A strange turn of events

Well I have finished painting up my Death Guard (just picked up a Lord of Virulence to act as a Demon Prince of Nurgle). They are all finished until time and money allows me to pick up a few more toys for them.

So I have some unpainted Space Marines, and I have grown tired of looking at my blue army. I want to paint something other than blue.

So I will still be painting up an Ultramarine successor chapter. I flipped through the Codex and none appealed to me.

Well off to the internet!

After looking and looking I came across the one I will be doing.

The new colours of my army

MORTIFACTORS!

I love painting bone colour (Kings of War Undead player with several thousand points) and still get to play as the Ultramarines.

So to start off I will be painting my lieutenant in those colours.

The start of my army!

Edit: I have painted a bit of him so far, I have chosen to do the 7th Company of the Mortifactors.

WIP

Nearly done!

A long time coming

I have not forgot about this blog. 

Just a busy year so far with birthdays, anniversaries, sports (stupid FA Cup final, also the kid started soccer again this year).

I have been busy painting my Death Guard, because those models really have captured my attention. I did pick up some fun new stuff for my Ultramarines however.

I picked up a cool Brother Sergeant Sevastus from the Japanese Space Marines Heroes line on eBay, and after what felt like an eternity he arrived. I chopped of his silly grav pistol and went to the plasma pistol (most of my special weapons are plasma) to match the majority of my army. 

I plan on running him as either a Lieutenant or as a Sergeant (probably not as likely) when I get him painted up. 

His head comes from the following model.

Yes this is most definitely a recast from eBay

A cool Primaris Captain with Power Fist and Plasma Pistol (see more plasma). I picked it up on eBay for about $20, which is a steal when you see the regular price. 

Yes it is a resin recast from Russia, but there were no flaws in the model (no bubbles, very little mold lines) and he will be a welcome addition to the army.

The plague marches on...

Well the holidays and my birthday are over. Man it is a busy time of the year, lots of family visiting means no time for painting (well maybe a little bit of time).

Plus I got to see my favourite hockey team beat the Toronto Maple Laughs.

Go Sens Go!!!

My first few units done

I managed to finish some of the plague marines from the DI set, as well as some from the box set and easy to build sets. I had a lot of fun with these guys, and would highly recommend the Plague Marine box set. I plan on picking up another one once my pile of minis is finished. There are still so many...

I managed to get 3 HQ choices done for my Death Guard. I plan on using Gutrot Spume from AoS in my army as a Sorcerer with Force Axe. I glued a spare bolter from my plague marines to his back help him fit in. I wanted something Nurgle like for my army to feel it fits in with the Death Guard.

A couple of HQ options

In the picture with it is my Lord of Contagion modified with a head from the Plague Marine box set. I really hated the head with the spike on the normal model, but do love the model otherwise.

Lastly is a Chaos Lord with Balesword and Combi-Melta. I made him out of one one the plague marines from the DI set, with some spare parts from Blight Lord Terminators and the top bit from the Lord of Contagion. 

Chaos Lord

I still have a bit more Death Guard HQ units to work on such as Lord of Contagion with manreaper, Malignant Plaguecaster (modifications made on it), Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (converted with parts from the EtB box set and Blight Lord Terminators). 

Well thanks for the read and will update when my next model is finished!

Time for something different

A new project has come across the painting desk, this time in the form of the Death Guard. While I am not finished my Ultramarines, still an HQ and some vehicles to finish, I thought I should break up the sea of blue with some Nurgle goodness.

Some Pox Walkers to spread the plague

These Pox Walkers were done primarily just using a base coat of something for clothes, armour, horns and some Vallejo Yellow for the pustules. From there I washed either Agrax Earthshade or Flesh Wash over the miniature. Some are the Flesh Wash over just the grey primer, some are over Reaper Bloodless Skin, P3 Ryn Flesh or Vallejo Light Flesh. The tentacles are Army Painter Tanned Flesh for a base, then it again mixed with water and Vallejo Game Ink Purple then a small highlight of Vallejo Warlord Purple. After that is all said and done, some technical paints have been applied on the minis. Nurgle's Rot is slathered all over the tentacles. When I am done I cover the tentacles and pustules with 'Ardcoat, and the rest of the mini in a matte varnish.

First Troop

Here we can see the first troop of the Death Guard in a 5 man unit of Plague Marines. The load out is as follows from left to right: Mace of Contagion/Bubotic Axe, Bolt Gun, Power Fist, Plague Knife, Plasma Gun for the unit champion, Bolt Gun and Plague Knife, Blight Launcher.

A super fun break from the Ultramarines and will look cool on the table top I am sure!

