too.
Now how to stop undercoat from freezing….

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Good, Green, ‘Armless Fun…

Yeah, I know, the Ork puns will eventually dry out. But hey; enjoy it while it lasts!

So… What have I been up to? Well, mostly painting Ork boyz! I’ve recently rediscovered the enjoyment of painting, mostly due to the wonderful character that these models possess. I present for your viewing pleasure, one work in progress boy and three from my previous batch of 20… In my opinion, the hooded Warhammer Orc head works well with the Bad Moon theme…

The painting is simple, shade, basecoat and one highlight – and as little paint mixing as possible. My trick last time was using the The Army Painter’s dip, but this time I am going dip free – my latest obsession are the Citadel Washes. While I decry the decision to drop the inks completely, the washes are a helpful tool – rendering the use of my Vallejo glaze mix redundant in all but the most specialised of cases.

Ok, ok, I know that they haven’t got any arms… They will eventually be Shoota Boyz, and when assembling them I decided that it would be easier to paint the arms and guns separately (they’re not as helpful as Space Marine plastics, but then they’re not a bunch of pansies either…) but underestimated the logistical problems of sticking them together afterwards… This has been impounded by my accidental alteration of the skin mix on the second batch (well I am only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night…) so will require me to be extra careful!

Well, by the time of the gaming weekend (well for me, anyway) I should have 40 Boyz assembled and painted, with a Warboss, 3 Mega Armoured Nobz and 3 Killa Kanz undercoated and ready for action…

In the pipeline is still my Warboss conversion, a Deff Dread, Shokk Attack Gun, a Battlewagon, Flash Gitz and yet more troops… This army is now my official long term project of 2009… If all goes well: Apocalypse Christmas 2009 anyone?

Waaaaagh Gitzmasha is coming…

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Change we can believe in? I voted Mork.

… Well… Perhaps in the USA but now in the world of my painting!

My wonderous green horde is a) still grey and b) refusing to move from their sprues… So while they’re in this wonderous state, I’m putting out a call: I’m after as many hooded Orc heads from the Warhammer Orc regiment sprue as possible (they tend to be the one no-one uses!) to get that the wonderful Bad Moon look… Support the Orks!

And yes… There will be pictures once I get a weekend to myself and can get stuff assembled – watch this space!

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It’s a Waaagh-de-ful World

I see battlefields of green…. Gretchin too
I see ’em fight… For me, not for you
And I think to myself… What a Waaagh-de-ful World

But seriously, what have I been up to with the ol’ Orks..? Well, after a serious bout of swapsies, I’m sitting upon a nice horde, with only a few more elements remaining to get. Erm, that’s about it really… I’ve got to start assembling the blighters and work out how to paint them now!

I’m considering a Bad Moonz themed force, so boyz (mostly shootas) supported by shiny goodies, which will take DakkaDakka.com’s Ork Tactica prize for being a rubbish choice which won’t win anything, but hey ho…

Painting wise, I’m considering a mixture of washes, basic highlights and then Army Painter dip for that “for Mork’s sake, I ain’t got the time” finishing touch… I just have to get some test miniatures assembled first… Watch this space! But don’t hold your breath!

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