#031 - shadow of the horned rat

my first warhammer fantasy army, the skaven, have finally received a new armybook after being outstripped several times by other armies... and what an army book it is!!

first off, the costs of clanrats, stormvermin, rat swarms, and night runners have all decreased drastically, which benefits me greatly:

1. clanrats - 2 bricks of 30 went for 390, now only costing 324 for a difference of 66 points...

2. stormvermin - 23 with shields and full command used to cost me 232, now dropping to 209... hey, 23 points is 23 points...

3. rat swarms - dropped from 45 to 25 points per base, which makes a 100 point drop this time around...

4. night runners - 2 units of 10 cost me 200 points in the last book, but now a single group of 20 only costs me 148, a drop of 52 points right there...

5. slaves - 2 units of 20 was 40 points, and has not changed... so 0 mark there...

6. weapon teams - while not exactly core, i do take 3 attached teams, and each one went down by 5 points, for extra savings of 15...

my core choices, keeping them exactly as they are, are already saving me 256 points, which is HUGE in an army like this... now as far as specials and rares go:

1. warplock jezzails - because of the surplus in points i have to work with, we add a second jezzail group... 2 squads of 5 rifles each, brings 100 points per slot... i like rifles, so this is good...

2. poisoned wind globadiers - gone from core to special, but no change in points costs... instead of two skirmish teams, i am consolidating into a single 10-rat group for concentrated globing... 10 globadiers cost me 100 points for this slot choice... i have to bunch these together because i only get 4 special slots at this level - in larger games, they will split back into 5 and 5...

3. plague monks - 20 monks with full command and paired weapons used to be 185, and the banner of burning hatred i always gave them brought it up to 210... the same unit with shroud of dripping death is only 195 points, throwing 15 points back at me...

4. warp lightning cannon - my only rare slot went down 5 points, but ill take what i can get... not sure how i feel about the new rules for it though...

now with the entire army built up, same as it always was, i have a whopping 579 points to spend on my army's leaders...

1. mister squeakers (warlord) - 150 points for warpstone armour, weeping blade, and default hand weapon

2. fluffkin (warlock engineer) - 118 points for a level 1 caster, with pistol, death globe, and warlock optics

3. nibbles (warlock engineer) - 160 points for a level 2 caster, warp condenser, and warlock augmented weapon

4. poxy (plague priest) - 151 points for a level 2 caster with plague censer

and so the epic destiny of mister squeakers begins... /post

#030 - da furst viktory!!

so how did i spend my day? well i received a call from kevin at the store that a small space wolves force was trying to move in on my turf, and that just couldnt be allowed... so gobsmasha and da krew went in to see what was gonna get done about these wolf boyz...

wolf turn one - i did not setup first, nor did i steal the initiative... the space wolves moved forward in a normal spread... a blood claw pack under the watchful eye of a wolf lord... four long fangs in the back... a blood claw and dreadnought up the other flank... a wolf priest up the center with a lone wolf...

ork turn one - gobsmasha had a plan going into this... he knew these wolf boyz liked a good scrap just as much as an ork does, so he set out the bait in good view - a mob of 25 stood in the back to present a very nice target... while they were getting into position, trakka and shadez made their way up and around outside the field to launch sneak attacks later on... gobsmasha and wogrot marched through the ruins of a building past the boomwagon, which fired at a pack of blood claws killing one, and the skorcha wagon advanced while slinging big shoota rounds at the wolf lord, though only his wolves took any damage...

wolf turn two - with still nothing in range, the space wolves had no choice but to keep advancing... unless they acted soon, it was going to be a range war they had no hope of winning...

ork turn two - shadez and his boys ran in from the wolves' right flank right on time, dishing out a hail of slugga rounds and rokkits, killing two of the wolves from behind before they could react... meanwhile a boomgun round sailed true to its mark and greased three more blood claws from the same unit, as well as another pesky wolf from the lord's group... gobsmasha and wogrot's wreckaz added more fire into the fray taking out a fifth blood claw, and the skorcha wagon fired both it big shoota to eliminate a sixth while irongob's 'ard boyz piled out and lent their shootas into the mess... then shadez and his krew decided it was time to teach these oversized 'umiez what a proper scrap is all about - charging in with his big choppa, two blood claws from the second squad were torn apart, but before they fell they injured shadez and one of his boyz...

