Xenos on Thracium VII!

 +++ RUMOR XENOS +++

+++ Transmitted: Deathwatch Frigate HALLOWED SWORD +++
+++ Received: DEATHWATCH FORT PYKMAN +++

+++ Transmitted: M41.999 +++

+++ Astartes: ATHREOS, PHOBOS Lt, Spectrus Troops  +++
+++ Subject: XENOS INVESTIGATION - THRACIUM VII +++

+++ Security Level: SCARLET +++

+++ START +++

 

 Thracium VII is infested. And worse, it is not just foul Xenos but the denizens of the Ancient Enemy stalk this world also. 

 

Kallaphrax reported signs of cult activity on the outskirts of the Hive shortly after their deployment. As soon as I received his auspicator telemetry, I dropped from the Thunderhawk. Typical Minotaur, he had already engaged the signals he was seeing.  

Brother Syrran engages the cult

 

Syrran was the first to discover the cult and, seeing an opportunity to deliver force at a point, charged the cultists outrider, destroying the vehicle in savage fashion. Advancing under overwatch fire, Kallaphrax lead his team into the fray and by the time I had landed in theater, the Spectrus Team had eliminated two squads of cultists and had engaged their heavy support.

Sergeant Kallaphrax attacks!

 

Kallaphrax cut down the Sentinel and as Syrran engaged the Tyranid abomination, it withdrew straight at my ambush position. Mercifully the Blackweave Shroud protected me from both it's psychic assault and it's claws.

The Broodlord attempts to infest Lieutenant Athreos

 

I give thanks to the God Emperor that the prowess of my battle brothers rapidly saw off the cult sentinel and, seeing the Xenos filth, they joined the battle with the Broodlord and slaughtered it under a thousand cuts. It was no more than the beast deserved.

AXIOM: Cults lead to Xenos. This is known.

 

Recommend mobilisation of VENATOR forces to Thracium VII in advance of possible Xenos insurrection or Hive Fleet interest. Inform the Ordo as well. If there is a Broodlord here then there will be others and the planetary garrison may already be under the cult sway.

 

In worse news, we have also encountered a small force of the traitorous Emperors Children. Moving through an industrial area, our point troopers spotted their advance elements so the combat squads dug in while I sent Brother Syrran to outflank the enemy. There were some machines in this locale that interfered with our multi-spectral arrays and Occulus technology. We had hoped to disable them but the enemy attacked too quickly!

 

The Emperors Children attack

 

The foul noise emitted by the traitors inflicted many wounds on Kallaphrax's men. I know even Traitor Astartes maintain the bolter discipline of my antecedents but the sheer barrage of fire coming from these particular traitors and their absurd weaponry was unreal. I had not seen the like before and I shall go the rest of my days with no desire to hear it again. 

 

Athreos is surrounded!

 

I was engaged by the enemy and, even as I struck them down they assailed our auditory sensors and our minds with their rage-filled noise but my combat blades rang true and with some aid from Kallaphrax (for once, the quietest Marine in the place!) the enemy were slain. Syrran reported that he dispatched one of their Dreadnoughts, a parody of the honoured ancestors at Pykman, and a squadron of bikers. He believes he may also have immolated one of their mock Captains but there is no remnant to confirm, at least not to our auspicators. 

 

Needless to say, I am concerned about the presence of those spawned from the heretical teachings of Horus and others. The cult I can explain, but these traitors. That suggests something else at work here. Perhaps there in an interest from...

...

...

...

...

...

Yes. 

Yes. 

I understand. 

Brother Darthan, the Comms Officer, is reporting ghost signals in the fields to our north east. We will investigate before I complete my report.

 

Computer. Pause log and enable emergency transmission.

 

 +++ LOG PAUSE +++

 

+++ DRONE IMAGERY BEGINS +++

 

We're Surrounded!

...

...

...

...

For the GOD EMPEROR! CHARGE!

...

...

...

...