Chaos approaches

Reivers and Terminators in reserves

Captain Alocarius Sostus and his forces marched into a clearing, their objective in sight. Secure the bunker and wait for reinforcements. His soldiers would not be trapped here for much longer. The area looked safe, his scouts reporting nothing in the distance.

The tank rolled forward, troops in line beside it. Librarian Laenicus Wyrdrix left his troops he stood in command of, a group of Primaris along with a dreadnaught waiting in the woods. He made his way to the Captain to give the all clear when a warning came to him. There was a tank on the move, and a great force of Chaos arriving to the north.

The Ultramarines dug in, readied their weapons when the forces of Chaos burst forward from the forest to the north, weapons firing towards them.

Perhaps this would not be so easy.

Most of the 1250 points of Chaos

The forces of Chaos consisted of Rubric Marines, Tzangors, Terminators, Chaos Lord, Demon, and a Vindicator.

Most of the 1250 points of Ultramarines

The forces of the Ultramarines are lead by Primaris Captain Alocarius Sostus, his battle brother Primaris Librarian Laenicus Wyrdrix, a Venerable Dreadnaught, two squads of Intercessors, a Tactical Squad,a squad of Hell Blasters, a Razorback and a Devastator Squad.

The first turn saw the Chaos forces advance, take out one Hellblaster, and everything else miss. Turn one for the Ultramarines saw them wipe away a unit of Rubric Marines, as well as a few other models. Quite a good turn.

Turn two saw Chaos wipe out the squad of Hell Blasters, except for the Sergeant, and the Demon and Tzangor's advance forward. Turn two for the Ultramarines was very lackluster, dealing only a single point of damage, and removing a Rubric Marine.

Turn 3, the forces of Chaos decided to call in the Terminators, who fired all their shots into the Intercessors. The results of that are detailed in the picture below.

The results of all the Terminator shots. One point of damage!

Things looked bleak for the Ultramarines. The Reivers came out of hiding and sprung themselves upon the Chaos Lord, but his power was too much, they proved to be just a simple distraction. The Intercessors and the Venerable Dreadnaught fired into the Terminators, and wiped all but one off the table.

At least the Reivers tried...

Things were not going well, the forces of Chaos continued their psychic assault, the Ultramarines could only stop so much of the psychic bombardment, but the Demon laughed from the bunker, issuing his troops forward.

The shock troops underestimated the strength of the Chaos Lord, and the Tzangor's moved back to surround the Reivers. Soon there was nothing left but scraps of power armour, guns and combat blades. It would be up to the Dreadnaught and the Intercessors to fight for the eastern flank.

The Warlords enter combat

The Demon leaped from the bunker to attack the most powerful psyker the Ultramarines had, but the Librarian fought back, managing to hold of the onslaught of the Demon. Captain Sostus went toe to toe with the remaining Terminator, but his eye was on his friend who had fought on numerous worlds with him. His friend looked for help, the psychic powers of the Warp powered the Demon, making each blow stronger. Captain Sostus knew he had to finish off his foe or his friend would be lost.

The battle may begin to turn...

The Intercessors rushed over to help their Captain take down the last Terminator, but they were too late, their Pysker had fallen. Seeing the Demon injured, the remainder of the Ultramarines turned their attention to the Demon. The forces of Chaos and the Vindicator (finally hit!) and destroyed the Devastators on the west flank.

Bring out your dead, Ultramarine style

Bring out your dead, Chaos edition

DIE!!!!

The last turn of the game saw the Demon surrounded by the Ultramarines, They fought bravely for their fallen brothers, but their forces dwindled. But soon the Demon fell and the forces of Chaos were on the run.

The brave survivors

The marines thought they were safe, but the few remaining forces continued their attack. The Vindicator moved forward, so damaged it needed 6 to hit with its attacks...

and it rolls 3 6's

One the second turn of extra turns, the Ultramarines are victorious, Chaos is destroyed, the bunker is secure and the forces of good survive.

The survivors...

All in all, a great game and the Ultramarines came out on top! Heavy casualties to the Ultramarines led me to believe I may not win, but in the end, all the Chaos models were off the table.

A great game, and found some strengths and weaknesses in the units I chose (Librarian was next to useless, should be replaced by a Lieutenant in this list).

Hope you all enjoyed and look forward to more!
 

Time to get heavy

Hell Blasters 

Probably my favourite heavy support unit is the Hell Blasters. I know I do love my Devastator Squads, but these guys just always seem to do great work for me or other people when I see them played.

They are always able to blow up units quite fast, and work as a distraction unit as well. My opponents seem to always want to attack these guys first fearing their fire power.

I have equipped mine with just the basic gear they have from the Dark Imperium box set, since these are the mono pose models from that purchased from eBay. I have not tried them with any loadouts from the Codex yet, just used them as is. Most recently I tried these guys over a Stormtalon Gunship, and found they seemed to hit a bit harder, but that could have been my dice which were on fire.

