Hobby Aims - 2018

Well Hello There World,

No actual hobby progress to show today, I got absorbed in doing hobby yesterday rather than taking pictures of it! So it'll be a bumper update on Thursday instead. FYI I was in the process of batch painting 16 Deathguard Terminators. Those are some lovely sculpts, but the detail makes them a slog. I could do them in smaller batches, but I do get an immense sense of both relief and satisfaction of polishing off a large number at once!

So having failed dismally to keep up with or even round off the 40k Addict To-Do list of last year I've decided to keep things a little simpler this year. Just a few general aims and goals for the year including some related but not strictly 40k ones! Well one isn't related at all...

When you stare at the screen too long

Blogging

The first and most obvious is to return to blogging in a nice and consistent way. I'm happy with how posting twice a week feels thus far so hopefully this will be a pace that I can keep up with comfortably without pressuring myself to push out content. Additionally if I do fall off the wagon every now and again, it shouldn't feel like quite the insurmountable task to return to as it did this time. 

It is odd how blogging gets to you like that. I like to think I do an OK job with the blog and it is of a fairly high standard in terms of how I write and the creations that I display. But after such a long break I very nearly almost gave it up. I had this horrible internal monologue of failing, and coming back to it would just be a shade of its former self. I have thanks to both my lovely Wife, Serena, for encouraging me to return but also other hobbyists who in the past have had breaks and returned stronger for it. 

I think that internal monologue plagues us all at some time or another and can hit any aspect of our lives. Mine is has been a strong factor throughout my life, both personal and professional for as long as I care to remember, so to feel like I am getting one over it is always satisfactory. 

Anyway, the aim is to keep the blog going and put out fewer posts but with greater impact per post I should hope!

The mechanicum munching Orks... nom nom nom

Gaming

Playing games has fallen by the wayside somewhat as well, though the reasons for this are vastly different. Playing games of Heresy has declined due to the 7th edition ruleset. I sold all bar one of my Heresy armies (Mechanicum) due to the position of ForgeWorld staying with 7th. 

That isn't an 8th is better than 7th statement by the way, that is an I prefer 8th to 7th statement, I have little desire to start a debate on which is better. Though I will at some point lay out my likes and dislikes of 8th edition. 

Speaking of 8th, I haven't played many games of it because I was so heavily playing Heresy. I just didn't have any 40k armies ready to go! So it has been a long slog of getting a 2000 point playable force to the table, painted to a standard that I am happy with. That time draws near!

I am aiming to get a game a week or every 2 weeks in once my army is tabletop ready, as well as run a campaign at my local club hopefully. 

Tournaments

This. I would like to go to some tournaments this year again after none last year. The main prize I have set in my mind is attending one of the coveted SN Battle report tournaments so called No Retreat in Gibraltar. This event is open to submission but is ultimately a selected invitation only event, so I just have to cross my fingers!

There are other ones that I want to attend, but I have to work them around other life commitments and desires, but that is the big one!

Ooooh shiny!

Golden Demon

Having attained my first ever finalist pin at Warhammer Fest 2017, I would like to repeat that success at a Golden Demon event this year. I dare not suggest any higher achievement as I feel that is still prodigiously out of my grasp, but as they say... slowly slowly catchy golden demon!

I haven't gotten any specific plans for what I will enter yet, though I have drawn up several ideas that I will probably elucidate at some point. The standard is always insanely high! I can't stress how proud I am to have just one finalist pin from their premier event no less.

One day I might be this cool....maybe?

Cosplay

Ahh surprise!! Something that both myself and Serena have gotten into over the past year is Cosplay. We both like to go to anime and comic conventions and have long marveled at the amazing Cosplay skills on show. 

Originally I wanted to Cosplay something from Anime, but being the stout, rotund and bearded creature that I am that really didn't leave a lot of characters that I resembled physically! And I am the sort of person that really wants to look like the character, rather than be an approximation. 

So, naturally, a better fit for me was a 40k cosplay. I have begun work on an Inquisitor Cosplay costume that is in very early stages. I have a plethora of foam, elastic and contact adhesive in my flat now, and as parts of outfit progress I'd like to keep you updated on how it looks. 