 

+++ DRONE IMAGERY ENDS +++

+++ REPORT INCOMPLETE +++

 

+++ AUTOMATED TRANSMIT ENABLED +++

 

+++ COMPLETE +++

 

+++ BLESSED IS THE MIND TOO SMALL FOR DOUBT +++

+++ THE GOD EMPEROR PROTECTS +++

 

+++ TRANSMISSION ENDS +++ 

 

That last game was a tough one. I deployed the Phobos using their infiltration right in the middle of the board to set up more of a narrative of being surrounded by the Necrons and hoping to weather their fire. Which I did, for a bit. The Warsuit managed to see off the Annihilation Barge and Athreos did for a unit of Immortals. The Spectrus KT were slaughtered by another unit of Immortals with Tesla weapons. I made a lot of 3+ saves, but never enough. In the end, the game came down to Athreos charging the last Immortal and failing to kill it and the Warsuit charging a wounded Necron Lord and also failing to kill it. It was a very close game and my opponent played it very well. We've had run-ins before with these Necrons and this is the first time the Imperium has been beaten. 

So Athreos is presumed dead. He will return later in the slow-grow though. I have plans.

 

Next Time

I'll be cracking into some 15mm Flames of War Germans for an upcoming event and I'll let you all in on some meaningful science I've been doing on the topic of effective paint removal. 

War on Tharacium VII part 1 (narrative 40k prelude)

We are starting up a series of days to play 40k, escalating up in points across the year. We have a few club members (myself included) that are working on 40k armies, so it made sense to sequence the games to help us get the motivation to finish things, and keep making progress on our armies.

As all of us are keen on the narrative side of the 40k universe, it only made sense to set up some sort of narrative framework for the escalation days. And this is how we are starting off....

My master willed it, and so I existed.

Where I did not before, now I did. 

Nothing so crude as speech passed between my master and I.

No such thing was necessary, I simply knew what my master willed.

A world had escaped the clutches of the warp. It had emerged, reappeared and reorientated itself within the elliptic of a system infected with humanity, far from the burning light of the astronomican. 

The world was known to humanity as Tharacium VII, although most had forgotten that it used to have a different name in days past. The Eldar once called it Kal Vishayan, and known it as a safe harbour. To the denizens of the Grandfather who had tended it as a garden to their demanding Lord it was known as Bubonicus. The Orks had ruled over the world more than once, and had a name for it, but my master did not care enough to share it with me, and so I neither knew nor cared for it either.

How it came to leave the tender embrace of the warp. That was the question I cared for more.

That I cared for with all of my being.

It was my masters will that others came, that others searched while I watched, waited and intervened to ensure my master's will was done.

Most came of their own accord, drawn by their own recollection of one or more of the different masks that the planet had worn over millenia. For the others my master required, all it took was a few rumours of lost technology, of the rise of an Ork warlord to rival Ghazghkull Thraka using technology to move planets through the warp, or of one of the Grandfather's pestilent garden left untended. 

I have many names, but the simplest for your feeble mind to comprehend is the Changeling.

All parties shall serve the will of the Changer of Ways on Thracium....

Painted by Scotty, who is loving contrast paint!

Stay tuned to see how it pans out!

Pooch

WARSUIT!

 I have finished off the Invictor Tactical Warsuit for our 500 point club day: 

Invictor Tactical Warsuit

This kit is AWESOME. Mostly, I love the idea that a dreadnought-type robot suit is actually carrying and shooting a heavy bolter and I've been able to pose the driver looking down the barrel. I am most pleased. The silver arm is pretty loud and massive (especially in this photo) but it's pretty sweet! 

I've also written a bit of a background for the Kill Team going into our little slow grow campaign. I've been trying to work through a logical narrative for the growth choices in units and things. Part I is sneaking about, Part II will be the 'cavalry' coming to the rescue and Part III will be the big hitters. I have a sweet plan for part III and maybe half a plan for Part II but I might be building me a Deathwatch Land Speeder or two...

The Background

A jet-black Thunderhawk ripped through the atmosphere of Thracium VII. Lieutenant Athreos stood in the jump door waiting for a signal. There was something here, the Ordo Xenos was very rarely wrong about that, but their intel was incomplete and Fort Pykman had sent him to look deeper.

Spectrus Kill Team Kallaphrax had been dropped outside one of Thracium's principal settlements and had begun a steady infiltration into the outskirts of the city, seeking, hunting. Sergeant Kallaphrax was something of an oddity in the Phobos troops. A Minotaur, he had all that chapter's bombast in private, but he was the most skilled Infiltrator at Pykman. The Kill Team, assembled to the Aquila template, would be well served with his leadership. 

