Road to Adepticon 2013 - Choosing an army

It's been a whirlwind in Real Life(tm) of late, as we head into the final stretch of a major upgrade at work. Oof. That's got me thinking about vacation plans, and one of the things on the horizon is Adepticon 2013!

Now, let's be frank. I haven't played in a tournament since 3rd edition so I'm under no illusions as to how it's going to go, but based on what I saw at Feast of Blades there's plenty of fun to be had provided you have a good attitude about it all! Looking over the events scheduled for the Adepticon weekend it also looks like there's plenty of other, more narrative-based events to do on the rest of the days (i.e. after I'm eliminated on the first day of the tournament), which is my preferred style of gaming! I'd toyed with the idea of doing a Chaos Marine army for the event, but ended up settling on an army that I'm much more familiar and comfortable with...

That's right - The Imperial Guard! Heck, the blog's called Mordian7th so my foray into the tournament scene really ought to utilize the army closest to my heart. I'm going to be trying out a list over the weekend that I've hammered out with the assistance of a couple fellow bloggers, we'll see how it goes!

Here's the current list:

HQ
Company Command Squad - 230 points

• Evin Eldro (Creed)
• Voxcaster
• Medic
• Standard Bearer
• Meltagun
• 2x Bodyguards

ELITES
Psyker Battle Squad - 90 points

• Overseer
• 7 Psykers

Brother Nicodemus (Guardsman Marbo) - 65 points

TROOPS

Veterans Squad 1:1 - 95 points

• Grenade Launcher
• Missile Launcher
• Voxcaster

Veterans Squad 1:2 - 97 points

• Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol
• Grenade Launcher
• Missile Launcher
• Voxcaster

Veterans Squad 1:3 - 97 points

• Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol
• Grenade Launcher
• Missile Launcher
• Voxcaster

Veterans Squad 2:1 - 135 points

• Sergeant w/ Power Axe, Plasma Pistol
• 3x Plasma Guns
• Voxcaster

FAST ATTACK

Rough Riders - 155 points

• Captain Hilts (Mogul Kamir)
• 2x Flamers
• 7x Hunting Lances

Vendetta Assault Carrier - 130 points

HEAVY SUPPORT

Leman Russ Vanquisher - 180 points

• Dozer Blade

Leman Russ Executioner - 230 points

• Plasma Cannon Sponsons

Hydra Flak Battery - 150 points

• 2x Charybdis Launchers (Hydra Flak Tank)

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Chimera - 90 points

• Heavy Stubber
• Dozer Blade

Chimera - 80 points

• Dozer Blade

Chimera - 80 points

• Dozer Blade

TOTAL - 1849 points

One of the nice things about this army is that it's all purchased, built and a goodly chunk of it is painted already:

It's definitely at odds with my usual lists, which invariably feature all sorts of units that are woefully inefficient for their points cost (notably my beloved Ogryns), and I was honestly surprised at how much I could cram into an 1850 list. 56 infantry, ten cavalry, 7 tanks and a flyer! ...Of course, that list presupposes I can actually FIT it all into my P.A.C.K Air. Might be I have to swap in more costly units, just to cut down on how much has to make the trip. Hah!

I would certainly appreciate comments and critiques of the list - pictures to follow after the gameon Saturday!

Heresy Era World Eaters - Jetbikes built

The hobby ADHD has settled in on me a bit of late. Pinballing around the various projects lurking on the shelves up in the hobby loft, my eye fell on the package of Jetbikes I'd picked up a while back for use with the (now defunct) Heresy-era World Eaters I had been working on. While there are a number of companies doing jetbikes these days (many of which are very, very cool) none of them really matched the artwork from Visions of Heresy as well as I'd hoped:

However, BigDaddy of Blight Wheel miniatures had, at one point long ago, shown off a set of World Eaters jetbikes that were darn near exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately they're not available anymore as far as I know but I'd managed to grab a set before they disappeared and they've lurked in the Closet of Doom ever since. But no longer!

There are eight of them (sacred number of Khorne and all), and I spent some time rummaging through the leftover bits from the infantry builds to come up with enough FW Mk. V torsos and heads to match up with the legs and arms included in the kit. For the unit champion I added a few more Khorne-esque bits, including the ol' "bunny ears" helmet and some extra chains and spikes.