wolf turn three - with the long fangs now in position, their targets eluded them as both wagons were on the opposite side of the adjacent ruins, so they opened fire at the bait mob but failed to wound anything... the lone wolf and wolf lord moved up but managed to still be out of reach - gobsmasha's plan was working well so far, keeping the wolves on the move while the boyz shot at their leisure... the dreadnought marched forward still in search of a target, finding none... meanwhile, the brawl between the kommandos and blood claws was failing to do the wolf boyz any good - the blood claws failed to injure anyone, while shadez cleaved through another two marines like paper... although marines know no fear, they know when a fight is lost and the remaining two "tactically withdrew" with their tails between their legs...

ork turn three - not looking to be outdone by shadez, trakka and his krew joined the fight from the opposite flank, a hail of bullets killing another three blood claws... the boomwagon took this opportunity to level its big gun at the wolf lord who, at the moment, was quite unprotected - the result was devastating as both he and his remaining puppy were torn apart in the blast, which did nothing to help the marines' cause... gobsmasha and wogrot moved in to being the pain to the wolf priest in the middle of the field, though neither skorcha blast fired did anything against the priest's armour... shadez and his krew advanced toward the long fangs who were dangerously exposed, killing one in a hail of gunfire... then the order came over the radio for the boyz to get stuck in - gobsmasha and wogrot charged the wolf priest, trakka charged the blood claws, and shadez charged the long fangs... shadez and his krew lost another boy, but killed a fang in the process, while trakka and his boyz lost two and killed two blood claws... things didn't go so well for gobsmasha though - while an astounding twelve blows found their mark on the wolf priest, his armour still held out, and his return swings managed to kill one of the wreckaz... the rage of the priest at losing his lord took its toll on high command, causing them to back off and be clubbed into unconsciousness as they withdrew...

wolf turn four - enraged by the loss of his lord as well, the lone wolf attempted to come to grips with the greenskins but still couldn't close the distance... the dreadnought kept marching forward, as did the two blood claws that survived from shadez's first push... the wolf priest then opened fire at the mob of boyz while they got ready to scrap it out with him, though he only killed one - hardly enough for anyone to notice... the blood claws missed all their attacks against trakka's krew, who proceeded to slay them to a man... the long fangs, however, managed to kill two orks while only losing one, sending shadez rushing into the night to "regroup" later - he did his job anyway, taking two squads of marines down to a combined total of three... the wolves still needed a big comeback in order to survive this battle...

ork turn four - the boomwagon's overpowered engine got the better of itself and proceeded to gun it towards the lone wolf and his dual puppy bodyguard, who attempted to make a heroic stand against it with a powerfist - unfortunately all he did was dent the fender with his face as the looted tank's treads ground his head into pulp, leaving the dogs whimpering next to his body... meanwhile, the mob of boyz rushed up and all 24 fired at the wolf priest - terminator armour or not no one can withstand that kind of punishment, and suffered two fatal wounds from the barrage... irongob and his boyz, in a fit of spite, gunned down the two wolves as they pined over their master, leaving a solitary long fang, a dreadnought, and two blood claws remaining on the field...

wolf turn five - it was too much for the wolves... they could not go back in shame, having lost both their lord and priest - it was all or nothing now... the dread, finally making it in range of the mob of boyz, killed one with his multi-melta, but was still too far away to make a charge... the blood claws followed behind it, ready to support a final push... the long fang fired at the mob as well, reducing another boy to melted slag, but it just wasn't enough...

ork turn five - the boomwagon scooted over and fired a shell at the last long fang, though it overshot its mark by quite a bit... the nob from the boyz mob, however, managed a brutal charge against the dreadnought, using three of his team as shields while he rushed in for the kill - a single blow from the power klaw shattered the engine housing, causing a massive explosion that killed six more boyz and one of the remaining blood claws...

wolf turn six - a final plasma cannon blast failed to do any damage to the boyz again, and the remaining blood claw made his desperate suicide charge into the mob, only to kill a single ork while the nob impaled him with a power klaw from behind... there was nothing left for the last long fang to do except become the next lone wolf unless he was killed next...

ork turn six - the boomgun hit its mark this time, but the shell was a dud, merely knocking the long fang back a few steps... gobsmasha and wogrot's krew were picked up and brought back to kamp, still alive and still ready to have a go, though no one was left to tear apart... first battle, first victory... it tastes good...