The aim is to get this complete by the end of the year, rather than aim for a particular con. In an ideal world, I'd like it finished in time for Warhammer Fest 2019 so I can strut my stuff. 

Most likely not impressed

Magic the Gathering...

Oh ho! Another surprise entry. This has been a major distraction from the hobby I must be honest, and an expensive one at that! I won't be keeping you updated much about what I am doing with my decks, but suffice to say I have been really getting my competitive kicks out of this game in a way that I could never play 40k. Not to say I act like that guy, but it's much more forgiving or crushing your opponent as it is designed for that sort of play in particular formats. 

My main aim with this is to win 4-0 at my local club. Thursday nights are usually a round of 4 with 10-20 people attending. I have gone 3-1 several times now, but the clean sweep eludes me. I dream of it! Serena also plays, though her competitive tendency is much more directed towards the Pokemon TCG. But it is a really nice routine for us to pop down and enjoy games with the like minded.  

Finally...

...I would like to meet up with people more, people from the blog and people from the Youtubes in particular. It is one area where not being able to drive despite nearly being 30 is really beginning to hamper me. 

But I love meeting fellow hobbyists and sharing the joy of 3-4 hours of rolling dice. If ever any of you are passing through Bristol or just fancy coming down for a day to game, please let me know, it'd be great fun to meet, chat and game :)

Peace out,

Rob

Double Trouble - 750 points Mechanicum Army

Hey Gang,

I'm going to be heading to Double Trouble, an excellent sounding doubles tournament run by Alex at From the Fang. I'll be heading up with Dan a guy from my local club and  several other blogger mates are going to such as Mike, Nathaniel and Dave from St Andrews Wargaming, Objective Secured and 40K Addict respectively. So all in all much merriment shall occur!

The List I am taking is not the most competitive but I really enjoy playing it and I hope my army will do well in one of the painting competitions. Though with the above guys going I am not stuck for amazing competition!

HQ

Archmagos Prime Ordinator - This guy is survivable with 3 toughness 5 wounds behind a 2+/3++ save. Additionally he can call a large blast S8 AP3 ordnance shot down like a chapter master, except he gets D3 shots. Plus as he is relentless he can do it on the move. He will be accompanying the Scyllax and should be able to tank wound for them as they move to the enemy. 

Troops

Scyllax Guardian Automata - These buggers number 4 and are just stock except with frag grenades to get them through cover better. They pump out a decent number of attacks and can basically opt for a S7 smash at initiative 1 that will double out T4 creatures due to rad effects. T5 gives them fair survivability especially when the Magos Tanks,

Thallax - Six Thallax with no additional extras. Leadership 8 stubborn jet pack infantry with T5 and 18 wounds all in, these guys are hardy even with a 4+ save and a 6+ FNP as their defence. Six S7 rending shred shots is nothing to sniff at, neither is 18 S5 attacks on the charge!

Heavy Support

Krios Venator - One of these give me a four shot S9 AP2 tank with effectively AV14 on the front hull due to its flare shield. Whilst the rest of the army is generally geared for moving forward and engaging, this guys wants to sit back and shoot all day long!

Overall

A very small elite army that will do well with a partner that has more mobility and numbers. Short of Strength 10 weaponry though, these guys will take A LOT of shifting. That is also an 18 wound majority toughness 5 OBJECTIVE SECURED unit. Woop! 

However if my partner is similarly elite, that will probably spell trouble. Should be good fun all round though :)

Army Pictures

In the above picture you can the finally finished pilots of the Krios Venators in their yellow bedecked glory also!

Peace out,

Rob

Bristol Vanguard Vanquish - Tournament Review - TO-DONE!

Hi Everyone,

So the weekend just gone I took my mechanicum force (pictured above without the HQ as the pic quality is better) to my local clubs tournament called Vanquish! Its a 1750 point tournament that is always comp'd. This year that comp was to restrict you to a CAD only OR a codex specific detachment (e.g. realspace raiders for dark eldar). So no formations, plus not LoW or Super Heavies. I have to say I loved this format, as you were still allowed many many forgeworld goodies so the variety was still super high, but I found games were easier with less rules to remember essentially!