Devastator Squad 

The deadly Devastator Squad. I love these models, and enjoyed painting the, This is only one of my squads, the other squad has the same loadout, with the exception of the sergeant which has a lightning claw and grav pistol instead of the combi-melta.

These models were a blast to paint, but putting them together I did run into trouble being an amateur model builder myself. I thought it would be real cool to have the heavy bolter marine kneeling instead of the missile launcher like the instructions call for (I have enough missile launchers already in my Tactical Squads). So I did need to put him on some cork, cut and hack away at the magazine where it connects to the backpack and lots of glue to put him into the position he is in now. In the end I am happy with the pose and like how the squads turned out.

I have not had much luck with the Devastators on the table top however, they seem to die quite quickly, even when sent up in a Razorback, and the best game I have had with them was the doubles game detailed in a previous blog post, but maybe I just need to learn how to play them (and remember to use the cherub).

The Predator

Ahhh, I love this mode, but I still have yet to play it on the table. I saved this model from a friend and managed to get most of the glue(?) that was on the body of the model. I did a bad thing (or at least most players would probably say it is) and glued the autocannon on the model instead of leaving the option for the lascannon (currently in my bits box). I felt that with the lascannon sponsons that the turret could be an autocannon, and not to mention it is already expensive enough in points to put on the table top.

Doubles Battle Report!

Deployment

Welcome to another battle report! This one here is a custom scenario that was a playtest for a doubles portion of a tournament that our club may put on in the future (it has been a while since a tournament was hosted by us).

The forces in this battle were my Ultramarines led by a Captain in Terminator Armour with the Sanctic Halo for his relic. I used the Stormtalon Gunship, Tactical Squad, Assault Squad, Venerable Dreadnaught, and Devastator Squad. This game was a 1,000 points/player game with my teammate playing Deathwatch. His units did most of the work this game, but it was entertaining to see. Our opponents were Tyranids and a mixed Chaos force.

Game Scenario

The game was a test of the Wall of Death Scenario in the image above. We rolled off for sides, then the teammates rolled to see who would be set up in which deployment area on their sides. I feel as if I did get lucky by being deployed at the back as it allowed my teammate who had better units in melee to to get in and start squishing some bugs as the Tyranids got the middle of the table as well. We did use the rules for Night Fight for Turn 1 for each side, making firing long shots far more difficult.

I did find it fun and almost a little overwhelming playing a doubles game as my second game ever in 40k, but why not dive right in right!

Action!

The forces of the Imperium begin their march forward to stop the threat of the Tyranids and their reinforcements in the form of agents of Chaos. The Deathwatch move up and begin to smash into the Tyranids, creating all sorts of mayhem and carnage. I begin to move my forces slowly forward, with the Stormtalon flying up the table firing at cultists, just making quick work of them with the heavy bolters on the ship. My warlord, the Captain in Terminator Armour is still floating around with the Chaos warlord, waiting to come into the game from deep strike.

The speed of the Stormtalon and the hitting power of the Deathwatch strike fear into the hearts of the forces of Chaos, and the Tyranids push forward, hoping to overwhelm the marines.

Yes, we do have adult beverages while we play.That night it was Forty Creek Copper Pot

Bugs begin charging forward, hoping to make quick work of the Deathwatch, and the Chaos forces try to attack the Stormtalon and move up, but their rounds are no match for the speed and armour of the Stormtalon.

Those Deathwatch are in trouble

Genestealers move up and into melee with the Deathwatch who the Tyranid player hopes can take a few models out, but realizes how tough the Kill Teams are with Terminators in them. 

Damn that is a big bug

A fearsome Tyranid moves on the table, imposing fear upon a new player such as myself, but the Deathwatch does not seem to care, realizing that the Tyranid is a speed bump in the road to victory.

pew pew

The Stormtalon continues flying around the battlefield, getting my team the Linebreaker achievement, and taking out more Chaos forces after that. The dreadnaught goes toe to toe with the large Tyranid in the middle of the table, and the shooting of the forces of the Imperium manages to get rid of the Tyranids in the middle of the table.

We complete our turn, and manage to have our opponents concede on turn 3, as their forces are nearly gone for the Tyranid player, and the Chaos player is in a bad spot with the Stormtalon behind them, Devastators putting wounds into their tank and going to be cut off by the Deathwatch.

At the end of the game, the Imperium succeeds in purging the heretics, and pushing back the grip they had on this world.

Our opponents found that a slower moving army would have trouble moving up the table if their opponent had a fast strong shooting army and could be met with resistance in the middle should the other team manage to break through his allies lines. So we did decide that there may have to be some tweaks to the scenario, but hey that is what playtests are for!