MVP awards - the boyz mob for killing a wolf priest, dreadnought, and finishing a blood claws pack in 3 consecutive turns, with runner up of shadez's krew for tearing apart two separate squads with only 6 models...

tactical critique - knowing full well that space wolves excel in close combat, my whole plan was to keep them split apart and constantly having to move at me... by hugging the back and right flank, i ensured that everything wouldn't have the range to do any damage to my boyz... the outflank gamble works just fine, as i figured it would... an all-assault weapon volley, followed by a 24-attack charge removes enough of the resistance to be successful, and at just around 100 pt each, they're not major losses if they get creamed... the only thing i would do differently is not charge terminator armoured characters without a backup weapon - the warboss and nobz should only attack things with normal armour...

/post

#029 - da mob so far...

now that i have enough models in the army, i can finally piece together how it will look on paper... so here goes:

gutstab gobsmasha - 90 pt
kombi-skorcha, big choppa, 'eavy armour, cybork body, bosspole

'toolz' murfy - 100 pt
choppa, mek's toolz, kustom force field, cybork body, 'eavy armour

wogrot's wreckaz (5 nobz) - 155 pt
3x kombi-skorcha, 2x big choppa, 'eavy armour, stikkbomms

chainz' burnas (5 burnas) - 75 pt
mek w/ big shoota, 4x burnas

trakka's mob (6 kommandos) - 115 pt
nob w/ power klaw & 'eavy armour, burna, 4x slugga/choppa, stikkbomms

shadez's mob (6 kommandos) - 90 pt
nob w/ big choppa & 'eavy armour, 2x rokkit launcha, 3x slugga/choppa, stikkbomms

boyz mob (27 boyz) - 197 pt
nob w/ big choppa & bosspole, 26x slugga/choppa

irongob's krew (10 'ard boyz) - 130 pt
nob w/ big choppa, big shoota, 8x shoota/choppa, 'eavy armour, stikkbomms

big gunz - 123 pt
3x zzap gunz, 12x krew, runtherd w/ prod

looted wagon - 125 pt
boomgun, big shoota, 'ard case, grot riggers

looted wagon - 100 pt
skorcha, 2x big shoota, 'ard case, red paint job, armour plates, grot riggers, stikkbomm chukkas, reinforced ram

which gives me exactly 1300 pt assembled, and in need of another 200 to make a round numbered army... so here's what im thinking with that - another 4 burnas and 1 mek with kustom mega blasta (spanna) as well as 2 ammo grotz (85 pt), then a deff dred with 3 dread CC and a skorcha, grot riggers and armour plates (110 pt, counts as troops from big mek)... which means the burnas go inside the skorcha wagon to benefit from power weapons, though only at initiative 3 on the charge (still beats fists)... however, since theyre all template weapons, they ignore cover saves and auto hit, so whatever is left when the assault comes is pretty much toasted... the dred works as a can opener in this list, 'plan a' as it were, doing 4 attacks at strength 10, ignoring armour, and striking before carnifex and fists again...

'plan b' comes next on the table, once more using the burnas and grotz at 85 pt, but this time including multiple trukks, with red paint jobs, stikkbomm chukkas, armour plates and a reinforced ram (so 65 pt each)... this leaves me with an overage of 15 pt, which is easily solved by taking the stikkbomms off of the 'ard boyz and the nobz - now it's back to being 1500 even... throw the boss and nobz in the skorcha wagon, 'ard boyz with big mek in one trukk, and the burnas in the other trukk... right now plan b is more appealing to the style of the warband - two kommando teams outflank, 3 transports push up the middle, and the boyz hold the backfield with the zzap gunz and looted 'doosa'... a totally different view than i started with (was hoping for deff koptas and kommandos for an all outflank battle), but one that is shaping up nicely all the same...