Anyway, with my best intentions I only captured pictures of my first game, but I will run through my other 3 fairly quickly. Sadly I only played 4 out of my 5 games as I was really unwell on day 2 and had to leave early to lie down. The fact I turned up was only because I fancied my chances in the painting competition! Otherwise I would have just stayed at home I was so nurgle infested...

Game 1

Game 1 was against a tremendously nice guy, who I think won most sporting opponent which doesn't surprise me! He was called Paul and he had a beautiful army!!! It was speed freaks and unfortunately for him I got first turn and being Dawn of War everything was in range and I popped most of his transports first turn... but we had a great game, but maximum points for me, first time I've ever achieved that at this tournament! Have a look through the pictures below and you'll see how pretty his orks are! The red is lovely.

So despite a maelstrom game as an opener, I was off to a strong start.. But with Suiss pairing that meant a hard second game and so it proved to be...


Game 2

Game 2 was up against a chap called Ross who was one of the first people I met at my local club a couple of years ago. A thoroughly nice bloke who is a very good player. He brought White Scars and we were both nervous about facing each others armies, with what seemed like a good counter for each others build oddly! 

In brief Ross had several squads of bikes with grav guns, a sicaran, a thunderfire, a storm talon, a squad of multi melta bikes, a chapter master with shield eternal and some scouts as I recall. I did manage to make a bike squad run away turn 1 off the board, but Ross in turn took down a thanatar with some excellent rending scout sniper rifles!

Unfortunately for me the dice turned on me (failing 3/5 3++ for my warlord while Ross' chapter master tanked nearly 20 in a row!) coupled with some excellent tactical play from Ross. It was  a very blood affair with only about 500-600 points of our armies combined left on the table, but a maximum points win for Ross! Back to my usual territory!

Game 3

Game 3 and the last game of day 1! I faced a Tau list that was new to the owner and not terribly optimised. Charles was his name and he had horrendous luck! He managed to take his riptide down to half wounds for me with gets hot rolls!

Top of my head, he head farsight with a fusion crisis team, another crisis team (all deep striking), a riptide, a sky ray, a hammer head with rail gun, long strike with the stubby looking gun, fire warriors in a devil fish and a squad of infiltrating kroot. 

Charles got second turn and when his crisis teams came down the dice were not with him. Farsight scattered to sit on his table edge and after taking a pummeling from my battle automata he rolled an 11 on his leadership and they ran from the board. I felt awful for him! Of all the crisis suits and drones that arrived on his turn 2 only 1 suit with 1 wound was left after my turn 3...

Charles couldn't build steam from that unlucky run of rolling (seriously he rolled so many 1s!) and I took another maximum win. So 2-1 on Day 1 with a good haul of tournament points!

Game 4

Game 4 and day 2. I had been very sick at work that morning and looked like death as many people remarked. My opponent had an excellent Ork army that was beautiful and I regret not taking pictures of it. I can't remember a great deal of this game, except that an ork Warboss had a relic with instant death on a to wound roll of a 6 that polished off a thanatar! It was quite a tight game until I had 1 very bad round of shooting and he took it from there. Thoroughly nice bloke whos name escapes me sadly. 

I felt terrible that I couldn't give him my full concentration but he was every inch the gentleman about it. 

Painting Competition

So Game 5 I forfeited and left after lunch before it began. but during lunch the armies selected by the judges for the painting competition were laid out and all players could vote. Out of a field of 60 I was selected along with 9 others for voting. 

To just get to this point I was incredibly chuffed! The standard of armies is always high at Vanquish and this was no exception. I managed to snap some pictures of most of the nominees as you can see below:

Crowds stopped me getting to the others but there were another Eldar army and a beautiful space wolves army as well. 

The eventual winner was the stunning Nurgle army that also took best painted at Vae Victus the 750 point tournament I attended in february. Here as then he got my vote and his brothers deathwatch got my second vote as they were beautifully converted!

BUT! I came second!!! Joint with someone else but as I left I'm not sure who. Apparently we had the same primary and secondary votes and we were only 5 votes behind first. One of my To-Do aims on my 40k Addict list was come top 3 in a painting competition which I thought very unlikely. But I am chuffed to bits to have achieved it!! I really am!

