...I'm Back...

I'm back.  Let's leave it at that.  6th Edition is now out and a new starter set has been released.  It made me want to get back in the saddle and try some 40k.  The models are the best I've seen yet in a starter set and  for the first time, I'm not sure which army I'd like to play.  They both look so cool. But I digress. I am now furiously assembling the models and clearing off the dining room table to play out the missions and get a handle on the 6th edition rules.

Making Progress: Space Wolves

I'm at work and I'm bored, so I'll slip in a quick update. I've been working on my Space Wolves and I've finished painting my first Grey Hunter pack, except for the decals. I'm going with Harald Deathwolf, as this wolf lord is featured in March's White Dwarf and the new Wolf Lord seems to be designed with him in mind. I also converted and painted up a power armoured Rune Priest. Next up is the second Grey Hunter pack, which I already started.

Some thoughts on the next additions will be Fenrisian Wolves, a Predator and maybe some Wolf Guard OR Dreadnought. Like I said, I'm at work and don't have any pictures, but I did get a shiney new camera that I'm learning to use, so I'll try getting some pics and video of them up over the weekend.

New White Dwarf and Teeny Space Wolf Update

Got my new White Dwarf yesterday and it has the latest Space Wolf releases along with some background. I also ordered some Fenrisian Wolves while I was in the store. Hoping to get them this weekend.

In all of the new Space Wolf excitement, I have been able to actually start a Space Wolf project. I began with a small 500-point force, a Rune Priest HQ and two Grey Hunter packs. The first pack is assembled with 7 of 10 models painted. The Rune Priest and second pack are assembled and waiting to get primed. As I work on the force, I'd like to take them out for a test drive to get the feel for the mechanics and how the army plays, but it's difficult to find anyone who wants to play such a small game. My only option is to take them through their paces on my dining room table in a solo machine against the Black Reach orks, painting them as I go.

Once all of these models are painted, I'll plan my next 500 points, which will, as I mentioned above include some Fenrisian Wolves and maybe a box of Thunder Wolf cavalry as well as another Grey Hunter Pack or Long Fangs. Although, a tank or two might help. Ugh, decisions, decisions.

You Know What This Means.....

Once again, another project is fizzled and died. This knee injury and the crutches that go with it, are another pesky distraction that diverts my attention away from hobbying and gaming. Now being laid up, you might think, would have the opposite effect, but I'm getting more and more restless as time passes. BUT...maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A relative came by the other day and took me out to my local GW store and I picked up Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymeara, which features the Eldar and Space Wolves. Of course, this inspires me to hobble downstairs and rummage through my 40k stuff to see what I have in the way of the Sons of Russ. I found a few models, and I got myself all setup (that was a project in itself) and did a little painting.

Well, what do I see yesterday, but the new Space Wolf models that are due out soon. By the Beard of Russ, they are awesome! So, guess what? It's Space Wolf time again. Time for some Thunder Wolves and Fenrisian Wolves, and Arac Rockfist. Oh yeah!!!!

A Couple of Updates

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I have recently fallen victim to a sneaky patch of ice which caused me to fall and rupture the tendons above my kneecap that will require surgery to repair. Thank you very much Old Man Winter. So while I lay here at home waiting for the surgery, I thought I'd post an update.

First, I completed a test model for my Astral Claws army. One of which I'm satisfied with, so I've given myself the green light to proceed. I'll have an image or two posted soon for that. My limite mobility prevents me from searching for the camera.

My other update is my review of the new Pathfinder Battles miniatures from Paizo/Wizkids. The first set, Heroes & Monsters was just released and while I don't have any retailer nearby that carres them, I opted to order a few of the single online. I received my first order the other day and I am quite pleased with them so far. The painting is a standard a bit higher than WotC's Dungeons and Dragons minis in terms of the details. Wizkids also went with the flat finishes as opposed to the glossy look, which I like. The other thing that I enjoy about this set is that there is a healthy mix of characters as well as your basic dungeon crawl denizens. There are forty in the first set, with the next set due out in June or July. Plenty of time for me to complete this one. I would say the only down side for this product is the packaging. The boosters are sold in two types: one containing a single large monster and another containing one medium or two small miniatures. I would imagine it would get a bit pricey trying to collect them all going that route. I'm guessing it would be cheaper in the long run, to buy singles on line. All in all, this set will go great with the Pathfinder Campaign that I have in the works.