/post

#028 - da whip

i need an APC... something light and sporty, able to handle off-road conditions and any weather imaginable... most importantly, it needs to be dedicated to my 'ard boyz, so there will need to be decent armour plating and a heavy armament load... it will also need to be red... enter the hellhound i havent been using in my guard army, that happened to go the same way as the medusa - a good idea at the time, but not practical without the squadron...

skorcha, two big shootas, reinforced ram, 'ard case, armour plates, grot riggers, stikkbomm chukkas, and a red paint job - everything da boyz need to get da job done... of course, i have to repaint the whole deal, but with the brown base already on it, it shouldnt be hard... this wagon isnt as decorated as the medusa, naturally... the way i see it working with irongob's boyz is they don't need the trophies like the others do - his boyz want to get in and get fighting, so they just need trakks and a target...

i was originally looking to get a battlewagon into the list, but it doesnt seem like a viable option at the moment, both monetary and playability wise... as it stands now, i have about 1300 pt, which means only 200 more until its a standing list... im hoping to get another boyz box so i can make a second mob (18 and 18 respectively), plus i need 2 trukks, which i will probably convert from chimeras when i get the chance/money... gotta keep in theme, otherwise the whole thing loses its appeal...

/post

#027 - da 'eavies

so i got to thinking, what would make for an effective heavy addition to the blood axes... to be honest, i'm taking full advantage of furious charge for the most part, letting wogrot and his krew rush in at marine initiative with two big choppas (strength 7 is nothing to scoff at)... so far, only trakka, irongob, and a soon-to-be-named nob leader from the 25-count boyz mob have power klaws, and shadez's kommando team sports two rokkits - the extent of my anti-tank arsenal is rather limited... i did some pondering and came up with two answers...

the first, picture at top, is the zzap gun krew... keeping with my "looted imperium" theme thus far, i decided to take spare lascannons i had laying in the immense bitz box and rig up a trio on termie bases... then i decided they need to be orky, so i did what any brilliant mek would do and put bayonets on the underside of the zzap guns - style always trumps function in a greenskin force... add to that a grot mob with runtherd and we have our first tank popper... sure, the hit rate is a 50/50... and it's true that i may roll a 4 for strength when it really counts... but a gun krew is small and can be placed in cover, which is exactly what gobsmasha wants - throw three zzap guns inside a building or treeline and pop shots at heavy infantry (since they're AP 2 regardless of strength) and vehicles...

then i decided to take advantage of two things at once with the second picture... i had purchased, through proxy, a medusa conversion kit from forge world because i was building a guard force at the time... unfortunately, unless you take artillery in threes with a guard force, they are pretty much useless and easy to kill - fire magnets are never good when you only have the one... so the medusa sat around a lot, collecting both dust and ire until two days ago... i can't say how or why i decided on it, but before i knew it, i was looking for bitz to slap onto the medusa to make my first looted wagon... i don't even know where to begin with this one...

when i think of orks looting something, there are always additions to the original design... additional power cables... plates... superfluous gadgets that serve no practical value other than to exist... with this in mind, the first stage became armor plating, and with an abundance of fantasy shields laying about inside the bitz box, as well as ogre gut plates, i decided to go the trophy route... adorning almost every side of the looted medusa are totems and shields, as well as an ork icon and what will be another banner displayed proudly on the front of the vehicle - gobsmasha's pictogram will be on there as well... then it came time for the back of the tank, and it hit me again - gobsmasha and his krew love killing big game as much as smaller prey, and what could be bigger than the tyranid carnifex (at least in normal games anyway)... as a result, there are four fex carapace plates instead of a railing around the back, like a mobile hunting lodge - when hunting big game, you need a big gun, i guess... but the fun didn't stop there... it still needed something to make it more official that this was not just orky, but MY orky... wooden paneling protects the gear assembly of the boomgun on the sides, and there are two crates on the deck, presumably containing more shells... however, the unique bit rests solely with the two palm trees located in the corner - my homage to kelly's heroes... this looted wagon is home to a veteran krew, and one that enjoys its comforts...

