Thursday 31 December 2015

Alpharius Omegon - the Beginning of the End

Tip of the hat to you,



Today I'm going to finish off my Horus Heresy Alpha Legion reviews with a look at the legions Primarch, Alpharius Omegon. Before you read this article here are links to each of the other sections so that are all in one place. 







Alpharius Omegon was the final Primarch found and leads the XXth legion. The Alpha Legion. Alpharius is unusual in terms of discovery as he is thought to have been found by Horus and spent some time with him before he was eventually taken to see his father the Emperor. Indeed he has no home world like all other Primarchs so very little of his origin is know following his removal from the Emperor's laboratory by the gods of chaos. 

Behind all this however, sits a far deeper secret, that Alpharius Omegon is in fact two Primarchs, twin progenitors of the legion, one named Alpharius and one Omegon. How this may have come to be with or without the knowledge of the Emperor is not known. 

Alpharius is also known as a master of disguise and able to pass utterly convincingly as a regular Astartes when required too. All these different aspects of his character and background along with the general modus operandi of the Alpha Legion are very well displayed in his rules, so lets take a look at them.

Primarch Special Rule

Primarchs have a catch all special rule "Primarch" which grants them Independent Character, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Adamantium Will, Fleet, Fearless, It Will Not Die and Master of the Legion (so obviously can take rites of war.


Stats and Equipment

So to start off I'll be going over the raw stats of Alpharius along with his equipment. Alpharius doen't have any raw stats which jump out at you, he doesn't have any hikes in WS or BS, S or T over the basic sort of primarch minimums. So in a straight up fight against most other primarchs he will most likely lose unless significantly lucky/unlucky dice rolling occurs. But as we will see later, he is still an incredibly strong choice with more than enough beef to smash none Primarchs/Lords of War down hard.

As the more 'standard' part of his wargear, Alpharius has Venom spheres (covered in previous review section), Cameleoline (stealth), nuncio-vox(decrease in deep strike scatter and line of site can be used for barrage weapons), and cognis signum (night vision and no infiltrating within 18 inches of a bearer, also grants interceptor in 18 inches and can add +1 BS to a unit).

So his standard gear is nice and also reflects the personality of the Alpha Legion as befits their Primarch. For his more select gear he also has a Master-crafted Plasma Blaster which is much better than most primarchs get but doesn't really have great bearing on how you will use him so just a nice trimming.

For armour he has the Pythian Scales which are absolutely fantastic. Not only do they have the excellent 2+/4++ which is better than some Primarchs who only get a 5++, but they also grant the ability to ignore the effects of Poison and Fleshbane. Thus neutering some of the more effective ways to deal with the beasts that the Primarchs are.

Offensively he has the Pale Spear. A mysterious and most likely Necron artefact blade, none no of its origin, but it kicks ass! With his base strength of 6 like most Primarchs the fact that the weapon has no plus to strength isn't too bad, especially when you consider that it has AP1 AND instant death making it the absolute bane of any special none-eternal warrior snowflake characters. Its also two-handed as a note.

Overall Alpharius is set up to be extremely nasty at anything below Primarch level. While his AP1 will stand him in good stead his "basic" stats and primarchs ignoring the instant death aspect of his Pale Spear neuter him somewhat but he still packs a hell of a punch and thats before we look at his special rules!

Special Rules

Secondly lets look at the special rules Alpharius has that really make him stand out as a complete badass.

Sire of the Alpha Legion - Alpharius has Preferred Enemy (Everything), Counter attack, Move through Cover, Scout, and Crusader as well as granting all Alpha Legion units Preferred Enemy (Everything). Though when these come into effect depends on your usage of him (see other special rule below: One of Many).

Insidious Mastermind - Seizing the initiative on a 4+ (old school Vect style!) and grants an extra +D3 inches to the movement of outflanking Alpha Legion units when they arrive onto the table. But the real jam to this sandwich is that if your enemy brings a reserve on from turn 2 onward, then if you have a unit in reserve with the same exact unit type entry (e.g. he is bringing breachers on and you have breachers in reserve also), then you can CHOOSE to roll a D6 and on 4+ YOUR unit will come on! And they will do via outflanking and thus gain the movement bonus as well. They can be intercepted as normal it must be noted.

One of Many - The absolute epitome of Alpha Legion shenanigans. Alpharius being able to disguise himself as regular astartes (as mentioned previously) can ensconce himself in one of your regular squads (infantry type and Alpha legion only) that you nominate at the beginning of the game and write his location on a secret note. Whilst being hidden, Alpha Legion units do not benefit from Sire of the Alpha Legion i.e. lose preferred enemy (everything) till Alpharius is revealed.

At the beginning of your own turn from turn 2 onwards you can reveal where Alpharius is and he and his legion immediately gain the benefits of sire of the legion as well as obviously replacing a single model from the squad. Though bear in mind that Alpharius is bulky and therefore don't reveal him in a full transport as he won't be able to be placed taking up two spaces as he will.