Fastest FW Order...EVER!!!

My Astral Claws, shoulder guards and decal sheet arrived today! Holy Crap! That was the fastest order from Forgeworld...EVER!!! I ordered them over the weekend.

I also started working on some test models last night, but I wasn't completely happy with the result. I tried using Chainmail with a Badab Black wash. I got the color right, but the wash flattened the finish. Anybody know away around that? I'm trying to get a shade somewhere in between Chainmail and Boltgun Metal.

Uh....Yeah....A New Army

It's a new year and it's time for a new army. I've become very interested in the Astral Claws Chapter while reading through my Badab War books from Forgeworld. Collecting Space Marines isn't anything new to me, but collecting renegade Space Marines...now THAT'S new. The thought of collecting this army feels like the breath of fresh air that I've been looking for. Plus it will give me the option of running that army in a variety of different ways. My initial steps, I think, will be to build a 1,000 point list from the Space Marine codex, then gradually build up and expand to transform it into a Tyrant's Legion army.

I ordered a sheet of transfers and a set of shoulder guards from Forgeworld (because that was all my gaming budget would allow for this month) and sat down to start gluing some plastic. I should have a test model or two painted by the end of the weekend and posted. In the meantime, I'm going to delve more into the background of the chapter and actually start reading the IA books.

Time of the Wolf

It seems I accidentally deleted a recent post. Over the weekend, I had decided that it was time to take that 'new outlook' philosophy and apply it to a new 40k army. So I pulled out my Space Wolf codex yesterday and started reading. I've talked about doing this army in the past, but I never seemed to get it off the ground. Well, that all changes now. With Halloween coming and all, I figured why not start the wolves. So I'm starting with a Grey Hunters box and a SW Accessory sprue. I sat down tonight with my modeling tools and glue, popped in Underworld and got to work.

As of now, I've got 10 models half assembled. I'm waiting for the glue to dry before I begin attaching arms and such, but I'll get back at it tomorrow. I think I'm going to go squad by squad on this army. I'll start with Bran Redmaw's Great Company (which will be featured in the new Imperial Armour book and will also have a Bran Redmaw mini from FW - go figure). I may hunt down a Wulfen or two, but we'll see. They seem pretty expensive.

40k Book Review - Imperial Glory

Until a couple of weeks ago, I was between jobs and beginning to climb the walls. So to maintain my sanity, I got back into reading. I had a stack of books almost as tall I was, so I figured I'd work on that. About 4 days ago, I finished the newest IG book, Imperial Glory by Richard Williams and I enjoyed that one immensely. Some great firefights and running battles with a host of colorful characters. I kind of envisioned as Band of Brothers episodes as they fought their was through various battlefields...and the ending was great. Best I've read in a while. Well, now I'm nearly half way through The Chapter's Due by Graham McNeill. This one is the latest book in the Uriel Ventris series (Captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company). Up until now, I was not a huge fan of the series, having a difficult time getting into it, but this latest installment is nothing less than awesome!! I'm having a tough time putting it down and I even get cranky when someone (aka, wife and kids) forces me to put the book down.

The book needless to say has got me on an Ultramarine kick, so don't be surprised to see some Ultramarines minis pop up hear at Kantor Base. Oh, and I actually finished painting a 750 point Grey Knights army AND played my first game over the weekend. It did no go well, but I had fun playing with a painted army for a change, so I'm hoping there will be more of that.

Stuff I'm Working On...

Not too long ago, I tried organizing my work area and was shocked at how many projects I had started and never completed (or in some cases, never started). So I decided to try and put some of my free time to use and get some things assembled, painted and possibly sold.