I also scattered a few bolt pistols and chain axes throughout the unit, and found enough RT-era backpacks to match up as well. However, now that they're built I have no idea what I want to do with them. The majority of the World Eaters army is long since sold, and I have to admit I didn't really enjoy painting them nor how they played on the table. I think these are likely just going to go up on the auction block to help fund the Tzeentch Renegades army I'm putting together for Adepticon. Expect to see another 'blatant advertising' post soon (unless one of you fine readers is interested and wants to make me an offer - I'm looking to get $120 out of them).

Now off to work on some other project. Hmm, it's been a while since I did any Eldar... Hey, wait, what are you doing with that taser? It was a joke! A JOKE! BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! Argh!

Tzeentch Renegades - Helbrute painted

I had a little painting time last night and since going to Adepticon next April is on the table, I got to thinking about what I'd want to take out there for my first entry into a tournament since 3nd edition. While I have a fairly good-sized guard army already painted I don't really relish the thought of trying to travel with them. Time for a stunt army! Painting up the cultist squads a while back has had me thinking about resurrecting the Tzeentch Renegades so I set to on the Helbrute from the dark vengeance set.

 

I thoroughly enjoy painting this color scheme - it's basically the Red Corsairs scheme done with blue and yellow rather than red and black. The halved/quartered/alternating at random pattern helps keep the models interesting throughout the painting process - each model is a little different from the next, so even batch painting 30-40 of them isn't as tedious as it usually can be...

 

The skin was worked over in the tone that the pink horrors and screamers will be painted, to help tie the army together. I'm not 100% happy with it however, I think it needs a wash to help blend it together, but I fear a purple wash will darken it far too much. Any suggestion would be appreciated!

I'm still working out how exactly the army will be built, though I have plans to build another unit of screamer-riders (as proxy Bikers or Raptors, not sure which) now that they've come out with plastic Screamers, and a Hell Talon as a proxy Heldrake (just not a fan of the Heldrake model). However it ends up, it's going to be colorful, that's for sure!

Feast of Blades 2012 recap

Before I get started I want to point you over to my friend Dave's blog - he's continued his excellent series of posts on making 3D bases that's chock full of cool pics and great ideas. Check it out!

I went down to Denver to check out the Feast of Blades tournament over this past weekend, and it was a great deal of fun! While I didn't participate in the tourney itself, as an outside observer it was a beautiful spectacle. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the tourney in progress, I snapped a few, but I didn't want to interfere with the games in progress so none of them really turned out.

Outside the main hall however, they were setting up an immense Apocalypse battlefield that I did get some decent shots of! I was really impressed by the Warlords - they were really well done!

  

  

The main reason for going was to meet up with Miniature Tim and throw some dice during the open gaming time following the rounds on Saturday. The idea was to drive the Leviathan across the table in an attempt to get it into his deployment zone, while his job was to stop it. Really though it was all about having a good conversation over a beer and a laugh. Mission success!

 

Feeling cocky, I suggested we play lengthwise - a foolish decision as I found out shortly. The GK had moral superiority on their side as well, as we all know painted models fight better. Tim's grey knights were beautifully painted, too!

 

One of the best parts about the Leviathan is the Doomsday Cannon's ability to flatten terrain. The first turn it remained stationary to clear up that pesky ruin in the way, and a few turns later another ruin (as well as some defense line and a slow-moving dreadnought) were also well squashed.

 

My ability to damage things that weren't static pieces of the environment was a bit more limited. Despite firing battlecannon shots into Draigo and his Terminator squad for the entire game, I don't think they took more than a single casualty. Four ones to wound from a battlecannon?! That was worth a picture...

As I mentioned earlier, playing lengthwise was a bit of a silly thing to do. By the time the Leviathan was destroyed, it had only moved a grand total of 9 inches. The rifleman dreads stripped it of its void shields handily every turn, and an early Drive Damaged result, plus several turns ineffectually attempting to repair meant it didn't get very far before the Vindicare smashed it apart with his Turbo Penetrator rounds. Despite that, the game was an absolute blast and Tim was a hoot to play against - I'm definitely looking forward to attending FoB next year!

