Tag: Militarum Tempestus

Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good

Hey everybody,
So it’s been a while since the fourth book in the Psychic Awakening series was released, but I’m only now trying to catch up with these things, so hopefully there will be something of a flurry of blog posts in the next few weeks as I make every effort to see what’s been going on over the last few months! As it happens, the global lockdown has meant this catch-up is a lot easier, as the releases coming out of Nottingham have stopped – otherwise, I’m sure it would be months before I could have properly caught up with things!

Psychic Awakening The Greater Good

The Greater Good focuses on three factions – the T’au, the Astra Militarum, and the Genestealer Cults. Let’s first of all take a look at the crunch in this book, which is a little bit disappointing if I’m being perfectly honest…

The T’au get the lion’s share here. While previous books in the series came with a single model release, The Greater Good technically had quite a few. We saw a Start Collecting box for the Genestealers, as well as the new Kelermorph model that was previously only available via a Kill Team set, and we had Shadowsun released in a new plastic sculpt. I’ve moved away from the T’au Empire, having sold all of my models off last year, but I still think this new model looks amazing, and would have for sure picked her up if I had been collecting those models still.

The new T’au rules therefore have an entire page devoted to the new Shadowsun’s datasheet – she is clearly a busy girl these days! They also have the standard name generator, and new Sept Tenets that you can use in place of those provided in the Codex. There are also new relics and stratagems rounding out the mix, which follow the now-established routine for these books by providing more model-specific stratagems – for instance, there are quite a few Kroot-specific stratagems, as well as one for the Firesight Marksman, etc. Interestingly, we then get the supplement for The Eight, Commander Farsight and his buddies that was originally printed back in Chapter Approved 2018. I guess they wanted this supplement to remain viable, much like that for the Ynnari that had appeared previously in a White Dwarf. I don’t recall if the CA2018 supplement had full rules for the Enclaves, including warlord traits and stratagems, but we get the full mini-dex treatment here, which is nice!

Astra Militarum are next up, and while they don’t have as many pages devoted to them, they still get the usual name generator, new stratagems, new Regimental Doctrines, and a couple of pages of Tank Aces which are a little like warlord traits but for tanks – you can choose one of them instead of a warlord trait, and there is a stratagem that can give you access to them if you choose to keep the warlord trait (or want a second Ace in the army!)

There is then something that I didn’t see coming – a mini-dex for the Militarum Tempestus! Back in 6th edition, these guys had their own book, but obviously they have since been enveloped into the wider Astra Militarum, with the result that the rules can sometimes be a bit clunky. Well, they’re still a bit clunky now, but at least we get more rules for this small sub-set of the army, which I think it really pretty cool! There are six different Militarum Tempestus Regimental Doctrines that you can choose, instead of the Storm Troopers doctrine from the main book, as well as relics and warlord traits, and two pages of Tempestus-specific stratagems! It’s a really nice addition, and I’m really pleased to see them doing this!

Finally, though, we come to the Genestealer Cults, who have the least new stuff. Sure, we get the expanded rules for Cult Creeds, allowing for us to pick our own rather than stick with those from the Codex, and we get more Stratagems and Creed-specific psychic powers (not forgetting, of course, the name generator!) But there are almost two pages devoted to errata for the Cult Ambush and Brood Brothers rules, and that’s that. I suppose it’s kinda nice to have this in a book, and not have to also carry around a printed FAQ, but even so. It definitely feels like Genestealer Cults get the short end of the stick on this one. But I suppose the Codex is fairly new in comparison to the other factions in the book, so they have the least to be added… maybe…

The lore is an interesting update to that presented in the T’au Codex, as we learn more about the ill-fated Fourth Sphere expansion. There are some interesting details about battles with the Death Guard, and we get some info on a Cult uprising led by the Pauper Princes. The atmosphere of some of these stories is quite claustrophobic, which is echoed in the mission included in the book, which includes Theatres of War rules, aptly named “Cavern Warfare”.

All in all, it’s a nice book, and I do enjoy seeing the various updates that they’re providing for the various factions throughout this series. I guess, being a Cult collector, I’d have liked to have seen more for them!

However, I thought I’d take the opportunity in today’s blog to talk more about the project I mentioned briefly in my last blog – the resurrection of my Tempestus Scions army! This is a project that goes back years, and I had started to make some progress with it at the start of 8th edition, where I planned an army split roughly 50/50 with Scions and Skitarii. Well, things have moved on a little now, and I’m thinking of something a little different.

This list has a core of Tempestus Scions, but adds on a bit of the more weird and wonderful aspects of the Imperium, without (I think) breaking the battle-forged rules. I’ve decided to use the plastic Commissar as just the regular elite choice, and have the finecast Lord Commissar for the HQ choice. Doing so, along with the Bullgryns and Command Squad, I’ve got a separate Vanguard detachment for the additional command points. I do plan to build out the Scion squads to 10-man squads each, which may involve reducing them from 4 to 3 squads in total. Not decided yet. I also need to buy the parts for the second Tempestor Prime, though that might be dropped anyway.

My plans for the list had always been to see wave after wave of orders being transmitted across the table, though I’m not 100% sure it will work as I see it in my mind! I guess time will tell on that one!