The last few days have been split between the new Grey Knights and Imperial Fists. Pardon the crappy resolution. The batteries on the camera died and my wife's iPod was close at hand. Bad idea. Anyway, the Grey Knights are part of a 1250 list that I created when the new codex was released and the Imperial Fists were out of a desire to start a codex chapter that was vanilla, but not the goody, goody boy scouts that the Ultramarines are.

I'm also jumping on my High Elves and I have my eye on a Tomb Kings project as well. More to come.

40k Book Review - Horus Heresy

In an effort to inspire my kids to read more, I spent considerable time over the last few weeks trying to catch up on the ridiculously tall stack of books that I have accumulated over the last year. I recently finished two of the Horus Heresy books: Legion by Dan Abnett and The Battle For The Abyss by Ben Counter. I was a bit disappointed in both stories, to be honest. I struggled to maintain my interest in Legion, finding the book to be somewhat dull and not nearly enough action. The story focuses on the Night Legion, one of the Traitor Legions. I was hoping for some epic battles, but it was more (to me, at least) of an uninteresting political novel.

Battle For The Abyss was a tad better, with a little more combat than the previous book, but I had some difficulty keeping some of the characters straight. I also expected to see a bit more of the Ultramarines featured in this book, but again, I was disappointed.

This series started off well, but it seems to have wavered somewhat. I will continue to read the series and finish it, because I don't like leaving books unfinished (weird, I know), but I've just picked up the new Space Marine Battles Novel, Battle of the Fang by Chris Wraight. I hear this one's pretty awesome.

40k Book Review - Victories of the Space Marines

I just finished reading Victories of the Space Marines, the latest edition in the series of short story anthologies from Black Library. I really enjoyed this third volume. Some of the tales featured a great piece about the Grey Knights and sacrifices made to battle daemons. Excellent story. Loved it. It was also good to see the Blood Angels audio drama, Heart of Rage in print. That one's my favorite Blood Angels story. Some of the chapters features were the Crimson Consuls, Warbringers, Imperial Fists and a Deathwatch Kill Team. I finished this book just in time to pick up the latest Space Marines Battle novel, Battle of the Fang. Of course, this will probably launch me back into Space Wolves (yes, I've prepared a 750-point list). With the rumors about the next Imperial Armour volume featuring the sons of Russ, I couldn't resist.

On the hobby front, I got three of my Grey Knight Strike Squad painted today. I mean completely painted. That includes basing and a couple of coats of sealer. I can't remember the last time I painted three models in a single day.

Tomorrow, I'm playing a game of Warhammer Fantasy against my buddy Jon. 1500 points of High Elves against Warriors of Chaos. I'm guessing I'll get stomped, but it'll be a fun time in any case.

GW switches to 'Resin-ish'

Looks like GW has confirmed the move to Resin-ish models. Amen. Personally, I hate metals. Below is a list of the initial product list, couresy of BOLS. I can't wait to get my hands on some of these items. The new stuff is reportedly hitting the shelves at the end of the month. But instead of a price decrease as rumored by one of the GW staffers, there seems to be a price hike, but I expected nothing less. The items in red are definitely going to be my first choices. I wonder if the sculpts will be new?