Athreos had also requisitioned an Invictor Warsuit for the mission and had been most pleased to be assigned Brother Syrran. Syrran hailed from the Imperial Fists and brought a methodical approach to battle that made the most of his Warsuit's arsenal, especially when paired with a headstrong Sergeant like Kallaphrax.

With the Kill Team and the Warsuit already in theatre, Athreos rode the Thunderhawk as it climbed back to the Deathwatch cruiser in orbit, still standing in the jump door, still waiting for a signal.

Shore Troopers

Here is the first squad half way through: 

WIP Shore Troopers I

I got this far with one and decided just to crack on. A drybrush of Vallejo Buff for the armour, German Camo Medium Brown for the fabric and boots before an Agrax Earthshade wash. From here I think the guns and visors are easy and I'll be doing very careful highlights on the armour and fabric before doing the baby-blue panels that need to go onto the whole squad.

I've also just noticed I forgot to paint the gloves on the kneeling guy. Damn.

Next Time

The Spectrus Kill Team's outings on Thracium VII will be documented for the blog and we'll see if Lieutenant Athreos makes it through the day! We've also got our annual club event coming up in few weeks and I have a bit of painting 15mm for that too. I've got a few stands of infantry, a couple of Tigers and a couple of armoured cars to do for the first of TWO planned outings for 653 Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung this year.  

Pooch's March update

 Wait, what do you mean March is already gone, AND I am already more than half through April before I blogged what I did?

Photos aren't up to my usual average quality, due to me probably prioritising getting this done, more so than the perfection of the lighting!

1. Finish a table of terrain

Another month, another batch of terrain created! 

The first piece is another of the brilliant TT Combat Buildings, which as per the last one I mostly painted with rattle cans, some contrast paint and a whole bunch of Valhallan Blizzard texture paint.

Elsa for scale

I also finished up this little piece of terrain, a statue of a knight! The knight comes from the Nulzor's range, the plinth was a weird bit of terrain I got a long while ago from a guy I was commission painting for, that he couldn't think of a use for. It's sat on the pile for a good two years, with the idea to make the statue, but never got around to it!

I think I am getting better with the "how much snow do I put on these terrain pieces". More next month!

2. Play a game a month

This month was Kings of War!

The mighty Goblin army returned, to fight against their sworn enemy, the dwarves. 

My main take away was that I really, really enjoy my Goblin army. I played a totally different list style than what I had run last year, using the ridiculously large cavalry units to play havoc with Tom's front line, effectively cruise missile-ing them ahead, while the rest of my army advanced. 

I have no clue who won, but it was obviously a glorious victory for the Goblins (but of course a Goblin would say that!) 

So. Many. Squigs. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

3. Finish a 1,500 point 40k army

It's tough to be cooler than a Sister with a jump pack and two hand flamers.....

That's right, it's Seraphim time!

Five Seraphim painted, the Superior has a power sword and plasma pistol, and two sisters have hand flamers. They are really lovely models, and despite no shortage of swear words in terms of how to set them up so that they can be painted while part assembled, but I got there in the end, and I am very happy with the result. The flying stands onto the pre-made bases was a bit of a pain... but... shrug...

Mucho pistol!

Simply lovely figures

Next up? Repentia, and maybe a 500 point game?!!

4. Finish armies that I have part started

And so, the progress on the WW2 US continues, this time with....

A three gun battery of M7 Priests. Plastic Priest? Awesome model. Plastic priest crew? I was not a fan. So I replaced them with some spare US artillery crew I had lying around. So not only do they get to have better looking crew, all three guns have a different group of crew- perfect!

A full Armoured Rifle Platoon. So that is made up of a lot of infantry....

As well as a set of five halftracks!

Oh an I did finish up a T26E4 Super Pershing... because what else do you do with a heavy tank but slap yet more armour onto it, salvaged from a wrecked enemy tank and a truly ridiculous 90mm tank gun!

Need to get a fair bit more US done, I have a tournament in May!

5. Buy, build and play a new game

And so my Legion collection yet grows, with the addition of Super Battle Droids....

... and Count Dooku. Because if a game system allows you to have your army led by Sir Christopher Lee. Your army will be led by Sir Christopher Lee. Quite happy with the face on him too.