As well as using the psyker model from Blackstone Fortress, the list will allow me to resurrect another long-dormant project in the shape of these girls – looking forward to getting them painted up at last!

A catch-up!

Hey everybody!
It feels like it’s been a while, doesn’t it? After celebrating my blog’s sixth birthday, it seems like other things have come into play, and I’ve not had a great deal of time for much else… well, let’s see, shall we?

To start with – check it out! I’m calling these chaps done for now – last weekend, there was a painting competition at my local Games Workshop (that is, a competition that was held via facebook, given the current climate). The brief was to paint an infantry unit at minimum squad size, and while there are perhaps a couple of details I could improve upon, I still like the fact that I’ve managed to get these done! The start of my Blood Angels – so let’s see what comes next, eh?

In the meantime, I’ve decided to resurrect this old project, and have been putting some details on to the chap in the middle there with the plasma gun. They’re real nice models, as you can see, and while the trim there is quite fiddly, it’s nevertheless really gratifying when these things start to come together like this! Of course, it’s going to make it difficult to keep going with the entire platoon, for sure, but it’ll be worth it!

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This week, I’ve started to read The Emperor’s Legion, the first book in the Watchers of the Throne series by Chris Wraight. I’m only about a third of the way through it, but already it’s gotten me really hooked! I’ve felt a little let-down with some of the 40k novels that I’ve read lately, so it’s really nice to finally be enjoying one again! The book has three point-of-view characters, one of whom is a Silent Sister, and one a Custodian Guard. I’ve been considering building up the Custodians that came with the Battle of Prospero box back in the day, and I’ve also thought about getting on with the Sisters of Silence that have been built since 2016!

Yet again, lovely models!

Let’s move away from plastic now, and instead take a look at some paper products! Arkham Horror LCG is something that I want to keep playing, but haven’t really had a great deal of time for since baby Phoebe came along last year! I did manage to get through the entire Dunwich Legacy campaign before her birth, though, and it’s certainly whetted my appetite, and while I’d been buying all of the cycles without playing, the most recent cycle, the Dream Weavers, was the first one that I didn’t get. I was actually thinking about calling it a day with the Circle Undone, but now that we’re off to Innsmouth, I’m thinking I may need to invest in this one, as well!

The expansion feels like it’s a bit of a return to some aspects from the classic board game, with blessings and curses, and flooding locations!

As the Lord of the Rings LCG appears to draw to a close with the Vengeance of Mordor cycle, the fourth pack of which arrived last week, I think it’s time to get back into this game above all, and get playing more once again. I’m hoping that I can persuade Jemma to join me on this venture, as well – husband and wife against the shadow of Sauron, what could be better?

I’ll be sure to update you all with progress, at any rate!

Magic the Gathering is something that I’ve definitely moved away from in the last year or so. I think War of the Spark was the last set I bought cards from, and haven’t actually played the game for a long time! However, Ikoria has caught my eye because (a) it has massive creatures, and (b) we’re seeing a return of the Tarkir shards! There’s a massive creature in the Mardu colours (red, white and black – my favourite!) that is a “dinosaur cat nightmare” – I mean, what’s not to like?!

The Shards also get Ultimatums, there are new tri-lands with the land types so that you can tutor for them; the Tarkir dual lands are back, and we even get a new Narset planeswalker card! There are a lot of nice cards in this set, and a lot of them would fit nicely into decks that I remember playing and enjoying from back in the day. I need to fight the impulse to get some of these cards!! But they’re so nice…

Oh, Ikoria is testing my resolve not to buy more cardboard crack!

Finally, let me go off-topic now, and fill you in on what I’ve been doing in the couple of weeks since my last blog. I’ve started work on another blog – though don’t worry, I’ll still be sharing my ramblings with you all here! I’ve been learning French once again, after having gone sixteen years since I did my A levels, and thought it’d get me into doing a lot more with it, as I try to put everything that I’m learning into practice! So I’ve started a blog as I try to make sense of it all, which can be found here, if you’re interested in that kind of thing!

More Kill Teams!

Oh Kill Team, what have you done to me?! I feel like I’ve spent the entire weekend writing up different lists, juggling people around to fill specialisms, and generally losing myself in list-building for skirmish games! I suppose this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it has allowed me to look at a lot of the factions where I’ve not got a lot of work done, and started to think about finally finishing off some of my long-held projects.

So I thought I’d come here once more, and ramble about 40k – though on a smaller scale…

Skitarii Kill Team

I’ve been off-and-on thinking about a Skitarii army since I first bought the Start Collecting box back in May last year on a whim. Since then, I rather feel like I’ve been drowning in Skitarii miniatures, and between a second SC box, Forgebane, and now Kill Team, I think I probably have enough troops to garrison Mars. There’s something about a huge wave of these robot-men that I like the idea of, so really want to have an army of the blighters.

For Kill Team, of course, I’m going slightly more circumspect – let me introduce you to my list!

Team Lambda-Rho-Psi is a fairly standard mix of Rangers and Vanguard – I know the radium carbine is probably a better option than the galvanic rifle, but I already have three galvanic rifle dudes painted and ready, so half the team is already done! I’m therefore thinking I only actually need to paint five guys for this to be a finished team, which feels like a much more manageable option! It also fits in quite nicely with my Summer Painting Goals for the 500-point Skitarii list, although I do need a second plasma caliver-wielding Vanguard for this one.