41-60 COMMANDER DANTE £10.50 53-60 LOGAN GRIMNAR £14.50
55-61 THE EMPERORS CHAMPION £9.50
48-63 SPACE MARINE CHAPLAIN WITH JUMP PACK £10.50
44-60 DARK ANGELS COMPANY MASTER £10.50
48-61 SM LIBRARIAN IN TERMINATOR ARMOUR £14.50 53-61 NJAL STORMCALLER £14.50 41-61 ASTORATH THE GRIM £12.50
43-60 ABADDON THE DESPOILER £14.50
43-61 HURON BLACKHEART £10.50
50-61 ORK WARBOSS WITH ATTACK SQUIG £14.50
50-63 ORK BIG MEK £14.50
50-65 ORK PAINBOY WITH GROT ORDERLY £10.50
46-61 ELDAR AUTARCH WITH POWER WEAPON £10.50
46-62 THE AVATAR OF KHAINE £22.50
46-63 HARLEQUIN DEATH JESTER £10.50
46-64 HARLEQUIN SHADOWSEER £10.50
47-61 COMMISSAR YARRICK £10.50
47-63 IMPERIAL GUARD LORD COMMISSAR £9.50
51-61 TYRANID ZOANTHROPE £15.50
51-63 TYRANID TYRANT GUARD £15.50
51-64 TYRANID HIVE GUARD £15.50
51-65 TYRANID BROODLORD £15.50
57-61 BROTHER CAPTAIN STERN £14.50
57-60 LORD KALDOR DRAIGO £14.50 57-62 CASTELLAN CROWE £10.50 57-63 INQUISITOR COTEAZ £10.50
45-60 DARK ELDAR ARCHON £9.50
45-64 LELITH HESPERAX £10.50
45-63 URIEN RAKARTH £10.50
45-61 DARK ELDAR SUCCUBUS £9.50
56-60 TAU ETHEREAL WITH HONOUR BLADE £9.50
83-62 CHAOS EXALTED HERO £9.50
83-63 CHAOS KHORNE EXALTED HERO £10.50
86-60 EMPIRE CAPTAIN WITH HAMMER & PISTOL £9.50
92-60 WOOD ELF HIGHBORN WITH GREAT WEAPON £9.50
84-60 DWARF LORD WITH HAMMER & SHIELD £9.50
84-61 DWARF RUNELORD WITH GREAT WEAPON £9.50
90-60 SKAVEN WARLORD £9.50
90-61 QUEEK HEADTAKER £10.50
90-62 DEATHMASTER SNIKCH £10.50
91-61 VAMPIRE LORD £9.50
89-60 GRIMGOR IRONHIDE £10.50
89-62 BLACK ORC BIG BOSS £10.50
87-60 CARADRYAN £10.50
85-61 DARK ELF ASSASSIN WITH TWO HAND WEAPONS £9.50
81-60 MALAGOR THE DARK OMEN £12.50
10-61 URUK-HAI WITH CROSSBOWS £14.00
10-62 URUK-HAI BERSERKERS £14.00
08-61 GOTHMOG (PELENNOR) £20.50
05-60 ELROND AND GIL-GALAD £15.00
10-60 SARUMAN AND GRIMA £15.00
02-60 GANDALF THE WHITE £20.50
04-60 ARAGORN (THE BLACK GATE) £20.50
04-62 THEODEN (HELM’S DEEP) £20.50
04-61 BOROMIR (ITHILIEN) £20.50
09-60 SULADAN THE SERPENT LORD £20.50
08-62 THE DARK MARSHAL (RINGWRAITH) £20.50
05-61 DAIN AND BALIN £15.00
97-60 SKULLTAKER £14.50
48-40 MARNEUS CALGAR AND HONOUR GUARD £36.00
48-41 SPACE MARINE TECHMARINE WITH SERVITORS £25.50 55-40 BLACK TEMPLARS SWORD BRETHREN SQUAD £25.50 48-42 SPACE MARINE STERNGUARD VETERAN SQUAD £25.50 48-43 SPACE MARINE VANGUARD VETERAN SQUAD £25.50 53-40 CANIS WOLFBORN £30.00
43-40 NURGLE DAEMON PRINCE £21.50
43-41 CHAOS SPACE MARINE RAPTORS £25.50
43-42 DEATH GUARD PLAGUE MARINES £25.50
50-43 BOSS ZAGSTRUK £14.50
50-40 GHAZGHKULL THRAKA £22.50
50-41 ORK TANKBUSTAS £25.50
50-42 ORK BIG MEK WITH SHOKK ATTACK GUN £23.00
46-41 ELDAR RANGERS £20.50
46-42 ELDAR DARK REAPERS £23.00
46-44 ELDAR STRIKING SCORPIONS £23.00
46-40 ELDAR FARSEER AND WARLOCKS £20.50
51-42 TYRANID LICTOR £15.50
51-40 TYRANID HIVE TYRANT £36.00
51-41 TYRANID PYROVORE £21.50
45-40 DARK ELDAR INCUBI £23.00
45-41 DARK ELDAR MANDRAKES £20.50
56-40 TAU SNIPER DRONE TEAM £23.00
83-42 ARCHAON THE EVERCHOSEN £30.00
83-43 CHAOS LORD ON DAEMONIC MOUNT £22.50
83-41 CHAOS DRAGON OGRE SHAGGOTH £36.00
86-41 LUDWIG SCHWARZHELM £22.50
86-40 KURT HELBORG £22.50
82-41 THE GREEN KNIGHT £22.50
82-40 KING LOUEN LEONCOEUR £30.00
92-42 WOOD ELVES TREE KIN £30.00
92-40 ORION KING IN THE WOODS £22.50
92-41 WOOD ELVES TREEMAN £36.00
84-40 THOREK IRONBROW £36.00
84-41 DWARF GYROCOPTER £23.00
84-42 DWARF BOLT THROWER £23.00
90-40 SKAVEN WARPLOCK JEZZAILS £30.00
91-40 VAMPIRE COUNTS VARGHULF £21.50
91-42 COUNT MANNFRED £22.50
91-41 VAMPIRE COUNTS BLOOD KNIGHTS £61.50
88-41 KROQ GAR £40.00
89-44 GOBLIN SPEAR CHUKKA £18.50
89-43 SAVAGE ORC GREAT SHAMAN ON WAR BOAR £15.50
89-41 ORC WARBOSS ON WYVERN £40.00
89-42 GOBLIN ROCK LOBBER £23.00
89-45 GORBAD IRONCLAW £30.00
89-40 AZHAG THE SLAUGHTERER £55.00
85-41 DARK ELVES REAPER BOLT THROWER £18.50
08-40 THE DARK LORD SAURON £25.50
08-42 GULAHVAR THE TERROR OF ARNOR £30.00
08-43 MORDOR TROLL CHIEFTAIN £25.50
02-40 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING £37.00
97-42 FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH £15.50

