Sunday 31 January 2016

The Leviathan Rides in Style!

Hi Readers,

Today I retrieved a bowl of soapy resin from the back of my bench and began scrubbing away with a tooth brush. After a good wash and dry I was then ready to start dry fitting the transport that will carry my Leviathan dreadnought to the heart of the enemy and induce many a brown trouser moment!

Behold the beginnings of the Dreadnought drop pod!



My Alpha Legion are going to be heavily battle damaged, fluff wise being an independent splinter force conducting autonomous raids, as you would expect from the Alpha Legion. Building a forge world model is scary because I don't want to cut what I think is flash off and ruin it. Cutting into them for damage is TERRIFYING! But I am quite looking forward to cutting battle damage onto this bad boy. 

Also here's a scale picture next to the Blood Angels Drop pod I showed you a few days ago:



Peace out,

Rob

Saturday 30 January 2016

Return of the Death Company!

Afternoon Folks,



So in an earnest attempt to complete my Blood Angels armies, which at this point just means paint everything you already own Rob, I have begun painting the final 11 Death Company in two batches. The first batch is 5 models and I have drybrushed them with eshin grey, which blends nicely under a nuln oil wash and I have begun applying the basecoat colours which will also all be shaded with nuln oil. 

This is something I've been putting off for a while but once I got going it was like riding a bike! I feel I have really struggled to pick projects to get going on recently, but every time I start something it always feels a lot easier than I thought it would. I just don't seem to be learning that fact!

Anyway here's a few pictures for you to enjoy:





Peace out,

Rob

Friday 29 January 2016

Ravenwing Bikers Based!

Hey everyone,


Just a quick post out of sequence to show off my now based Ravenwing. The sergeant and attack bike are currently on my desk being completed to fill out the squad. Then the Dark Talon and Sammael need to be done to complete the built Ravenwing. I also have the 3 bikes from the Dark Vengeance set to build and paint!








Peace out,

Rob

Dark Angels Assault Squad Done!

Hola!




Here are my five Dark Angel Assault Marines that I have been working on recently, all nice and completed! I still want to build a second sergeant so that I can run them as two squads of 5 with flamers if I want to, as that will fill the compulsory assault squad slots in a Lion's Blade detachment nicely! I also want to use some of my swords from Kromlech to equip a spare assault marine body I have with an eviscerator to give me a heavier hitting option.







And here is the full 10 together in all their dark glory (though a few pictures I put flash on):









Peace out,

Rob

Thursday 28 January 2016

Horus Heresy Review - Primaris Lightning Strike Fighter

Afternoon Ladies and Gents,



Following on from my Storm Eagle review yesterday, I was also requested to cover the Lightning Strike Fighter that is available as a Fast Attack choice to the Legiones Astartes. So today I will go through the  viability of this unit as a choice in your armies. This is a flyer that I really considered for my armies and I would ideally like one or two in the future.

After today I should have a string of actual hobby updates for you, provided I have enough light to take some semi decent photos! Anyway, on to the review!


Unit Stats

The Primaris is an 11:11:10 AV flyer with BS4 and 2 HPs. Much like the Xiphon Interceptor this is not a durable chassis, but a fast gun platform for taking down priority targets. Unlike the Xiphon Interceptor this doesn't come at a high base cost, starting off at a little over 130 points.

The Primaris comes with the Agile special rule to increase its jink save by 1 thereby giving it a 3+ jink if required. It also comes with deep strike (you should know my opinion on this by now...), supersonic for some extra straight line speed (vector dance is always better) and missile barrage.

Overall in terms of its base statistics and special rules it is very much does what it says on the tin. Fast and nimble, but appropriately armoured for being so. The real interest in this flyer comes with its base wargear and the array of options open to it as an upgrade. Much more so than the Xiphon Interceptor the Primaris is a customisable flyer which can go from cheap to oh god I spent to many points on this, very quickly.


Equipment

As standard the Strike Fighter comes equipped with a chaff launcher for a 4++ against missiles as well as an armoured cockpit to give you a chance of ignoring stunned and shaken results on a 4+. For the points cost, that these come as standard wargear is excellent!

The only standard offensive wargear on this flyer is a single twin linked lascannon. Twin-linked is always brilliant on flimsy chassis flyers as it gives you a little edge in the shooting phase after you have jinked to survive.

In terms of none-weaponry upgrades, the Strike Fighter has a couple of doozies I have to say. One of these is called a Ramjet diffusion grid. This means that enemy attacks against your side and rear armour count their strength as -1, effectively making the AV 11:12:11, which really ups the survive-ability of this flyer. Its also not too expensive for its effect coming in at 4 melta bombs.