I do like the army, at any rate, and it’s something that really excites me when I think about the hobby and 40k in general. I really fancy an eventual army with probably two battalions’ worth of Skitarii, along with Dunecrawlers and the like. Ah, wonderful!

Militarum Tempestus

These guys have a similar feel, for me, to the Skitarii mentioned above – everything about them just feels classic 40k somehow, and I love the fact that I have them in my line-up. I’ve been thinking for over a year now about getting together an army of just Scions, but since the Codex arrived last autumn, instead I’ve been considering my options for widening the view to take in some of the tanks of the Astra Militarum, also.

As regards the Kill Team, however…

Eight bodies doesn’t seem too much, does it? Especially when you think I’ve already got one painted – the actual Tempestor Prime for the army won’t work in Kill Team, but one of the Tempestors I have for one of my squads will work just as well.

I’ve been putting off painting any more of these so far, mainly because I can’t remember the colours I used. But I think I just need to crack on and get some paint on there, and it should be vaguely obvious what I’ve used. I think it’s Mephiston Red with a shade of Nuln Oil for the carapace armour, but I can’t really be sure.

Anyway. As with the Skitarii, I’m really excited about painting up these Scions, not only because I already have the army in my mind, but I think the models are superb!

The thing with Kill Team, as I’ve said, is that it’s making me think of all sorts of little bands of warriors that I might not otherwise have done anything with. I’m also considering making teams with things like T’au and Drukhari (the latter isn’t too bad, but I’m really finding it difficult to come up with a build I like the look of for T’au).

And then, of course, there’s this…

Primaris Marines

Well, this one came from nowhere! Right before I moved house last summer, Dark Imperium came out, and I was torn between building things with the new Space Marines and packing my life away. As it happens, I had to do the packing, so played a lot of 8th with Necrons and Dark Eldar, existing armies that I had painted up. With no real time for anything new, Primaris Marines and Death Guard both kinda passed me by, really, though I’ve tried a couple of times to look at the Chaos side of things over the months.

Now, however, after seeing the phenomenal work of Paul Norton and his Iron Ravens on instagram, I’ve found myself wanting to do something with Primaris Marines at last. I’ve actually painted a total of five Primaris Marines since they arrived over a year ago – three Reivers, a Hellblaster and an Intercessor. While I’ve built up quite a few, as it turns out, of the other marines from the box, I’ve only basecoated them with Khorne Red and left it there. Time to do a lot more with them, then, I think!

I’m going for Genesis Chapter, although I have previously thought about doing Novamarines with them as well. I might end up doing a mix, I suppose we’ll see! I know that the shoulder pads work on either flavour, though the Dark Imperium marines are often sculpted with the pads stuck to the arms already, so that may not work out for me. So far, I’ve been quite pleased anyway, though, so I might just continue with Genesis Chapter and be done with!

The squad is the smallest yet, with just six chaps (and I’ve already painted one, so…) I’m planning to use the 30th Anniversary marine for the Sergeant, and then use Dark Imperium guys for the rest.

I think, after playing the game last Friday, I can see a definite advantage to smaller teams, as my 15 Cultists got to the point where they auto-failed Nerve Tests and I was basically just sitting there being picked off. Added to this, Marines should be a lot more durable, so I shouldn’t (hopefully!) get into the position where I’m seeing my guys die off in droves. An all-shooty team should be a plus, too, as I can hang further back than with the more combat-orientated Cultists.

That’s the theory, at any rate!

I’m hoping to be back soon with some progress on getting these chaps painted up, anyway. I only need to do 17 models to get all three Kill Teams on this page fully painted! Shouldn’t take too long…

Warhammer Reflections – 4 years on

Hey everybody,
It’s approaching the time of year where I generally get quite nostalgic for my “career” within the Warhammer hobby, so I thought I’d ramble a bit here about some of the good times I’ve had with little plastic men over the last four years. In a manner of speaking…

Can you believe it’s been four years since I started this little adventure? Well, if you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you’re not only extremely classy, but you probably can… It all started because of Shadows of Brimstone, that kickstarter from Flying Frog Productions that I backed massively, only to find out in the months following the end of the campaign that the miniatures would require assembly. To practice, I therefore bought a Beast of Nurgle from Games Workshop, having been aware of their products for a number of years thanks to the card game Warhammer: Invasion, and the rest, as they say, is history.

As a side note, I should really look at doing a blog devoted to that game. I know it’s long-dead, but it was one of my all-time favourites, so definitely deserves some love here on the blog!

While I was initially really heavily into the Old World, due in part to the fact that I was so familiar with the card game, I think the negative reactions I was exposed to following the End Times series really started me moving away from the fantasy setting, and instead looking into the 40k stuff. While I felt like I had a decent grounding, between the card game and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, I was really flying blind when it came to the grim dark of the far future, but threw myself into the lore of the Necrons, having discovered the Lychguard kit (as has been mentioned on this blog before, of course!) I suppose, to some extent, it was only natural that I would gravitate towards those chaps, seeing as how I was a huge Tomb Kings fan. It was a real heartache when I recently decided to sell my stock of TKs, having been so assiduous in gathering up as many of the kits as I could when they went Last Chance to Buy. But that’s beside the point.