Captain My Captain...first GK finished!

Brother-Captain Omarus Halcyon, commander of the 7th Brotherhood, is one of the chapter's finest warriors. He is far older than most of his comrades realize and he often eludes to past experiences that none of his men can remember. He is an accomplished warrior and brilliant tactician and he is held in high regard by the Chapter Council. It is said that Halcyon was a once a battle brother of the Red Hunters chapter of Space Marines and commanded one of that mysterious chapter's veteran squads before joining the ranks of the Grey Hunters.

I finished painting my Brother-Captain and had a pretty hard time with the sword, which I'm still not happy with, but after spending pretty much the whole afternoon on this one, I'm ready to call it a day. I just can't seem to get that wet blending technique down.

I'm only including the tabard on squad leaders and such, to help differentiate them from the rank and file. Believe it or not, there are only so many different poses that you can build. The red tabards, for purposes of my collection will signify command (Brother-Captains, Brotherhood Champions, Justicars). The white tabards will signify senior officers (Grand Masters). On the bright side, I've completed the first model for my army. Only 26 more to go.

Grey Knights - Army Update

I finished assembling, basing AND basecoating my 1250 point Grey Knights list. My next step is to, one model at a time, complete the detail painting. The goal here is to try and make each model as unique as possible. I'm also working on some background work for the collection as well.

Sorry for the crappy pictures, but it in the interest of getting an update out, I just threw them on the table and took a quick shot. I'm also pretty anxious to start playing with the force and getting comfortable with the army before I expand it. I do have a ton of stuff waiting in the wings, but I don't want to get overwhelmed and bored.

1,250 pt Grey Knights List

This is my first time playing Grey Knights and from what I hear, it's not your average starter army and while I've been playing 40k for some time, I don't play with any great frequency, so I still consider myself a beginner. In fact, I've lost way more games that I've won. So with that in mind, I came up with a 1,250 point list to get myself comfortable with the codex.