this looted wagon has sun umbrellas on its deck... /post

#026 - da boss and his boyz

so now we get to the top of the food chain in the warband - gutstab gobsmasha and his personal bodyguard, wogrot's wreckaz... da boss himself is sporting a rather large bosspole, topped with his personal standard, which will be a broken ork jaw over two red axes... armed with kombi-scorcha and big choppa, i will be taking full advantage of what furious charge has to offer - initiative 5 is better than 1, especially since space wolves will be the new army for a while... the unique detail here is the big choppa itself, a polearm instead of an axe... i thought this a more fitting touch, considering they are sneaky gitz instead of loud and rowdy - better to gut someone from 10 feet away than risk getting too close... the fact it's a polearm just makes him look more skilled at close combat... finally, we have 'eavy armour and a kustom cybork job - a metal plate on the left abdomen covers where dok stabbawitz and 'toolz' murfy added "gutz 'n gubbinz" to give gobsmasha a localized kustom field powered by his twin hearts (an idea they got from gutting several space marines)...

which now brings us to gunna wogrot and his wreckaz... if gobsmasha is the brains, then wogrot's krew is the backbone... what da boss says goes, and those who dont get in line get a crack to the skull... wogrot, pictured on the left, is the captain to gobsmasha's colonel, also sporting a polearm big choppa, though not as long as gobsmasha's, and a slugga... next in line we have a choppa with kombi-scorcha, followed by a big choppa and kombi-scorcha, then slugga and choppa with voxcaster on the back, with a kombi-scorcha and choppa at the end... the entire krew has 'eavy armour and stikkbomms, as well as several different backup weapons (extra choppas, boltguns, backpacks, etc) that serve a purely cosmetic function - these boyz are kitted for the big fights, able to stand alongside da boss and come out on top of the pile no matter what...

simply put, da boss and his krew are meant to assault infantry and big game creatures, which is exactly how they like things... four one-shot heavy flamers, stikkbomms, and enough armour to withstand prolonged combat (short of power weapons anyway)... missing from this list at the moment, however, is one dok stabbawitz, the final piece of the top tier krew... while gobsmasha himself doesn't benefit from 'feel no pain,' the 12 wounds possessed by the krew certainly do...

all i need now is a battlewagon to transport them in... /post

#025 - da boyz, part one

so here they are, the first of da boyz: kommando teams wun and too, plus 'strika' irongob's 'ard boyz...

so trakka's team is up at the top, the team possessing a power klaw and burna... i found an interesting tutorial online about converting kommandos from regular boyz... all it involves is clipping one leg and repositioning it... now the team lives up to its fluff, crawling along the ground to be the sneakiest gitz in da game... even the kommando with the burna is sneaking along on all fours with a converted big shoota/guard heavy flamer... trakka himself, you'll note, wears a guard voxcaster on his back, since da boss needs to make sure they got the right targets...

the second group is shadez's kommando team, possessing big choppa and two rokkit launchas... since shadez is the more braggy of the kovert pair, his boyz strut upright, and are loaded with all sorts of gear... explosives, engineer packs, boltguns as backup pieces, extra choppas - all of it stolen from the bodies they've left behind... again, the motif here is the team leader with voxcaster, only this time with big choppa held at the ready...

at the bottom we have 'strika' irongob's 'ard boyz, the strike team sent in first to take care of anything that needs taking care of (since they have actual armour)... forged from the fires of fantasy black orcs, each model is a kitbash armed with shootas and choppas... irongob himself has the black orc big choppa raised over his head... then there's the big shoota in the group, sported one-handed by the shoulder strap... once i get transports, this squad will be much more effective in actual game terms...

next up, i think, will be getting a standard metal painboy, as well as two burna boxes... then i just need to convert a pair of mekboyz - spanna (with kustom-mega blasta) and chainz (with big shoota)... then i'm just a big mek away from the complete character set... the next update: gobsmasha, wogrot and the wreckaz... /post

#024 - Da 'Urty Dozen

so when the battle for macragge starter box came out, i bought it... it came with marines and tyranids, but i mainly got it for the small rule book and free terrain... at the time, i wanted to start orks, as they had always been my favorite army, but i decided it prudent to build upon bugs, seeing that even back then i knew marines were gay...

