The New Year is here and that means new beginnings, new opportunities and most importantly new hobby projects! For this year’s Tale of Gamers we’re also going to be mixing things up a bit and running a 3 round league at the same time. At 1k, 1.5k and 2k everyone will be throwing down with their new armies for that most important reward: Bragging Rights! (and a cool custom trophy)
With all the armies getting close to 1000pts it means we’ll be starting the first round of our league soon. You’ll be able to see the results of that in the next article but for now lets check out the latest additions to everyone’s army.
Alex: So my pledge this time was for a Whirlwind which isn’t something you’d usually associate with a Blood Angels army. However I think having one of these brings some important utility to the force. Not only can it sit on a backfield objective and shoot units outside of line of sight but it also allows access to the excellent Suppression Fire Stratagem.
For a Close Combat army like this turning off Overwatch has obvious uses but it’s the ability to make units Fight Last that is the most important. This allows you to charge on multiple fronts or send multiple units into one powerful enemy without having to worry about an interrupt killing some of your units before they can swing.
The model itself was painted in the same way as the other red marines I’ve done before. I did add a Forgeworld Blood Angel front plate though which adds a nice bit of extra detail. The missiles are also from the old Whirlwind Hyperios kit and have been magnetized in case I ever want to change it over to a Razorback in the future.
After the Whirlwind was done I had some time left over so painted up another Scout Squad aswell. They probably won’t see much play at the moment but I had the models already so it’d be rude not to get them finished. 40k is quite cyclical so it’s possible they’ll be good again in the future but even now I’ll still give them a go in 1000pt games to see how they play.
For next time I’ll be working on one of the most iconic Blood Angels units the Death Company. Objective grabbing and support units like a Whirlwind are useful for playing the mission but this is a Blood Angels army so it’s about time we get some more close combat options on the go! I’ve also got plans to convert a Jetbike version of an Assault Bike so we’ll see how that goes aswell.
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 26
Total Points: 840
Pledge for next month: A Multi-Melta Attack Bike and the start of the Death Company.
Si: Another unit down. Got to say it’s been a really big continued struggle with real life taking over hobby lately. Getting motivation after a long busy day is hard but little and often was how I managed to get through in the end. Something I’ll be leaning on as we continue as it definitely helps to plough through a project when the drive is missing.
But enough about that let’s talk about the unit. 3 Thunderwolves Cavalry with a Primaris upgrade to fit in with the feel of the force. I wanted the Thunderwolves to look like they were from the same litter, legend saying that they rescued by an Initiate during one of the Trails and returned to The Fang. Seen as a great omen they have grown to become a fearsome unit in there own. The riders needing to earn the respect from the pack before they are accepted to ride one. Really feel I got that with the paint scheme right for that and very happy how they turned out.
Next up are my Bladeguard Veterans. A few small upgrades and they look very cool and I can’t wait to finish them. Finishing a unit does put a bit of pep back in your step so I’ll stop writing and ride that wave whilst it is strongest! See you next time.
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 20
Total Points: 904
Pledge for next month: A unit of Bladeguard Veterans
Tange: With the completion of three crisis bodyguards I’m getting close to finishing my first 1,000pts. Orignally I was considering having a brick of nine of these guys in my 2,000pt list to support my commanders, but with the game working focusing on board presence and objective holding I’m leaning more towards a six model unit and using the spare points for more infantry. The main focus for these guys will be to survive long enough to use their bodyguard trait to tank wounds for the Commanders when they get into close combat.
I’m still on the fence on what weapons and support systems to give this unit, I’m looking to make them as versatile as possible. After a couple of practice games currently I’m really enjoying double plasma rifles and a shield generator on each. I did consider Fusion blasters as they’re a solid choice, but I’m more in favor of trading the higher strength for more shots as I think this will be a more robust option if not as killy as 12 fusion blasters.
I did consider taking all the Dakka with dual burst cannons but the low A/P is just too much of a deal break for me as the unit would be stuck in a chaff clearing role and I need these guys to have some punch to deal with more elite infantry units.
I think having the shield generators coupled with 2-3 Shield drones nearby and a pair of Iridium suits in the block of Six should make this unit super durable against most threats. Having a 2+/4++ on an Iridium makes them resilient to high A/P weapons, and using savior protocols to jump drones in the way of high strength, high damage shots should hopefully keep this unit up long enough to tank wounds for the Commanders when they do their inevitable YOLO charge into the enemy.
Then again I’ll probably change my mind next week so its a good thing that I’ve magnetized these lads. Knowing me I’ll probably go nuts and start using something dumb like triple flamers (for a potential 108 auto-hits) and 12 gun drones…
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 23
Total Points: 863
Pledge for next month: Going forward I’ve been looking at Forgeworld and decided to try out some of the resin options for Tau (I’m a sucker for punishment). So for the next article I’m going to paint up a pair of Remora Drones, and a pair of Tetras.