If the unit he reveals himself in his falling back then it will automatically rally. If the unit is destroyed then he will arrive from ongoing reserves. If you haven't revealed Alpharius by turn 5 (why!?) then he will automatically be revealed.

This rule allows you to really F**K with your opponent and play with a loaded deck of cards so to speak, where he may be leading his most precious special character right into the arms of your grinning Machiavellian Primarch.


Synergy with the Legion: We are all Alpharius

With the obviously respectable stats that Alpharius has along with his amazing special rules, what is the best way to field him? Obviously you are only going to be utilising Alpharius in larger points game due to the 25% limit on fielding lords of war in 30k (which incidentally should be utilised in 40k in my opinion) and he costs just in excess of 400 points. So realistically we are looking at 2500+ points.

This makes utilising the Alpha Legions own rite of war "Coils of the Hydra" much easier as the extra mandatory troop slot you would be taking anyway as if you wish to hide Alpharius (which you should) you will need lots of infantry units to really confuse your opponent.

Coils of the Hydra also synergises extremely well with Alpharius as you might expect. It grants a re-roll on seize initiative, which combined with 4+ to begin with grants you a bloody good chance to seize on your opponent! It also grants -1 to your opponent reserve roll, so not only will they have delayed reserves but you might also be able to bring your own unit on instead of theirs!

One of the most important aspects of using Alpharius is that you let your opponent know what he can do. You need your opponent to be aware of all these different effects so that they are second guessing their strategy and playing out of position immediately for fear of what you can do to them with your modifiers and your hidden Primarch!

"The Rewards of Treason" will serve you well here and you will have to be very particular about what unit you take. It must be noted that in the coils of the hydra all your infantry units must be deep striking, in a transport or infiltrating. Obviously you can grant infiltrate to all Alpha Legion units with their mutable tactics, but it might be better to rhino rush with a spartan for some Grave Wardens stolen from the Death eaters and save mutable tactics for something else. Though all these Alpha Legion units will have preferred enemy (everything) once Alpharius is revealed.

In general I think you have to be fast and mobile with this army, presenting many threats with Alpharius possible in all of them, all the while directing him inconspicuously to the heart of the enemy where you can pull it out.


Overview

You could use Alpharius in an almost innumerable number of ways, all of which will play characteristic of the Alpha Legion in the fluff. I could give you dozens of different ways that you can utilise Alpharius Omegon in conjunction with all the other unique aspects of the Alpha Legion but then you will be able to give me a dozen more!!

This primarch is absolutely amazing. I just hope his model does him justice. I will be upset if he stands out too much, for a primarch who prides himself on subterfuge and double bluff I feel he should be less ostentatious and more like the Moriarty of the battlefield...

Peace out,

Rob

Wednesday 30 December 2015

Recommended Independent Model Companies - Heresy Miniatures

Hi Folks,



As well as reviewing other blogs that I read I've decided to also give a shout out to some of the smaller model companies out there who absolutely deserve more attention. Both for the quality of their work but also the professional and awesome nature by which they trade. 

I've already spoken a fair bit about Anvil Industry, but today I am going to be having a look at Heresy Miniatures a small independent company that males fantastic fantasy pieces, very quirky pulp pieces and my absolute favourite is their sci-fi trooper range which will be making up a small storm trooper contingent for me. Heresy is run by a chap named Andy Foster, who is an active and friendly user of facebook both as himself and as his heresy miniatures facebook page. 

On his website he has an excellent blog which details his life as an owner of a miniature company. Read any post from this blog and you will immediately see his dedication to not only the hobby but to his customers. An absolutely 100% stand up guy. 

I'm just going to go through and discuss some of the models from his ranges and why I bloody love them. All pictures are taken from Heresy Miniatures website and are not my own work or photography.


Sci-Fi Troopers - The Guard Elite?

I love these guys. They have an excellent space trooper aesthetic which is nicely proportioned to fit in with a 40k style of heroic scaling and they have a wonderful industrial chunky look to them. The chem sprayer/flamer chap is absolutely one of my favourite models, but a close second is the gnarled face of the veteran officer. Looks like he should be leading a crack squad from the Imperial Guard Astra Militarum, or be the head henchman of an inquisitors posse to me. Take a look and see bellow:







Pulp Gangs - Necromunda Anyone!?

With the suggested (dare I say imminent) re-release of Necromunda with the resurrection of the Specialist Games wing of GW, there couldn't be a better time to look at the pulp gang range that Heresy Miniatures offer. They have some absolutely stonking models with a cool swagger about them that would fit well into any underhives nefarious criminal organisations. Painless Joe and his plasma cannon or minigun are awesome miniatures as well as the artfully named "Tiny" with his rocket launcher. But its the slo-motion gunslinger and the laspistol sword wielding ganger that would make it as my leader I think. Gaze on their coolness:







The Undead - Fantastical Fantasy Miniatures

Amongst all the excellent fantasy miniatures that Heresy Miniatures make my favourites are easily the line of undead models they sell. They have some brilliant ghouls and zombies which exude a real level of menace that I think supersedes that of GW's own brand minis. Equally there are some excellent Vampire and Lich/Warlock/necromancer models that do a great job of filling gaps in the static model lines of GW, in particular the Manbat form vampire cries out to have zome armour plates converted on to make it truly badass (batass... hehe). Though the last word in awesome here is the ghoul king for me, an absolutely brilliant model that I'd love to make use of. Maybe as a Daemon prince of nurgle?