I really enjoyed the look of metallic skeletons, and as has been well chronicled on the blog now, I really fell for those Lychguard like there was no tomorrow. While they weren’t the only contenders for my first 40k army – it was a toss-up between Necrons, Tyranids and Dark Eldar as to who I was going to pursue as a first army choice – the undead space robots won out! Tyranids were an extremely close second, due in part to the awesome Shield of Baal series that started very soon after I’d made the decision, but I think I’ll always love those undead space robots…

Of course, since then I’ve managed to build up an extremely large Dark Eldar army, as well as having started to build a number of big bugs, too! Recently, I’ve embarked on repainting my Necron force, as it was my first army (and you can tell), though I’ve not yet managed to get very far. Always something to distract me!

It’s really been 40k that has been a driving force behind my passion and enthusiasm for this hobby, despite dipping my toe into fantasy every once in a while. I have very fond memories of the launch of Age of Sigmar, and while I’ve bought and sold more fantasy armies than I care to remember, I think I’m definitely keeping hold of my Stormcast Eternals for the fact that I enjoyed assembling that force so much.

Age of Sigmar

40k has been huge for me since then, and I honestly can’t ever see myself moving away from it. Whether it’s through the tabletop game itself, or any of the specialist games like Deathwatch Overkill or Necromunda – or even keeping some of the FFG games alive such as Conquest or, the classic, Space Hulk Death Angel – I can see myself forever staying with the grim dark of the far future, and look forward to sharing that with as many people as possible.

It’s definitely been an exciting four years, and there has been so much that I’ve enjoyed. While this blog started life as a sort of general nerdy thing with a lot of variety (at least, I think it did!), I’ve been very conscious of the fact that it has now become very focused on Warhammer, with Magic and Star Wars being a bit of a sideline.

And this is because I basically love the Warhammer 40k universe now!

I had a bit of a realisation a week or so ago, as I was laboriously reading through the latest new canon Star Wars novel Last Shot, that I don’t actually enjoy the new Star Wars as much as I enjoyed the franchise back before 2015. I don’t mean to turn this into some kind of Warhammer 40k vs Star Wars debate, but let’s leave it at I’m enjoying the former an awful lot more than the latter, right now!

And I suppose that’s partly due to the interactive nature of Warhammer 40k for me. There hasn’t really been a stand-out Star Wars game since WotC produced Star Wars miniatures, whereas there’s a whole hobby-gaming side to 40k that makes it a great deal more immersive.

I’d like to think that I’ve improved a great deal as a painter in the last four years – certainly, I’m more willing to show off my Drukhari, my Genestealer Cult, or my Thokt Necrons before bringing out that Beast of Nurgle – though there is always room for improvement. I’m still quite a lazy painter, something I’ve noticed when painting some Van Saar gangers recently. I rely a lot on drybrushing, while not always taking the time to drybrush properly. More models than I care to remember are quite streaky as a result! But I do feel a lot happier with my miniatures that I’m painting now, than I have done with the older lot. One of the reasons why I’m intending to re-do my entire Necron army, actually!

I don’t really have any sort of hobby goals in mind right now, except maybe to paint more than I buy, and get smarter with just what I’m buying in the first place, though who doesn’t have those sorts of goals in this hobby, right?! I’ve got a number of projects on the go that feel like they’re overwhelming me, particularly since Kill Team came along and I’m finding myself with plans for several small bands of infantry! Since delving back into my Genestealer Cults for that, however, I’ve been feeling in the mood to try some Tyranids, having bought quite a lot of kits for that army back at the start of the year. I find myself forever floating around from one project to another, without really getting anywhere with one (a notable exception being the Drukhari last year, that was amazing how I managed to apply myself and get over 2000 points painted up in a few months!)

I definitely want to plan my purchases more, and really try to work out just what I need before wandering into the store and picking up all manner of pretty looking kits just because they look nice. I also want to try to paint more, as has been shown by the variety of ‘painting goals’ style blogs that I’ve written so far this year. Having added Tau to my army rosters back in March, I really do feel a bit overwhelmed with everything, so definitely want to start scaling things back on that front. Going forward, I want to try (as much as I can) to pick a unit of, say, five guys, and just do what I need to do to get them finished. I think that’s how I eventually got going with the Drukhari, just five or ten at a time, and as whole units were added to the force, things really just snowballed…

I also want to play more games! Who doesn’t, I guess? But with Kill Team a thing now, the ability to have a lot of small games should make things easier. I’m keen to try my hand at Necromunda, having kitted out the Van Saars to be a proper gang and ready for the skirmish there, though I’m not sure if it’s that popular at my store… Skirmish games are fine, of course, but I also want to try and be a bit more serious with my efforts in mainstream 40k. I’ve got three big armies now as far as my Drukhari, Necrons (if I include the old ones that need re-doing), and T’au, along with a lot of smaller forces (with a lot of unbuilt kits that will one day make them bigger forces), so it would be a shame to not make the most of that and actually do something with them!