Keep in mind that I tend to build forces more out of a desire to fit into the 40k universe and its fiction and not to win games. This probably explains why I lose so often, but I enjoy playing, so I don't really mind.

GK Brother-Captain (1)

Nemesis force sword, m/c

stormbolter

psybolt ammunition

GK Strike Squad (10)

psycannon (x2)

Nemesis force halberd (x2)

Nemesis force sword (Justicar)

Rhino w/ psybolt ammo

GK Terminator Squad (5)

psycannon (x1)

Nemesis force halberd (x3)

Daemon hammer (Justicar)

psybolt ammunition

GK Terminator Squad (5)

Nemesis force halberd (Justicar)

Incinerator

Nemesis force swords x4

psybolt ammunition

Interceptor Squad (5)

Nemesis force swords x3

Incinerator

Daemon Hammer

psybolt ammo

Dreadnought

twin-linked lascannon

psybolt ammuntion

Boarding Action!

The MkIII Boarding Marine from Forge World arrived this week! Really nice model. Can't wait to add this one to my collection! This was the event model featured at Adepticon this year, but the line was too freakin' long, so I ordered it.

Grey Knight Librarian Conversion

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I'm not thrilled with the fact that the new Grey Knight codex has limited options for Librarians. By that, I mean Librarians must be in Terminator armor with no options for power armor. To me, it's a complete waste of Space Marine Librarians. With so many Grey Knight HQ choices, they should have produced a GK Commander Kit (just like the Space Marines). While I like the metal Terminator Librarian model, there aren't enough options for the rank and file Librarians. With that in mind, I sat down last night and tried coming up with my own conversion. I deliberately tried to avoid anything elaborate (that's what the metal one is for). Let me know what you think. Sorry about the bad lighting.

New Arrival

My Castellan Crowe arrived today in the mail. Pretty cool mini. Time to start the Purifiers!! I'm working on a list of pure Grey Knights (for now, at least). Currently, I'm debating whether or not I should go with a Grand Master or Brother-Captain. I'm trying to build the army, one Brotherhood at a time. That means (according to the Codex), eight captains, eight brotherhoods, plus one brotherhood each of Purifiers (approximately 40 models), and Paladins.

Most of the lists I see out there are including a Grand Master over a Brother-Captain, but I'm more of a fluff/background lover and enjoy building the collection around how the chapter is described in the published material.

Grey Knights Update

I've been spending the last few days working on my Grey Knights and I have been able to really go through sprues and get stuff built. Despite a few challenges while assembling the power armoured Grey Knights, the models are awesome. So far, I've compiled a short list of likes and dislikes that I'd like to share:

Likes

1. Great detail on each piece
2. Extensive pose capability
3. Great to use with other SM kits and vice versa
4. Lots of different heads
5. Seems easy to create plastic Librarians with the Terminator bits
   

Dislikes

1. Some unnecessary components, just to make me miserable - magazines for storm bolters, Could they just mold them onto the stormbolter.
2. Having to attach the storm bolters to the arms seperately (termies too)
3. Lack of bits to use on vehicles (in my opinion)
4. Psycannon on GKs, don't seem to line up right.
5. New plastic Terminators seem a bit broader than the old metal ones.
   

I think I may have found a secret to avoid army burn out. In past projects, I would assemble and paint multiple squads of the same time. For example, I would assemble and paint two or three squads of tactical marines before I would start a dread or tank or something else. Well, I'd finally get bored and then shift my attention to something else. This time I'm approaching the Grey Knights a little differently. I'm working different unit types each time. My first unit is a Strike Squad, then I'll work a unit of Terminators, then a Venerable Dread or Dreadknight before going back to making a Purgation Squad.

Anyway, currently I have my first Strike Squad assembled, based, primed and basecoated (10-man squad). I have a Rhino primed and ready for painting and I've been building a Terminator Squad. So the work continues.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I ran into some old friends who are now into Fantasy and I'm looking forward to getting a game in soon, so I'll have paint work to do on the High Elves as well, so I may be alternating so I don't get bored with one project.