Alternatively you could invest your point in ground tracking augries for strafing run and a +1 BS against ground targets, or you can take Battle servitor control (replacing the crew with a BORG) which grants the fighter Tank Hunter. These two in combination grant you excellent anti-armour against ground targets its unreal.

That's all of the none-directly offensive upgrades, and then (oh and how) we get on to the weapon upgrades that are available. These are juicy, if somewhat expensive.

The Lightning has 3 hard points which it can equip with individual weapon loadouts, so you can really mix and match here if you want too (not that I would advise that), and some of these are very hard to come buy with regards to some of their special rules.

Firstly you can add twin-linked autocannons/multi-lasers/missile launchers (with frag and krak) to a single hard point for 20-25 points for each choice. Not much to say here really, all these weapons can come on different chassis or units within a Legion list in 30k and I don't see why you would particularly want to add them on to a flyer that buy its rules is leaning towards anti-tank.

That being said, the multi-laser in particular is not a bad shout for a cheap and effective flyer. The ramjet diffusion grid and multilasers on all three hard points will put this flyer up to 215 points, but with the multi-laser rate of fire, jinking will still allow you to put out some hurt. Its an interesting concept if not one that I would really push to you.

You then have a lot of missile option. Each missile or bomb option either lets you equip two Heavy 1 missiles/bomb or one Heavy 2 bomb cluster, which essentially amounts to the same thing. So with 3 hard points you can equip up to 6 missiles overall or 3 clusters (that amounts to 6 shots). The available options are:

Sunfury Missiles - S6 AP3 blind, gets hot, one use, large blast - 36 inch range

Kraken Penetrator Missile - S8 AP1 Armourbane, one use - 36 inch range

Electromagnetic Storm charge - S3 AP4 Haywrire, large blast, one use, concussive - Bomb

Phosphex Bomb Cluster - S5 AP2, poisoned (3+), crawling fire, lingering death, bomb, bomb cluster, Deadly Cargo

I see no reason to take Sunfury missiles on such a fragile chassis to see it die from gets hot rolls, definitely pass on this option. The Kraken penetrator missile synergises well with the battle servitor upgrade for tank hunter and armourbane so you WILL (unless you angered the dice gods) penetrate if you hit.

The Storm charges are OK, but unless you have severely clustered vehicles to target you're making a bombing run to strip a single hull point, personally I would pass on this one.

Phosphex Bomb Clusters. If there is a more beautiful thing in all of 30k I do not know it!! Bomb Cluster allows you to drop as many of these bombs as your flyer holds in a single bombing run. The first bomb scatters D6 inches (which you may move up to 2 inches as long as it covers more models with the crawling fire special rule) and then the remaining bombs scatter as per barrage rules with the blast marker flipping. So you have an incredibly accurate S5 AP2 small blast that can be up to 6 small blasts, and will wound on a 3+!!!! AND when its done its job it make the area dangerous terrain for anything with a toughness value (lingering death)....  HOWEVER if the flyer suffers a HP of damage and isn't destroyed then roll a D6, on a 6 the Lightning blows up (deadly cargo)!

Overall the lightning has more options than most other things I can think of as a single customisable flyer. This level of customisation accounts for the low starting price as you will invariable upgrade its defenses, pilot or add more weapons on to it. This make it very versatile as a unit choice, especially if you are a dab hand with magnets for the hard points!


Utilisation

Of all the weapon options, I would take either the Kraken missiles or the Phosphex bombs. This would depend on whether your army is lacking anti-armour or anti 2+ save/high toughness infantry. If you opt for Kraken missiles I think the ramjet diffusion grid as well as the battle servitors are well worth the points. I would probably only take 2 hard points (and therefore 4 missiles) however in this case to keep costs down.

With the phosphex bomb cluster I would keep the other upgrades minimal if any and instead concentrate on the ability to bring this flyer on in exactly the right turn. Knowing that any special unit they have will be prey to the bombs on this nippy bugger will be a powerful tool in its own right against your opponent, but if you can bring this on the turn after you've popped that spartan or that squad disembarked from the caestus assault ram or storm eagle and phosphex bomb them to hell will be sweet for you. And probably give sleepless nights to your opponent!! 2+ of these should do the job nicely and then you have a twin linked lascannon to plink shots at any armour. Survivability is less of an issue with this build as you are more of a one trick pony.


Overall the Primaris Lightning Strike Fighter is perfect at filling holes in your army with its high level of customisation, but for me this generally boils down to the kraken or phosphex build, with an honourable mention to the multi-laser. This is another unit that can sucker you into spending too many points on it. If you go over 220 you've gone too far. Under 200 is brilliant but 200-220 is the real sweet spot if you have the points to kit this out.