All this talk of Necromunda and Genestealer Cults brings me to something that I find a bit odd, but let’s talk about it anyway. I’ve not been in the hobby that long, and I’ve especially not been within the 40k universe that long, but there’s a weird kind of borrowed-nostalgia that I get from these re-imagining of classic aspects of the 40k universe. I suppose I get swept up in the moment, and find it all quite wonderful, though it could just be down to the fact that the miniatures are obviously designed with such care and attention to detail that I find myself really enamoured with them, despite not having a basis for any kind of nostalgia-response. It also helps that Necromunda, in particular, just looks like such a cool, immersive game that I can’t help but be swept up within the tidal wave of awesome that it is!

Rogue Trader is obviously coming out at Christmastime, and also promises to be every fanboy’s dream – including mine! I’m going to have to do some serious negotiation to get that under the tree for Christmas, but it looks like it will be so damn worth it!

The Rogue Trader release in 3-4 months’ time makes me wonder just when we can be expecting the last three Codexes for Warhammer 40k, though. There has been a hell of a lot of talk about a big campaign box for Space Wolves vs Orks, but as we’re now getting closer to the end of the year, I just don’t see this coming out anytime soon. It’s been two months since the announcement, on 1 June, about these books – looking at the last such announcement, when those for Imperial Knights, Harlequins and Deathwatch were talked about, it’s roughly two-to-three months between the announcement and the books being released. So I’m guessing that September will see the start of these things. It’s kinda unheard of for a big box game to have not been spoiled if it is, in fact, only a month or so away…

But that said, the Warhammer 40k facebook page did just unveil this…

Space Wolves vs Genestealer Cult? Who saw that one coming?!

Just another little tangent there! I did say this would be rambling!

Where was I? Ah yes, how much I need to be more careful with my purchases, rather than simply throwing my money at all the new shiny releases. Erm…

At any rate, after almost a year where I moved house and have since struggled to find a place to paint properly, I’m finding myself sliding closer to that point where I’m happily applying acrylic to plastic, so I’m hoping that I can at least make good on one of the many, many painting promises I’ve talked about on this blog before the end of the year…

While I like the thought of Tyranids and having a big bugs army, I’m also moving back towards my Drukhari, having lost interest a little when I felt the Codex had tried to force me to play a mixed list. However, I think I’m most excited right now for the Militarum Tempestus army that I’ve been wanting to build for a number of years now.

To date, I’ve still only painted two models for them. However, this is where the joy of Kill Team comes in, as I’ve excitedly been writing up a list that I think will make it relatively easy to get done, at which point I might as well just carry on and paint up a platoon! Oh, I make it sound so easy. But I think, if I can get some of these done, and some more Skitarii painted by the end of the year, I’ll be a very happy bunny, indeed.

So, thanks for reading all the way through this extremely rambling blog post about my jumbled thoughts on 40k right now, as well as something of a potted history of my life with the game, and stay tuned to the blog as I begin to delve more seriously into Kill Team campaigns – and, of course, Necromunda!

Summer Painting Goals

Hey everybody!
I’ve spent what feels like a really long time so far this year, trying to motivate myself to paint the enormous stack of unpainted miniatures that I have lying around (seriously, it’s enormous). I’ve tried a couple of things to impose a sort of deadline on me, hoping that I can get something painted if I give myself a month, or give myself until the next game, but this never seems to work.

Well, it’s time to introduce the latest in this list of attempts to pick up a brush!

I’ve got a lot of armies on the go right now, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve drawn up 500-point lists for three of them, and so have decided to just paint the models for these lists. My thinking here is, if I only have 20 or so models to paint, that will be so much easier than staring down the barrel of 50 or more. They’re all battalion lists, so they should be vaguely playable, and I’ve gone a step further and chosen warlord traits and relics, so that they are as real as I can get them.

And I have to say, it’s actually working for me in some respects, as I want to field these armies right now, and try them out!

So let’s take a look at the first two lists…

Tempestor Prime

First up, it’s my Militarum Tempestus list.

I’ve talked about this army a number of times over the course of my blog. See, it’s one of those armies that I’ve always liked the look of, ever since I first saw the miniatures, but have somehow never managed to get round to doing anything with. I mean, I’ve had the minis built and primed for well over a year now, but I just can’t seem to get myself into painting them! Well, I’ve painted precisely two models for the force in the last two years…

So I have a while to go yet, but this is definitely a project that I’m finding myself really enthused for!

The big theme across this merry band is getting the most from Voice of Command, relaying orders up to 18″ away thanks to all of the vox casters. I think my eventual plan for the full army will be to have two Tempestor Primes, each with a Command Squad, whose vox caster will act as the fulcrum of that relay. The relic I’ve chosen is the Tactical Auto-Reliquary of Tyberius, perhaps the most hilarious of names for such a thing, which allows the bearer to issue another order on the roll of a 2+.

It’s an army that I’m really looking forward to getting properly off the ground with, at any rate, so stay tuned for further updates there!!

Next up, we have the glories of my Skitarii!

Skitarii

These guys have been on the radar for almost as long as the Tempestus Scions, after I bought the Start Collecting box on a whim. I’ve so far gotten further with these than I have with the Scions, however, having painted up a total of five models, but the list is a little different, with four groups of troops and a heavy support. There remains a fairly nice symmetry between the two armies, however, and I like the fact that I can put the two of them together when I’m finished, for a 1000-point Imperium army that, I feel, is nicely formed.