And that's it! Hopefully not this late next month....

More progress? Excellent....

Pooch

Campfire at the Scarif Beach Party

Painting? 

Yes! In preparation for some Star War Legion Skirmish games, I had the impetus to finally finish the second unit of Stormtroopers. Finally.  

These are not the droids you're looking for

They look really good on table and with all my Stormtroopers together and adding in the sweet additional specialists with their big orange shoulderpads. Having said all that, I'm glad these are done. I have a couple more white armoured scout troopers on Speeder Bikes to do, but once those are done then no more white for me. At least not for the foreseeable future.

Also I finished up my second Adeptus Titanicus Warhound, the Aeneus Venator. These two are going to go hunting Warlord-class titans looking to grab cheeky Emergency Shutdown orders.

Ululatos Os and Aeneus Venator

 The Warhound model is exceptionally cool and I think I'll really enjoy running up behind Warlord titans and shooting them in the back with the Natrix lances. I suspect it's not going to go all that well most of the time, but every now and then it'll be spectacular!

Star Wars Legion Skirmish

The Scarif Beach Party had it's first outing at our club day against Blogger Pel and Blogger Scotty's Rebel Scum. I only just had enough stuff to assemble a complete army for Skirmish but the list was:

• Darth Vader
• Stormtroopers with a T21
• Stormtroopers with an RT-97C
• Death Troopers with a DLT-19D

Quite small by comparison but startlingly effective.

In the first game, Pel and I were aiming to knock over each other's core and support troopers. 

Cinematic!

My Death Troopers and his Veterans battled it out (while the Tauntauns and Rebel Troopers fought it out with my Stormtroopers) before Vader waded in and killed the Veterans and Han Solo, to which Chewbacca reacted exceedingly badly and tore Vader's head off. On one flank, my Stormtroopers went down in a screaming heap to the Tauntauns and a Medium Blaster while on the other, the Rebel troopers were killed to a man before alarmingly precise (!) Stormtroopers hit Chewie and nearly downed him in one go! It was a 4-4 draw in the end. 

In the second game, I rejigged Vader's force powers (with some advice from Pel) to make best use of Deflect and also to give him Sabre Throw to help with his otherwise slow speed.

MOAR Cinematic! 

Scotty decided that Vader was going down in the first turn after I handed it to him to get Vader a pre-game move (and Infiltration, which I'll definitely use in future in bigger games because it's terrifying! and he sent out his Fleet Troopers and Rebel Pathfinders to do it quickly. When they failed, the whole Rebel force opened up on Vader who, amazingly, lived! Over the first couple of turns Vader removed the Fleet Troopers (with one attack!) and then the Pathfinders before being shot to bits by a very competent Cassian Andor. Andor and K2-SO also saw off all but one of Death Troopers (although not before they had removed two Rebel Trooper squads by themselves) and a unit of Stormtroopers before Andor stopped the last remaining Death Trooper scoring the objective leaving us with a 1-1 draw! 

Both games were a lot of fun, really cinematic and flavourful! Legion is mechanically simple, but with lots of nice depth and detail that makes the whole thing behave the way that you think it should!

Next Time

I'll be getting the Invictus Warsuit I need for 500 point 40K at our next club meeting done and also having a crack at the first Shore Troopers. I'm genuinely looking forward to painting something not white! Once the first unit is done, I'll be able to get to some full size games of Legion. After that, I'll be getting into some stuff for a couple of upcoming Flames of War events. 

Spectrus Kill Team

 So I did do a bit of painting with my Easter weekend and got the rest of the Spectrus Kill Team finished for our club 500 point 40k games. 

 There's still one Helix Adept to do which I'll wait on until Blogger Scotty has been through his sprue box and seen if he can dig me out a new adept left arm, otherwise I'll make do with the kitbash.

The full Kill Team is below - a Reiver, two Incursors, an Eliminator and six Infiltrators.

 For our 500 point games, I might even consider using the Combat Squads rule and separating out the Incursors, the Reiver and a couple of the Infiltrators into a close-quarters squad and the rest of the Infiltrators and the Eliminator as an overwatch fire team. Should be fun! 

Rewards? 