Peace out,

Rob 

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Horus Heresy - Storm Eagle Review

Hi Guys,

Taken from BulldogUK's Photobucket because its awesome, all rights lie with BulldogUK!

Upon request I am going to review the Storm Eagle today and that will be followed later this week by the Primaris Lightning Strike Fighter as well. So without further ado lets get into the nitty gritty!


Unit Stats

The storm eagle is essentially the same hover/flyer chassis as the Fire Raptor which I reviewed here. Or rather its more accurate (I think) to say that the Fire Raptor is the same chassis as the Storm eagle as it describes the Fire raptor as having foregone any transport capacity to equip more armaments. 

On the bare bones of it the Storm Eagle is a 12 AV all round flyer with 4 HP that has a carrying capacity of 20 for none-bulky models and applying the normal restriction for carrying bulky models. The Storm Eagle can carry very bulky models as far as I can see which would be vital in taking Primarchs, though I haven't checked any FAQ's to see if this has been amended, in my book (the basic crusade book compilation) it just list the capacity as 20 with no restrictions beyond the norm. 

Crucially the Storm eagle has access point on both sides, the front and the rear of the craft, giving maximum flexibility when it comes to dismounting your squads. This is coupled with the fact that the storm eagle is an Assault Vehicle, so you can load up your nasty close combat squad, drop them off by the enemy and watch them wreak havoc in the back lines!! Just be careful that the squad your assaulting isn't hiding Alpharius....

Like the Fire raptor, the Storm Eagle also has deepstrike if you want to be a flashy bastard and cut it close to the wind!

Equally it also have machine spirit if you need to clear out a couple of targets in a turn.

Overall A solid flyer chassis with durability and an incredible transport capacity attached to an assault vehicle, essentially this is a storm raven on steroids in the 31st millennium!


Equipment


The Storm eagle comes with some decent equipment as standard and has some excellent options available to it. It comes with a hull mounted twin linked heavy bolter, four tempest missiles (S6 AP4) and a hull mounted Vengeance Launcher (first in line for cool names obviously). 

The vengeance launcher is a 48 inch range S5 AP4, heavy 2, large blast weapon. Obviously suffers a little bit from its AP4 but that will still work wonders against much of the none space marine units available in 30k and a plethora of units in 40k if you are using it in that setting. The heavy 2 fire rate will really let you lie these pie plates down on blob squads of solar auxilia or fearless blobs of adsecularis covenant, ignoring their armour saves as standard.

In terms of upgrades it has the ubiquitous availability of armoured ceramite, extra armour and a searchlight. Armoured ceramite is a MUST on this flyer more so than any offensive crafts you field. This is due to the expense of both the flyer and more importantly the squad inside! It would be sad to skimp on this and then be brought down by a melta that mulches half of your 20 man squad in a fireball!!!

Offensively it has a plethora of upgardes, each with different levels of desirability.

The heavy bolter can be swapped for a twin linked multi-melta or a single missile launcher, and the tempest missiles can be switched for either hellstrike missile or a pair of twin linked lascannons. The hellstrike missile being ordinance as Westrider pointed out in the comments of my Fire Raptor review will, rules as written, cause all other weapons to snap fire. So particularly on this flyer just ignore them as an upgrade that isn't worth taking. I would think similarly about the missile launcher, despite being cheap at 5 points, you could give a sergeant a melta bomb which would probably do more damage back overall. 

The multi-melta and the lascannon have merit as considerations (being 15 and 40 points respectively), however I would really only ever consider the multi-melta personally. With the addition of lascannons on top of armoured ceramite, your TRANSPORT will be edging towards 300 points alone. 

Overall it is important to remember that this is not a gun platform, and the real cost of this flyer must be taken as the flyer PLUS the squad cost. 



Utilisation

The key aspects of using the Storm Eagle are really summarised above in the final sentence of the equipment section. You have to be acutely aware that the primary purpose of the Storm Eagle is to deliver a unit to the right place at the right time. Until you have done that I would ALWAYS jink to keep this flyer alive. This is also a unit that more than most will benefit from reserve modifiers, ensuring you can bring your flyer on OR keep it off so that the unit it carries is kept safe and delivered exactly when it needs to be.

With a capacity of 20 you can fit a lot of hurt in here, and the more expensive that unit is the less inclined I would be to give this flyer any upgrade beyond armoured ceramite. Conversely if you are transporting a 20 man tactical squad to take advantage of a well timed Fury of the Legion shooting attack whilst camping an objective, I would be inclined to give the Storm Eagle the lascannon upgrade such that it has real duality after dropping off its cargo, with the vengeance launcher and heavy bolter taking care of hordes and the lascannons targeting armour or snowflake character/units. 