This list, however, proved to be the most difficult to write, predominantly because I couldn’t settle on a Forge World for it! My own painted efforts so far don’t conform to any “known” Forge World, having blue cloaks rather than the traditional red. (As an aside, I thought it a nice counterpoint, back in the day, that my Skitarii were painted predominantly blue, while my Scions were predominantly red).

In the event, I’ve gone for Forge World Ryza, which allows me to re-roll 1s in the Fight phase. Hopefully, I won’t be getting into any fights, but it is nice to have that kind of back-up, just in case! As far as relics go, I’ve selected the wonderfully-named Weapon XCIX, which replaces the Dominus’ volkite blaster. I’ve therefore opted not to take the Ryza-specific Warlord Trait, which would kind of do the same thing as the relic, though you can’t stack both, so instead have picked Monitor Malevolus, which is the usual one that allows you to re-gain Command Points.

So there we have it, the first part of my summer painting goals! The third list involves Tau, but is a little more involved, so I think I’ll save that for a separate blog post.

Stay tuned for updates as the summer marches on!!

Hobby Progress 2017

Hey everybody!
Well, it’s the end of another year, and I thought I’d come along here to ramble for a bit about my hobby successes during the course of the year. You know you love it!

2017 has been really quite remarkable in a number of ways. Despite the inherent problems when moving house, I have managed to paint up an entire Dark Eldar army that currently numbers something like 2000 points, as well as building and painting a variety of Imperium stuff, including the beginnings of my AdMech/Tempestus Scions army. So let’s sit back and take a look at some of my hobby highlights!

First of all, let’s talk about Necrons. My very first army, I started the year determined to re-do most of my miniatures, as I’d been feeling that I could do a much better job with them. Then over the summer I decided that no, I would actually build a whole new Necron army with a different paint scheme, and went for the Thokt Dynasty and its cool blue weaponry. To date, I’ve only got five Immortals (above) and five Lychguard painted in this scheme, so I do have quite a ways to go with them! But I have plenty of kits for the army just waiting in the wings, so I should be able to do something with them in the new year.

I mentioned it earlier, but I’ve also been planning a combined AdMech/Tempestus Scions army for a number of months, and spent rather a lot of time building up waves of Skitarii over the autumn months. I think I have just over 1000 points built, but to date, I only have five Skitarii and two Scions actually painted…

The army is one that I’m really excited for, however, so I’m looking forward to properly getting to grips with them all. A platoon of Scions working alongside waves of cyborgs and their various battle automata should look really good on the tabletop, I’m thinking!

I went for some wildly different paint schemes for these chaps, and have somehow managed to basically invert the usual schemes for each, having my Scions red and my Skitarii blue… At any rate, I’m pleased with the guys that I’ve painted so far, and I’m looking forward to getting more of them painted so that I can start having games with them!

2017 will forever go down in the annals as the year of the Dark Eldar, however. After a short period of casting about for something new to really get my teeth into, I knew from building my very first Kabalite Warrior (that guy with the agoniser, above, in case you were interested), this was going to be an army I would enjoy building and painting.

2017 has also seen me play more games of 40k than ever before, and the majority of those have been with the dark kin. While they are still somewhat new to me, of course, I have never enjoyed playing this game so much as I have when commanding the Haemonculus Covens and the Kabalite Warriors of my collection.

There isn’t really a lot more that I could say, if I’m honest. Dark Eldar are, for me, my favourite army, and I’ve loved getting them all built and painted, and then playing games with them since the release of 8th Edition. They’re an amazing force, and I’ve got no plans to stop adding to the ranks anytime soon!

However, I’d also like to look forwards in this blog, and see what I’d like to accomplish in 2018. These things never go according to plan, of course, but I think it’s good all the same to get some idea of where I’d like to be headed as the new year begins!

If you follow my on instagram, you’re not only a very discerning individual, but you’ll also no doubt be aware that I’ve spent some time building up quite a sizable Tyranid force already. This has developed out of a desire to have a small detachment of big bugs alongside my nascent Genestealer Cult, which has seen barely any work go into it over 2017 – at the most, I’ve managed to get three miniatures painted for them!

Genestealer Cult

In 2018, therefore, I’m planning to get this off the ground in style. I’ve talked somewhat already about my desire to have this kind of force, with Cultists forming a central point around which is built an army including elements of Guard and Tyranids, so I’m hoping that I can very much get this going in the new year! I’m going to start with the Tyranids properly, and may even do a sort of Tale of Four Warlords-style series for it, so we’ll see how that goes!

Alongside this, I want to keep playing my Dark Eldar, and have been planning to start adding Wych Cult units with gusto. I’m also going to get myself a Tantalus in March, so that will be cool! In addition to this, I want to continue to tinker away with the AdMech/Scions list, and see how far I can get with that – probably going to start small and build up. For some light relief, I’m also planning to throw the odd Necron squad in there as well, as I continue to build up my new dynasty. The rumour mill seems to be pointing to Necrons as being one of the next codices after Daemons, so I may find myself with the impetus to finally get going there!

I’m really looking forward to 2018 in terms of the hobby, as I’m feeling like GW are going to be doing some amazing things, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming!!

Another new army!