I have made meaningful progress on the second squad of Stormtroopers (having got all their base coats and washes down) so I've decided I can do the prep work on the Shore Troopers.  

So these SUPER SWEET models are headed to the primer today, along with the base for my second Titanicus Warhound (and some rhinos to go on it!) and I'm going to get started on making....a whole whack more shore bases too. 

Next Time

Club day so will probably be breaking out the Ghosties again for a game so will try and get some pictures of that madness and in the meantime I'll get to work finishing the Warhound, getting stuck into the Warsuit and getting the last of my Stormtroopers past the base coat / wash / constrast stage. 

Half way there!

Plans for our club escalation 40K season thing are coming along with the first 500 point day some time in April. As a result, I am starting to get myself together and crack on with the the Spectrus Kill Team that is the basis for my 500 point build. 

Eliminators

The first two finished marines are one each of the varietal of Primaris Eliminators

On the left, a Las Fusil and on the right a Bolt Sniper Rifle. I really love the Sniper pose with the pistol out and couldn't not build this model!

These two were a bit of a challenge as while the kits have lots of options, there were really only a couple that left me able to fit a Deathwatch shoulder on the left and neither of these two marines has a visible chapter marking on his right shoulder. As a result, one has a tiny strip of Blood Angels Red and the other Ultramarine Blue.

Incursors

The second part of the Kill Team was a trio of Incursors, one with the necessary and rather delightful Haywire Mine. 

These (as part of the Infiltrator kit) were sweet to assemble too - there are a fantastic multi-part kit. I really like the one on the left, a Space Wolf with a throwing knife! Seems wonderfully appropriate.

The Eltee

Blogger Scotty hooked me up with this little gem - the easy-build Phobos Lieutenant from one of the older Primaris-containing box sets. 

The LT was a bit of a challenge from an assembly standpoint as an easy build. The whole left arm had to come off and be replaced by one from the Infiltrator kit - the Deathwatch shoulder would not have fit otherwise - and the right required serious attacking with a file to get it filed down enough to fit the normal embossed shoulder. 

Next Time

I've got six (maybe seven) Infiltrators to do for the rest of this Kill Team. I've got their base washes done but no colour on them yet. They're a nice break from Stormtroopers for a bit although I really should get cracking with the second bunch of white armour soon so I can get a game of Legion in with my own stuff! 
 

Deathy things

So deathy things are the theme for this week.

 Death Troopers

 I got my Death Troopers for Star Wars: Legion finished up this week. 

Krennic's Bodyguard

I'll admit, it's pretty much solid black with some very dark highlights. Blogger Pooch and I are competing for simplest Legion colour scheme right now. I thought I was winning with six. I was wrong! They were a nice easy little unit to knock off. I will be going through and putting gloss varnish on all their eyes (with all my Stormtroopers too) but that'll be one big project once everything else is done. In the meantime, these are back in the hot water cupboard finishing off the drying out of the gel bases.

Slow DW Progress

I think we're planning on some 500 point Crusade games of 9e 40K in April sometime. And so far I have painted most of three models, only two of which I need for my sneaky Kill Team. I kind of need to crack on methinks!

Incursors

I've basically got to do all the final highlights on these guys to do and put some flock on the bases. It has been good to remind myself how these models paint up and how I do them! It has been a while. But happy enough with how they're coming together. 

Next Time

I think I might be able to get the Ghosties on the table for a game next weekend, which will be cool. I still haven't based that army yet, so it'll be a good excuse to start on that when I've played that game. So you should get a batrep of that game, some finished Deathwatch Marines and, if I'm super diligent (?) then I'll be trying to crack through the last of my Stormtroopers...

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

 Not been a lot of productivity this week due mostly to being on holiday with the Regimenters during which we played many boardgames, laughed a lot and ate some amazing food. It was most excellent. We did, disappointingly, not get around to our Gaslands Annual so that'll get played at a later date. We did, however, play a fair bit of Cthulhu, Death May Die:

The end of Lost Episode III when Shub Niggurath ended the world

One of the lads picked this up from a CMON Kickstarter about 3 years ago and he's been painting it up slowly since then while we've been playing it every now and then. It's a REALLY cool game. It plays up to 5 in a fully co-op game. I've often played as a kind of DM for the game, managing the turn sequence and all the things the Elder One is supposed to do, as well as keeping tabs on the monsters, summons, mission special rules and more. 