Overall

Got to say this was my best performance tournament wise as well. I think I garnered 32 tournament points this year compared to 22 the year before. I don't know where this placed me, but definitely higher than last year! I look forward to seeing my ranking as if I come in the top half with a game handicap essentially I will be very happy indeed!

To round this off I will just once again say, as I did last year, that we at Bristol Vanguard are damn spoilt for table quality. The terrain and the organisers who help make and store it are just sublime. here's a few pretty pics of tables before game 1 started to have a look at :)

I hope you enjoyed that little round up and rest assured normal posting will no resume. Back to Emperor's Children reviews tomorrow :) I will also get some decent pictures of my Thanatars up with the HQ asap too!

peace out,

Rob

Legio Cybernetica Army List - 1750 points

Hey peeples,

So, on the 2nd and 3rd of April I will participate in my second tournament of the year. Whilst the first was a relatively wee nipper at 750 points, with altered force org to boot, this is more the full flavour of things with around 50-75 participants expected and 1750 points of fun to play with!

This event is called Vanquish and is once again run by my local club, Bristol Vanguard. These guys are great at making events friendly, inviting, and they try very hard to keep themselves different from the mainstream tournament scene. This year, in the face of GW's boom in formations, supplements, expansions and all that, the Vanguard have stripped this event back to basics, which I personally love. 

What this means is that your army must be constructed using the standard CAD or an army specific detachment. This means NO formations at all. Additionally, no super heavies/gargantuan creatures are allowed for usage. Yes this has upset some players who can't bring their Knight armies, but I would wager that most of us have armies that we like to put together that don't include either of these. And the idea is, of course, to make you your games less likely to be a blood batch as an unkillable monster rampages through your lines. 

I have exaggerated here with a certain level of hyperbole, as I don't for a second think Lords of War of this scale should be pulled from the game, or that they are in fact a bad thing. However I like that this is an event where I can build my list not having to plan for 6+ HP beasts or Wraithknights, or indeed be up to date with every new formations that has come out and so be less likely to have the wool pulled over my eyes on new rules (by accident for the vast majority I might add).

With that said, this event gives you a great deal of freedom in other ways. Namely, by allowing 30k or all Forgeworld armies like Elysian Drop Troops to be brought, as well as all 40k approved Forgeworld units being allowed (as long as they don't contradict the other restrictions). 

With that foreword out of the way, here is the list I will be taking to this event, moulded very much by what I have available, but still a list I want to play and have enjoyed building. 

HQ

1 x Archmagos Dominus with Abeyant, Machinator Array, Cyber Familiar and Contagium Mechanicum

OK - this guy is a beast. T6 with 4 wounds, a 2+ save, a 3++ invulnerable and he can restore wounds to the Castellax or Thanatar. He also has IWND, Move through Cover, relentless and stubborn. On the charge he will have 3 x S4 AP3 attacks at initiative 3, then he will get 2 x S5 AP2, shred, armourbane attacks at I1. He is tough, survivable, and no slouch in combat. He will accompany one of the two castellax squads most likely, healing their wounds.

Troops

2 x Castellax with enhanced targeting array

Their AP3 mauler bolt cannons can take on light vehicles and mince marines as well as double out any T3 Eldar

2 x Castellax with Darkfire Cannons and enhanced targeting array

AP2 can kill Terminators in droves hitting on a 2+ and S7 lance will let you take on tanks with luck.

3 x Thallax with Melta Bombs

3 x Thallax with Melta Bombs

3 x Thallax with Melta Bombs

These guys have 1 shot S7 AP5 rending shred guns, but they are mobile and my only obsec units. Plus melta bombs will take down tanks!

Heavy Support

1 x Thanatar Siege Engine with enhanced targeting array

1 x Thanatar Siege Engine with enhanced targeting array

A twin-linked S6 AP3 3 shot gun on the arm and a Large blast, barrage, S8 AP2 48 inch range gun on the back that makes you re-roll cover saves. My goodness they will munch through blobs, medium tanks and elite units all the same. 

I am planning on buying a Knight Titan to go with these guys once I have moved and recouped my deposit from my current house OR 3 Imperial Bombards to run these as a massive Ordo Reductor force dropping 3 x 7" AP3 templates down a turn! I will be having a poll early April to help me decide!