Hey everybody!
By now, you no doubt realise that I have an addiction to Games Workshop and their little plastic men. Well, we all have our vices. Anyway, while I’ve been both adding to my Necrons, and building up my Dark Eldar, I’ve also been thinking about a lot of the smaller-scale stuff that I have had on the go for varying lengths of time. Genestealer Cults, Deathwatch, and even the regular Space Marine stuff – but first and foremost, I’ve been thinking about making some sort of expansive Imperium army. With the release of the Imperial Agents codex last Christmas, I’ve been pondering all sorts of different combinations of interesting little marginal character-armies, and with the roll-out of 8th Edition, this idea is getting a little more firmly off the ground!

Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii

Back in May, I’d picked up a Start Collecting Skitarii box set, and not long after had built up five Skitarii Rangers. They’d been hanging about primed for a number of weeks, but finally I’ve decided to actually get myself in gear and paint the little blighters! I’d initially wanted to paint them in the Metalica scheme, but decided that I didn’t want the hassle of painting the off-white robes. In the event, I’ve created my own Forge World, which is yet to receive a name, but still! I’d initially wanted to have some very blue Skitarii, to contrast with the usual reds, but as it turns out, these chaps are just kinda muted and grungy. I’d hoped the bases would brighten the scheme somewhat and set them off nicely, but as it happens, they just seem to have added to the overall muted effect! Hm.

The robes have been done with Stegadon Scale Green, with Dark Reaper and Thunderhawk Blue providing the highlights; inside it’s a case of Celestra Grey and Ulthuan Grey, all of the robes then shaded with Drakenhof Nightshade. The pressure suit was done with Eshin Grey shaded with Nuln Oil, and the metallics are the usual scheme of Leadbelcher and Nuln Oil, and Balthasar Gold and Agrax Earthshade. I’d decided against painting the Machina Opus in the usual half-and-half manner, and instead have opted for a golden skull. Might see if I can somehow tie that in to the history of my Forge World at some point. The guns are painted with Rhinox Hide, shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with Skrag Brown. The Arc weaponry is Caledor Sky highlighted with Baharroth Blue. Both of these are pretty much the Duncan-approved methods, anyway! The purity seals are Zandri Dust (parchment) and Tuskgor Fur (wax) shaded with Agrax Earthshade. Finally, the eye lenses have been done with Ulthuan Grey shaded with Carroburg Crimson.

Despite the fact that they haven’t turned out as I’d first imagined them, I nevertheless actually really like these guys! I think once I have a proper horde of them on the tabletop, with some vehicles in amongst them, it’ll look really cool, anyway!

So what am I going to be doing with this army?

As I said before, it’s an Imperium Army, and for the most part I’ll be using models that I’ve already got hanging about for one reason or another. It’s broken up into two Patrol detachments, and combined comes to 50 power / 1000 points exactly. Let’s break it down.

Imperium Army

I’ve got a lot of Militarum Tempestus stormtroopers anyway, so thought it would be good to get some use out of them. Two squads of five Scions, flying about the field in a Chimera with a Commissar for inspiration should be useful – by giving every squad a vox caster, I should be able to make maximum use of the Tempestor Prime and his command rod, relaying orders up to 18″ away from him. I mean, in my head it sounds cool, but I don’t know exactly whether it will play out that way!

I bought a bunch of Astra Militarum stuff around Christmastime for my burgeoning Genestealer Cults army, so already have a Chimera and Commissar that are just waiting to be built – I had initially thought about converting the Commissar to be a Genestealer Hybrid, as I wanted my entire Guard to be cultists, but I think that may be a bit too much to bother with. Plus, the Primus is a pretty good Commissar stand-in if I need one! I’ve already built up two squads from a pair of Scions kits, as I was building up the relevant Scions for the expansion to Deathwatch Overkill that appeared in White Dwarf back in the day. Working through each of those models has proven to require a third box, however, to make legal squads, but no matter. I enjoy having the variety of weapons and such, anyway, and they are really quite wonderful kits to put together, after all.

For the Skitarii portion of the army, I only needed to get a second squad of the Rangers/Vanguard kit, and a Sydonian Dragoon. I’d already been attempting to paint some Electro-Priests over a year ago now, so hopefully this will prompt me to finish them off, and the Start Collecting box really is incredible value. I do plan on getting another in time, in part to continue the idea of a wave of Skitarii marching implacably across the table, but those Onager Dunecrawlers have been growing on me as models, and while I’d initially planned on selling that portion of the box, I think I’d like to have at least a pair of the buggers on the table!

The Skitarii portion of the list feels much smaller, but is actually a fairly significant portion of the overall army. While I was surprised at first at how cheap some of the units actually are, I think it would also be quite easy to sink a lot of points into upgrades that, on T3 models, are probably wasted. If building Dark Eldar has taught me anything, it’s to be sparing with the upgrades!!

Before I end this blog, I just want to give a shout-out to Alchemists Workshops in Winsford, who I came across after watching The War Gamer‘s painting tutorials on youtube. I trundled over there earlier in the week to pick up the above bits, and couldn’t believe how well-stocked and how cheap the Games Workshop stuff is! It’s in the middle of an industrial estate, which feels a little weird to me, but I was very impressed! Definitely going to be making that journey again to stock up on stuff soon, anyway!

Hobby Progress, week 40

Hey everybody!
It’s week 40! My goodness, forty weeks of painting little dudes! Well, maybe not quite painting for that entire time, but still! This week has seen quite a bit of progress here, so let’s take a look!