 Players arrive in a location where there are inevitably cultists summoning one of the Elder Ones and they must disrupt the ritual before the Elder One arrives in the world. Ideally, they've done this, otherwise they have to try and do it while the Elder One is stomping about the place! One the ritual is disrupted then they have to banish the Elder One.  The game is mechanically simple with a basic turn sequence and, as it is fully co-op, it doesn't get bogged down in monster phases.

It captures the Cthulhu mythos very well as the players have to durdle around this world, trying to stop a ritual, beset by monsters and going more and more insane. As they go crazy, they learn more about the mythos and become more in tune with their innate abilities. They all have unique combinations of abilities (some are magically inclined, some are quick or sneaky, others are more fighty) they also have unique mental conditions that trigger whenever they've seen enough weirdness. 

 Finally, it's got so many cool components. Leaving aside the lovely player-characters and monsters, the Elder Ones and their minions are amazing. Perhaps one of the best buts though, are the player boards. You can see one on the left of the photo above. The character card slots in between two plastic covers that have holes for the health, stress, sanity and madness markers as well as any items or companions the players discover.

We've played nine of the 15 episodes that exist with a mix of the Elder Gods and we could easily go back to episode one and play it again just picking one of the different gods. Also, there is a mission with moose. And dynamite. And aliens. Yup. It's a great game! 

 Workbench?

Still managed to get a few Stormtroopers finished this week too. The specialists pack has added some good options to my Stormtrooper choices.

From L - R, the Stormtrooper Captain, the Specialist, the R97C (it's really an MG42 with a box mag) and the T21 launcher. The Captain will help trooper morale, the Specialist provides new gear and the other two add some interesting firepower choices. 

Next Time

Death Troopers and Deathwatch. MOAR DEATH. 

Pooch's February progress

Wait, where did February go?

It promised to be the most professionally challenging one that I had ever had, and it didn't disappoint. As always, painting toy soldiers was a way for me to relax and help get my head right.

So how did I get on then?

1. Finish a table of terrain

Well, I figured that finishing one piece each month would actually be the easiest way to do this goal, so... that's what I did!

I finished up the Bell Tower from TT combat. Mostly done with spray cans, I used contrast paint to provide the stained glass look (red, because of course it's red in Frostgrave).

With Anna and Elsa for scale!

Next up? More Frostgrave terrain!

2. Play a game a month

Just the one game this month, which has already been blogged. 

3. Finish a 1,500 point 40k army

This month continues on from the start I made last month, completing my first full squad of Sisters! Equipped with a meltagun and heavy flamer, they come loaded to bear to take down the mutant, the heretic and the psyker....

The whole force so far....

Close up on the Sanctum Imperialis

Meltagun. For when you want to cook things with the power of the sun but they are too big to (or unwilling to be) put in a microwave.

And I also managed to rebase and update the Pious Vorne figure, who previously saw duty in my Krieg army to be repurposed to provide some additional faith and ferver to my Sisters!

Burning things while cutting things!

Next up? Seraphim!

4. Finish armies that I have part started

I have a particularly frustrating commission on at present, as well as wanting to do my absolute best painting on the sisters. That means that I have lots of difficult things, but no easy things to paint.

The solution then? Grab something out of the pile of shame that is super easy to give myself a break!

And lo, WW2 US is the answer, because it's tough to be more boring than Olive Drab!

I finished up four of the new plastic M8 Scotts. The new plastics are awesome, except that they only come with a single crew member for the turret. So naturally I converted up a full set of crew for each, and added some stowage to give a more "lived in" feel. Overall I am happy with them, and they definitely fit the bill for being easy!

So cute with their little snub 75mm guns....

Attempting to show off the crew, plus the pink air recognition panel

I have a bunch more WW2 US to paint, so expect to see more of these in the coming months...

5. Buy, build and play a new game

Well, less dramatic than last month, but still darn useful- a squad of B1 battle droids!

Nine B1 Battle Droids. Identical in equipment to the other two squads, but some different poses in there.

So that means I have a legal list, but probably not very good. The solution is likely more droids....

Progress on every objective? Excellent... the eye is pleased....

Pooch