Thoughts?

Peace out,

Rob

SN Battle Reports - No Retreat 2

Hi gang,

Just a quick post today. I am currently going through my finances to sort some money out, as I have every intention of attending the SN Battle reports - No Retreat 2 tournament in Gibraltar! I have a real drive to attend more tournaments this year. I am currently going to 4 though that includes to 750 point tournies essentially (more on them in a later post), but SN battle reports offers me the opportunity to try a slightly modified ITC format tournament. 

For those that don't know, the ITC format is very heavily used in the large tournament circuit in the USA and allows ranking from points used at compliant tournaments. Its also a much more no holds barred kind of format with 3 different sources/detachments allowed and all kinds of filth. Though it does have some good little comp adjustments and balances eternal war/maelstrom game types really well in its own missions. 

Also if you haven't already go check out SN Battle Reports as they are fantastic old school white dwarf style reports that are brilliant! Check them here.

This is something I've wanted to try for a while, so I will be putting up lists later this month, and this should provide a real drive to do some serious painting indeed!

Peace out,

Rob

Musings + Finished Dreadnought (mostly) and WIP Captain Karlaen

An early post for me this week as I will be off up north at the weekend for a family reunion. As nice as it will be I really want a weekend where I can sit down and just crack on with my hobby for a solid two days. I'm determined to make some serious headway into my Blood Angels over the coming couple of months and hopefully finish off some Black Templars Vanguard.

With regards to my Blood Angels, I now have 5 Hammernators and a Furioso Dreadnought finished and Captain Karlaen on the go as you will see below. This leaves a lot to do! I have 2 drop pods to finish filing ready for an undercoat, I have 5 lightning claw terminators ready for a lick of paint that I am hoping to start on Tuesday depending on my train times and then I have a librarian in terminator armour that needs undercoating and also Raphens Death Company. Thats all the built stuff... but I still have 10 sternguard veterans, 10 vanguard veterans and 10 blood angel tactical marines that need building! I need to pick up 32mm bases for the veterans as I want them to match the other power armoured infantry in the army.

Primarily my blood angels will be set up around the archangels strike force which allows 2 HQ in terminator armour and then a crap load of elite choices! These guys can re-roll reserve rolls in this formation (and possibly again if Captain Karlaens ability stacks with that? Anyone know?) and they are a fun fluffy way to field expensive units that will probably get destroyed post-haste! 

Raphens Death Company and the tactical squad are there to give me the option of utilising a CAD if I so wish. I also have 20 old metal scouts that are awaiting stripping before painting, originally these were going to form the neophytes for my fluffy templars list so I could have a black/red tide of 40 marines plus neophytes storming towards the enemy as the emperors champion rocks up in his crusader with a terminator squad. Lovely stuff. However I am going to hang fire on getting started on these because of the rumours surrounding the Black Templars being squatted from the vanilla marine codex, I'm hoping they are still there but if not I will make a nice scout heavy force for my Blood Angels so all is not lost.

I'm hoping to make it to two other tournaments this year with Fluffageddon going on in September and Blog Wars 10 happening in November (here is a link to Blog Wars 9 if you are interested). Both of these are happening at the Stockport Gaming Centre that I have heard a lot about but have never been so the prospect of a couple of weekend of good gaming here really excites me. If anyone in the south west would like to attend and provide a car share to save me an exorbitant train fare as well as have half your petrol paid, do drop me a line :).

Anyway that is enough of my ramblings for this week. Here is pictures of the mostly finished Dreadnought, I noticed there is some grey under one of the arms that needs touching up and when I get confident enough I would like to add battle damage to him (as well as to the termies already painted)

And here is the colour blocking mostly done on Captain Karlaen, his rules are OK but he very nicely fills the special character fulfillment for Blog Wars should I choose to take Blood Angels and he fulfills the terminator HQ for the Archangel formation so he's handy in that sense!

Obviously a long way to go with him, I've been sloppy and spilt blue all over the place gah! I need to finish blocking out the blue, overlay the brown with auric armour gold and then the model will be liberally washed with sepia/agrax in varying measures.

Any thoughts, comments and criticisms (if constructive) are always welcome :)

Peace out

Rob