Hobby Progress 40

Those four Alpha Legion marines I mentioned last week have been finished, and while there are a couple of bits that I’m not happy with (eyes, for instance), overall it’s really great to have the three squads of veteran tactical marines finished! 610 points of Alpha Legion, ready to be demolished on the tabletop by my inability to roll dice effectively!

Hobby Progress 40

I’m really happy with the looks of these guys overall, and I’m looking forward to continue adding some more to them as time goes on. I’ve still got the Contemptor Dreadnought to get finished, which I’m kinda looking forward to – all that silver, can’t wait!

I’ve also made a Forge World order this week – Mk IV Heavy Support Squad, with plasma cannons, and a Mk IV Recon Squad. I’m hoping that with these chaps, I can get more of an Alpha Legion feel to the army! The recon people are definitely going to help, and I read recently that the Legion had a lot of plasma weaponry, hence that squad on the right there, so I’m thinking plasma cannons should be on-point there. I think the next tactical squad I build will also feature more of it anyway!

So what else has been going on?

Hobby Progress 40

Well, I’ve been working on three test models for the Genestealer Cult – I’m doing the Bladed Cog, but these models are really quite detailed, not to mention small, but I do like the look of them as they’re slowly coming together there! I’ve spent a few hours on these now, and they’re only half done… Bah! Still, I’m hoping that, as with the Alpha Legion chaps, I can manage to somehow get a quick way of doing these… we’ll see!

I’ve also been building more stuff, naturally! As well as having all of the miniatures from Overkill, I’ve bought a box each of the new Genestealer Cult chaps, and built up the five Acolyte Hybrids much as they appear on the box, I suppose. Mainly because of the hilarious look to some of them, like the chap there with that rock saw thing! They still need to be primed, so I’ve not gotten anywhere yet with them. I’ve also now finished building the first sprue of cultists from Overkill, so I just have one more to get through there… It’s gonna be so rewarding when it’s done, I’m sure, but right now, I feel like I have a very long road ahead of me!

And more Militarum Tempestus guys! I built up two of these months ago – back when I’d originally started to build Genestealer Cultists from Overkill, ironically – so have made some effort to get moving on the rest of the squad. I’m not entirely sure what I plan to do with them – over the weekend, I’ve gone from “just another project” to thinking of painting them as Geno Five-Two Chiliad from Legion, and now have decided to paint them in the colours of the 55th Alphic Hydras! The colour scheme interests me, and in a stroke of coincidence, that army has a particularly close relationship with the Ultramarines, so I think that’s enough reason to do them in that scheme! So I hope these will be some more light relief from all the ongoing army projects I have, and the ornate armour and all the faces will hopefully continue to provide me with painting practice! We shall see…

That about covers it for this week, anyhow! I’m expecting my progress to slow down over the coming weeks, as I get into the swing of things with my final degree course. But hopefully I’ll have some Contemptor Dreadnought progress to show off next week, and maybe some more Genestealer Cultist action as well!

It’s also Armies on Parade on Saturday, so expect to see some pictures from my finished board!!

Hobby Progress, week 18

Hey everybody!
Welcome to another week of hobby progress! This is a week that, despite my thoughts to the contrary, has actually seen some real progress made, so I’m quite chuffed!

To start with, I’ve been building stuff. Quite a lot of stuff, actually. A disparate band of miniatures, aren’t they? I bought a box of Tempestus Scions last week, as I’d been thinking since reading Legion that I’d like some normal human soldiers to accompany my Space Marines, and the beret look is how I think I’d like them to look. So I’ve built two of those guys, one of whom is the vox caster, and he looks hilarious!

I’ve also built some more from the Deathwatch: Overkill game. This board game has really excited me to be exactly that, a board game, but unlike with Space Hulk, which I built up pretty much the weekend it was released, I’ve been really quite drawn-out with this process so far. I think I have something akin to miniature fatigue, still. Well anyway, three more models for the game, slow and steady wins the race!

If you saw my post yesterday, you’ll know that I finally got some new Orcs in my life. I’ve actually been inspired to do something with at least one of the new Orruk Brutes, and built and primed him up yesterday afternoon. This morning, then, I’ve painted his skin with Waaagh! flesh and Warboss Green, and have done some thin coats on some of his armour plates with Screaming Skull. I’ve decided to do the Stoneskulls, though I had thought briefly about doing the Kryptboyz. I basically wanted to do something different to how I have a lot of my other Age of Sigmar stuff.

In addition to this, I’ve also dug out a genestealer from Space Hulk, and have done some little bits to him! Only some purple on the skin and bits on the base, but still!

Last week was potentially going to be a really quiet week for miniatures painting, anyway, as I had an essay due on the Thursday. Well, that’s now in, but I don’t have much rest as the dissertation for this module is due on 27 May, and I don’t really know what I’m going to write about! I’ve got a week off soon, so I’m not really at panic-stations just yet, but there is always the chance that the next few weeks will also be quiet as I focus more on that.

But hopefully over the summer, things will get a lot busier! I’m planning to properly get back into playing both Age of Sigmar, and to start properly with 40k, so I hope that, by having games planned, it’ll incentivize me into painting more and actually getting projects completed!

Such is the plan…