Overall the Storm Eagle will depend a lot on the list you have placed it in and the abilities of the commanding general. When used to its greatest efficacy it will tear the heart out of the enemy from a well timed squad drop that can then shoot and/or assault from it. But I feel it is all to easy to misjudge and waste its potential. 

Certainly I do not think I am up to the task at utilising this vehicle to its fullest capabilities. 


As always, I hope you enjoyed this article and my thoughts on it! Please feel free to share this as you see fit with a link and if you want to read more please comment with suggestions or give me a +1 and subscribe :)

Peace out,

Rob

Monday 25 January 2016

Some Reveals of my Forgeworld goodness!

Hi Folks,


As promised I am going to stop being an arse and actually show you some of the forgeworld good that I have been purchasing! Only a few though but I'll go over what to expect coming up :) So here's a few photos and some blurb below!






So!! A Xiphon interceptor for my Alpha Legion and some mechanicum! The Xiphon is one of three flyers, the other two being a pair of Fire Raptors, one of them is nearly built which has been something of an arduous process when you discover you didn't straighten something enough very early on and it all goes out of kilter... 

There is a fair few more castellax and thallax to come and these will make up a 1300-1500 points mechanicum force until I can afford a couple of Thanatars... But they will also be allies for my Alpha Legion and even accompany a Praevian or Forge Lord that I will convert for my Alphas.

The canopy of the Xiphon is plasticard, because the original one had to be removed from my foot... Problem of having a bedroom/study/hobby room personal living room all in one!! You can also see that I have cut big (terrifying process!) chunks out of the Xiphon for battle damage which should hopefully be easier to paint than stylised chips and also look cool!

I hope this has whetted your appetite for things to come :)

Peace out,

Rob


Sunday 24 January 2016

Blood Angel Drop Pod WIP - For Furioso!!

Good afternoon,


I apologise if my post become somewhat deranged over the next couple of weeks. I am currently on day 3 of 20 straight days at work because my experiments requires that I be in at 6.30 am all of those days which involves getting up at an hour most unheard of (unless viewed from the other side when you haven't gone to bed...).

Anyway, distracting away from my Dark Angels and 30k Projects, I am determined to finish off my Blood Angels. I have no plans to buy any more models than I currently have for the Blood Angels, though that may change if/when a new codex comes out...

But to increase the efficiency of my Furioso dreadnought and so I can run it along with Cassor the Damned, I am painting him up his own drop pod in the red colours. And here is the progress so far!




On top of this pod I also have 10 scouts, 5 sanguinary guard (converted from the AoS prosecutors), 6 assault marines, and then finally 11 more Death Company! All of these are built and undercoated, so I'm hoping I can put in a big push and get them done in Q1 (business talk!)...

BUT despite that here is a picture of a little side project I am starting as a means to practise using my airbursh without ruining any of my main projects (or main side projects...)...



I'm going to be attempting a scheme where the stealth field is engaging/disengaging so it should be fun!

Peace out,

Rob

Saturday 23 January 2016

Dark Angels Review - 2015

Howdy!



I'm aware that it is nearly February.. but here is my review of my Dark Angels in 2015! I'm just going to chuck some pictures of the painted army at you...

I'm happy with how they are looking. Whenever I look at my models and armies I invariably compare them to the people who produce the most astoundingly good models and I strive for that level of awesome. I'm not there yet, but I do feel I am progressing and these guys should certainly look the business on the table if not in any painting competitions yet.

I hope you enjoy perusing the pictures :)



























2016

This year holds a lot for the Angels of Death. I now have enough models (many not built) to field a Lion's Blade Detachment. I don't however have anywhere enough transports to take advantage of the free transport benefit. I have however really already spent up for the year with a vast amount of models to keep me going with other projects. I also have a little bit of Ravenwing and Deathwing to work on as well! So just to summarise what is to come this year with the Dark Angels, strictly in 40k is the following list:

-Sammael
-Dark Talon
-3 Ravenwing Bikers (DV)
-Deathwing Squad (DV-5)
-Veteran Squad (5)
-Command Squad (5)
-15 Tactical Marines (DV)
-Librarian (DV)
-2 x Company Master (DV)
-Chaplain Seraphicus
-Command drop pod

And this list excludes the 5 Assault marines, 5 Ravenwing bikers, Ravenwing sergeant and attack bike that are all nearly done this year already.

So that's a tasty haul of 40 models completely undone more or less and another 12 that are nearly done! This is all to be interspersed with finishing off my Blood Angels (A review post should be up early in February!) as well as progressing slowly with my 30k Dark Angels and hopefully much quicker progress with my Alpha Legion which includes (but not exclusively) my secret forgeworld projects.

I hope you are looking forward to following this journey with me :)

Peace out,

Rob