All and Sundry

As well as selling excellent models, Heresy also offer an excellent line of hobby tools and materials for the keen converter or sculptor with really well priced offerings. Particularly of note is the 32mm bases they sell which are £2 for 15 compared to GW's £3 for 10. If you are making up a 32mm based space marine force look no further for where to buy them from!


Overview

I cannot enthuse enough about the miniatures and the ethos of this company. In edition to everything they already offer, there are more excellent models coming via way of a funded kickstarter which includes some epic looking daemons! You can find pictures of them as pre-orders or you can also see the model in development on either Andy's facebook page or the Heresy Miniatures facebook page with regular updates of how the casting is going with very cool details about the whole process. 

In short, there are some absolute gems here for most people and I encourage you to have a snoop and shop at this awesome companies webshop :).


Tomorrow will be the final instalment of my Horus Heresy Alpha Legion review with Alpharius Omegon, the Primarch! 

Peace out,

Rob

Tuesday 29 December 2015

The Last Crusade - Selling the Black Templars

Howdy hey gang,


Sadly, my laptop is dying and I am in dire need of replacing it, to this end I have decided to part with my oldest army the Black Templars. These guys were a huge labour of love for me at the time and they have seen plenty of action on the tabletop, but they are the most dated in terms of appearance as my painting skill has progressed and so I have decided to put them up for sale to help pay for a new laptop. 

I very much like having a two-way relationship with you as readers of my blog so I thought I would give you all first dibs before I put them up for sale in other places (eBay of course being the last resort with russian roulette bidding). 

Below are the pictures of all the models I am selling in closer detail:









As well as all the above that is fully painted I also have a squad of Sword Brethren converted to be vanguard vets/command squad as below:







And the whole bunch together:


The unpainted models can be supplied with either jump packs or regular back packs, though neither are anything special. 

Every single model has a Black Templar unique piece of wargear or shoulder pad on it except the neophytes which are just metal edition scouts. 

Anyway, sorry to plug my stuff at you! If anyone is interested then please do chuck me a message with any questions and offers, don't be afraid about what your offer is I'm quite happy to sell these at a discount to a reader compared to what I will put them up on eBay for, plus it would save me a lot of hassle with eBay fees. Cash on collection or paypal is what I'll be taking for this by the way :)

Back to less begging style posts tomorrow!

Peace out,

Rob

Monday 28 December 2015

Final 10 Death Company Built - The end is nigh

How do,


So the journey for more death company is finally at an end! I have built the last 10 Death Company I intend to build (.... for now....). This will bring me up to 40 Death company in the elite slot with jump packs and 45 Death Company total including Raphen's Death Company OR 47 Death Company total if you include both Cassor the Damned and Lemartes Guardian of the lost as well. 

These chaps were made using the Blood Angel specific tactical squad legs and torso with Death company arms, shoulder pads and jump packs. So all 40 of them are all made with entirely Blood Angel parts except for maybe 3-4 arms from the vanguard veterans sprues.

Here they are in all their glory:





I am looking forward to the day when I have all my Death Company styled Angels on the table! As well as these guys I have one single already undercoated Death Company blood angel left to paint from the previous batch who is already undercoated with a single drybrush layer done. So 11 mini's from this concept being completed!

Peace out,

Rob

Sunday 27 December 2015

Spartan Assault Tank - Counts as Conversion Complete

Hi folks,


I hope you peoples have had a lovely christmas and are none the worse for wear after the festivities! This post is just an update on my counts as Spartan assault tank for my 30k Dark Angels. I finally won enough bits on ebay to construct the sponsons. Nothing complicated here, just a normal lascannon sponson with an additional gun in the middle, to be used as laser destroyers rather than quad lascannons. 









A little bit of greenstuff crack filling required but other than that the next time you see this monstrosity it should have its first lick of paint!

Peace out,

Rob

Saturday 26 December 2015

Drop Pod Progress - hazard stripes

Hey hey hey,


Having arrived back early this morning I resolved to begin the task I'd been putting off for such a long time, and tape and paint up the hazard stripes for my Dark Angel Devastators drop pod. The black needs to be touched up to clean all the yellow overspill but even now they look pretty good. Tamiya modelling tape is a god send for anyone that want to do hazard stripes at this sort of size and I would happily suggest you pick up a couple of packs with different width tape to play around with.



Peace out,

Rob

Friday 25 December 2015

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all having a most excellent and bodacious day!


Peace out,

Rob