Short update

I've gone back to painting my Blood Angels lately, after playing Ash in a game of Blood Angels vs Blood Angels.(It ended in a draw)

I'm currently working on one of my devastator squads. It already had 3 elements finished - The sergeant and two missile launchers. The remaining elements are coming along nicely at present, and will look better than the rest when they are finished. This is because i have changed my approach to painting and now work on what I am inspired tp paint rather then forcing myself to work on the next thing on my list

The downside to this is that with my new approach, everything will look better than previous work. Long term, this means that I am going to have to rework almost my entire blood angels army. Squad by Squad into the simple green for stripping, and then repaint the units. I am going to have to put a small investment into my painting gear soon, and buy an airbrush and compressor

On another note, I have the new Tyranids codex, and my first thought was seroiusly disapointed in it. Where are my flesh hooks? In fact, where are half my mutations? Why do I now have too many Hormagaunts and Termagants (Max brood size has shrunk). The new codex means a major reoganization for existing tyranid players, with the only gain being the new units.

Web MMORPG Golemizer

Web MMORPG Golemizer

Return of the Damned

I gave in recently, and bought my first White Dwarf in over a year, mainly because it tied in with the release of the new Tyranids. In it I found the new rules for the Legion of the Damned for 40K.

My first thought was I wouldn't mind running a squad of them in a battle or two, although I don't think they are legal in a Blood Angels army. Of course I can't just go out and buy a box of them at present, but I have had a box of them stashed away for years. These are the older models, still packing the chunky style bolters from 2nd edition. Still cheaper than buying a new box.

I've assembled them overthe last couple of days, and had been planning on using one the  new style plasma cannons for the heavy weapon in the squad. A quick test fit with the cannon revealed that old school devastator bodies are not compatible with  the cuurent style of marine heavy weapons. So I guess my legion squad are going to be like half my blood angels force - retro. The heavy has the shoulder mounted Heavy bolter.

The Legion squad will get a test run on wednesday when I take on Ash with a 1500 point force.

Hopefully my new Tyranids Codex and Vampire Counts army book will arrive soon, and I can reorganize those two armies so i know where I stand. and of course the new Blood Angels codex in April

Raising the dead

Over the last couple days (when not at work) I've been assembling undead, or making movement trays for the War of the Ring. This morning I realised I could add a 4th regiment of skeletons to my core units, and dug my Ring of Rule cursed legion.

These figures actually give me a regiment of skeletons armed and armoured like the legions of Rome. It's bit light comapred with my other skeleton regiments at 24 figures, while the rest are 30.

Of course all this could be changed, as I haven't seen the new army list yet.

The dead have risen

It's been a long time since I posted on my blog, so i thought I would get back into it.

Over the last couple of days I have revisited my Vampire counts army, to the point of digging out my (very) old skeletons. These are actually the original plastic skeletons that GW produced. The advantage of using these, is that I can field two extra regiments of skeletons.

Of course, I don't have a current army book, so I've got that on order at my local supplier. It's not the only army book I require for my various armies, as I also want the new Tyranid, and Blood Angel Codexes, along with the upcoming Menoth forces book for Warmachine.

I'm also going to add a WIP list for my Vampire Counts in the sidebar, so I can track my progress, as with the other armies I have there.

War of the Ring

I recently bought GW's War of the Ring rulebook, and after reading through it I think it makes a better game than the strategy game. Of course, I don't need to buy much to get a reasonable army ( or two) together. In fact, for the time being I don't need to buy any new figures for this.

After sorting my LOTR figures I've decided to focus on two armies, with possible allies for each (up to 25% of the an army's points may be spent on allies). Continuing my theme from TAGCon 2009, I'm going to make an Isengard army, with Haradrim allies (no Mumak). And after a thorough check over of my forces of good, I'm building a Rohirrim army with Gondor and Elf allies.

Since Saturday I've put in a few hours on the first two formations of Rohirrim I'm building. These are both common formations, from the same sprues. Oathsworn militia, which come in two types - archers, and infantry. After about six hours of work on the 30 something miniatures I have available, They now stand at weapons and armour completed, along with the clothing. In all, 10 coats of paint across the various parts of the minis. I'm happy with the progress so far, but they still have a long way to go to be completed.

The fleet grows

I've been expanding my fleet over the last couple of days in small working sessions.

Two hours on thursday afternoon saw my vanguard drones expand to six, with a small modification on the design. with two options for armament I decided to give them pyroacid batteries. A heavily trimmed spine fist was mounted underneath the nose of the drone. Later, I'll be making some drones with feeder tentacles, but I can't do that until I get my hands on some old pens that I can remove the springs from.

Vanguard drones with pyroacid battery

Today I've built two of my prototype Krakens. One with pyroacid battery, and the other with torpedoes

Kraken with pyroacid battery

Kraken with torpedoes

I also commenced building my first cruiser, using a spare back plate from a carnifex, with a pair of massive talons coming out from it. Two warrior barbed stranglers form the back end, with a spore mound as the underside. A spare armour plate forms a beak at the prow.

I still have to add the armament to the cruiser, but I'll come back to that next time i work on the fleet.

Unarmed cruiser