Rhaz: So, with the completed Shield Captain on Jet Bike and Allarus Custodians I now have a 1000 point force and some extra.
First I painted up three Allarus Custodians, with my other two from Month Two I now have a unit of five. I plan to deep- strike and then split them up using the Unleash the Lions Stratagem which should cause a bit of a ruckus on the tabletop. The Allarus will also be a ‘While we Stand we Fight’ unit so splitting them should make it a lot harder for the enemy to wipe the unit.
I was also very indecisive about the weapon load-out so I decided to magnetise the weapons; I think this will turn out to be a good decision especially since we will be getting a new Custodes Codex in the near Future (hopefully). It actually went surprisingly well considering the magnets were super tiny 0.5mm x 2mm ones.
I’ll tell you what didn’t go well though, painting this Shield Captain on Bike… I was not expecting these bikes to be so annoying to paint, I seemed to be unable to paint in the lines and constantly ruining the work I had just done. Painting the Bike black made this a lot worse too, luckily the rest of the bikes I plaint will be all gold. At least he’s got some cool sunnies though.
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 20
Total Points: 1205
Pledge for next month: 5 Sagittarum Guard.
Kev: So this month is buggy month.
In my hunt for making my Ork force pretty unique I found these alternative Shock Jump Dragsters! This is my first experience with home made resin printed models and I have to say these ones came out pretty well. They had some minor flaws such as a gun barrel being blocked over which I thought I would just drill out but while trimming I realised how brittle the resin is and decided against it. This was later proven as a good decision when I actually dropped one and had to pin it all back together.
These two add some much needed reliable anti-armour high damage shooting to my army. Also the maneuverability will mean getting Engage On All Fronts or denying enemy objectives will be very doable.
Painting was another learning experience mainly due to not having the use of my air brush and wanting a finish close to the first few parts of the army. The closest I found was weathering using different sponges. It’s only draw back is that it takes a lot of light layers to get it looking right. The models were painted as if they were brand new buggies and I then added Typhus Corrosion to a few select areas. Next was stippling using my sponge and watered down brown/ almost black working my way up with lighter shades towards Ryza Rust. I think I did a total of 15ish layers for the first few bits but reduced that to 10ish for the rest. I tried loading the sponge up with a little more paint but this is a bad idea ( basically think of it as dry brushing) as it meant doing one of the sub assemblies all over again.
Once I was happy with all of the panels I started on the Shock Jump’s V8. I had loads of ideas for this but I was already way behind on time and had been playing around with layers of highlights with a coat of different types of green inks which was far easier than the initial plan which was to make two portals and have one looking like they were jumping through them but after 3 attempts using hot glue I felt my abilities were lacking.
All in all I’m pretty happy with these guys, I learned new skills ( I may have gone a little over board in places). The models themselves are really nice quality with plenty of detail, which makes me a bit more willing to try out 3d printed models but I think using quality resin and a good printer will get rid of most of the issues I had.
I will be carrying on the sponge method for the foreseeable future but I may ease off on how much weathering I put on future models especially as the new Ork releases are on the horizon. My pledge for next month are some Killa Kanz with a twist and a Weirdboy.
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 25
Total Points: 980
Pledge for next month: Some Killa Kanz and a Weirdboy
Dean: It’s part 4 and the Plague Father has blessed me this month. Whilst I’m not quite league ready, I’ve got a fairly beefy set of units painted this month which begin to fill out my probably core roster of units.
So let’s start with them chonks:
This unit was pretty good fun to paint. In fact, so fun I’ve already snagged another box set for the future. Getting the green to pop took a little bit of trickery. The colour scheme uses a good number of the paints GW use in their scheme but the secret sauce lies in the use of Plaguebearer Contrast and Typhus Corrosion.
To get the deeper living green I’ve used the Contrast as a glaze in a few places before I’ve gone back in with my usual highlights of Ogryn Camo and Krieg Khaki. The other secret lies in the depths of the dings. Now this was something I tested out on a bigger kit where it was easier to experiment back in month 2- the Plagueburst Crawler. The Typhus Corrosion is added then a series of brown washes and glazes are added to get, depending on the model, the right depth of damage or rot.
I’m pretty happy with how they’ve turned out… but this month comes with a special bonus; the first of two Forgeworld Dreadnoughts, in this case the MK1.
As with the above it used a lot of the secret sauce to get the pops, but also featured some crazy eyes on the armour. It’s not going to surprise you to find the cartoonish CSM Helbrute isn’t my cup of tea, at least not without enough work to reign in some of the more unique design choices GW put into it. I do however love these old Forgeworld dreads, its just a shame they are but a memory.
I’ve managed to secure a MK2 Nurgle dread with its banner, but that’s a story for another time.
Army Progress:
Models Completed : 20
Total Points: 920
Pledge for next month: The Tallyman arrives, and with him comes a new breed of Poxwalker…
What’s on your painting table at the moment? Started a new army of your own recently? Let us know in the comments.
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