Ciaphas Cain - Hero of the Imperium!

Taking a little break from the Leviathan to do some painting - gotta let the modelling batteries recharge for a bit! My buddy Dave let me know about a miniatures company called Cadwallon that I hadn't seen before, and lurking in their "Legendarion" section was a rather striking model of the greatest (least), most heroic (stinking coward) Commissar ever to wear the cap and greatcoat - Ciaphas Cain!

Dave had ordered up their model for the Salamanders Primarch Vulkan and was kind enough to add Cain to the order for me as well. The models arrived quickly, though the ordering process was a little convoluted with some odd PayPal redirects that didn't make either of us feel too confident, but all was well in the end.

  

I was rather pleased with the quality of the cast and the pose was very reminiscent of the cover art from the second Omnibus. I took some cues from the art for the paint scheme but also wanted to match it somewhat to the rest of the dozen-plus Commissars I've painted so far (no, I don't have a good reason for having that many).

I really liked the base that came with the model as well, as Cain has numerous run-ins with the Tyranid menace throughout the series. Definitely enjoyed painting it up, the blue, purple and green added a splash of color to the otherwise somewhat dour color scheme of Cain himself. Now I think I need to come up with a model to represent his personal dogsbody Jurgen, and perhaps a squad of Valhallans for him to lead!

In other news, I'm going to head down to Feast of Blades on Saturday night to have a game with Tim Toolen, owner of the Miniature Tim blog and an extremely talented modeler and painter. I'm fully expecting to be wiped off the table in short order, so just listen for the screams of dying guardsmen and you'll find me! :)

The Praetorian Project - Leviathan Greenstuffed

...Have you ever gotten towards the end of a project and felt as though you've taken a bad mis-step? I definitely have, and here is that point with the Leviathan. Due to my ham fisted-ness there were numerous areas with gaps that I figured "hey, I'll be able to fix that with a little GS before primering", but it was only once I sat down and started gap filling that I realized that A) there were a lot more gaps than I thought, and B) I really should have been gap filling as I went along rather than waiting until it was all assembled.

I'll be the first to admit that my GS skills are sorely lacking, mostly relegated to gap filling and hair/fur, but the sheer size of the Leviathan introduced an entirely new set of issues. Primarily, how to hold the darn thing while applying the GS, and secondarily not breaking/bending/cracking anything while trying to smooth it all out. There were more than a few ominous creaks and cracks during this process, and to my horror, the rear right rounded tread section broke loose and I was forced to make an emergency repair.

I used a mix of knead-together and liquid greenstuff - the knead together was used to fill in the larger holes, while the liquid was used on the minor areas and to help smooth transitions between the plastic and the kneaded GS areas. Going to have to primer it to see how it actually worked - after which I'll more than likely need to do another pass with the GS to clean up any egregious areas. Oof!

The Praetorian Project - Leviathan Banner and side sponsons complete

Managed to squeeze in some hobby time last night and worked on the Leviathan a bit more. I wasn't totally happy with how the side sponsons lined up with the upper superstructure (or more precisely, how they didn't), so I added another layer of detail to the outside cut to better fit the angles as well as to give them a bit more pop - I'm also planning on adding some further brass etch to them, Aquilas on the ourside sponsons and an Opus Machina to the middle one. I also managed to dig up enough lascannons to fit on all the side turrets, and got those cut and mounted.

As you may have noticed, I also added the awesome banner that LuckyNo.5 made for me. He was kind enough to set me up with a version designed to be double sided once it was printed out and wrapped around the banner pole. Turned out just right in my opinion!

 

I printed it out on some thin cardstock capable of feeding through the printer, set to the highest print quality. After that I carefully cut it out and applied white glue to the inside - while it was drying I set the flag in a bit of a wavy pattern by careful bending around a few plastic tubes I had lying about. After it was set I sprayed it with gloss varnish, then again with matte varnish, which gave it a bit more protection and helped lock the bends in place. Easy peasy!

I still need to do a mess of greenstuffing to take care of the gaps here and there, so for the moment the side sponsons are not yet fixed in place. I'm hoping to find some time to do that over the next week, though I'll admit that XCOM: Enemy Unknown has been getting a fair bit of my attention. Filthy Xenos!