fast forward 5 years and 9 armies later, i finally have an ork force ready to rok... enter "da 'urty dozen," a blood axe warband as a quirky homage to world war 2... the name originated when i was supposed to inherit an ork army of considerable size, and the original 1850 list contained 12 unit slots... the name just stuck, as did the theme of the force - american and british special forces from the last great war...

there is no set point limit in mind as this shall be my 'masterwork' force - granted, i make chaos super-heavies now as a matter of course, but this is more a test of both my modeling and painting skills... how good can i make this without running out of ideas? well the pinnacle of the force at the moment is "da supa-bomma" as seen in the picture... a model b-17 at 1:48 scale, the supa-bomma is the first ork super-heavy i've done... and probably won't be the last...

we begin with gutstab gobsmasha, the big boss of da 'urty dozen... rather than run a "proppa waaagh" like other bosses, gobsmasha prefers a much quieter approach - anyone can gut a man in a big rumble, but it takes a "real killa" to do it when no one's lookin, and gobsmasha is a real killa... either it's his way or no way, and several high-thinking nobz have had to find out what "no way" is the hard way...

next in line we have gunna wogrot and his wreckaz, gobsmasha's personal brute squad... every nob has ambitions of being the ork on top, but with a boss as cunning and skilled in combat as gobsmasha, wogrot is content for the present being "second boss" in the krew... while he may not have the brilliance of gobsmasha, wogrot has the discipline and battle prowess it takes to keep the rest of the boyz in check - when gobsmasha speaks, wogrot makes sure the rest listen up good...

the third character started as a generic filler, but soon became the comic relief for the entire concept... dok stabbawitz (yes, a jewish surgeon) was the most skilled painboy in the old warband, and the biggest loss to it once he defected with gobsmasha's krew... to his credit, he has yet to lose a patient he could realistically save, but a lot of the those who couldn't still live on as transplants... many an arm or leg has found its way back into full service in da 'urty dozen from dok stabbawitz's brilliance on the operating slab...

the fourth character to be named was the big mek, and chief engineer in gobsmasha's krew, 'toolz' murfy... 'toolz' was a recruit from another warband after the split, a specialist from the bad moons sent to keep an eye on gobsmasha while working for them... impressed with both gobsmasha's tactics, and his ability to leave valuable loot intact (instead of running in and blowing everything up in sight), 'toolz' saw potential in signing up - plenty of valuable loot, and all he'd have to do is keep everything running smoothly... well, the bad moons have enough mekz to not notice one missing in action...

the next two characters are the nob leaders of the two kommando teams in the force - trakka and shadez... trakka is the silent type, his mind set solely on whatever mission da boss tells him to do... as a result, his team, known as 'wun,' is just as quiet and efficient as their leader... shadez, however, is the exact opposite, revelling in the kill and quite fond of demolitions work... his team, 'too,' tends to take a more up front approach to stealth work... the pair of team leaders get along as well as any two orks could, comparing body counts after the job is done - any job that needs a little more force is bound to feel the 'wun-too kombo...'

after that bit of the army came the nob in charge of the shock troops - 'strika' irongob leads a team of 'ard boyz in every engagement that needs a more direct approach... considered to be the bodyguard of the boss' bodyguard, irongob's boyz are often given the job of securing a breach point in the enemy's lines, often with a burna mob as a support option... which brings us to spanna and chainz, two mekboyz who lead the burnas into the fire as it were...

with all the characters necessary to make a warband worthy to be orks, all that remains is building and painting it all nice... /post

#023 - the torso takes shape...

the base plate of the torso has been set, and the shoulder joints are being attached... but more importantly, the right arm has been connected... ah yes... the sweet taste of progress... an estimated 17 across, this bastard has become even bigger than i foresaw, which is a good thing... for a super-heavy that ignores all shaken and stunned results, it should look menacing...

on the doomsday front, i have purchased thin PVC sheets and begun using a shrink-wrap method to fit the plating to the tower... so far, it is working nicely, giving the base a liquid metal look... since the PVC is clear, it wouldn't do to take pics of it now... when i get the thing primed, it will then be time to capture its glory... for now, however, iced coffee awaits...

/post

#022 - the work continues...

i am fully aware that what you see before you is incredibly orky, but believe me, it is not... this is, in fact, the scaffolding for my chaos doomsday device, the fourth super-heavy construct for an upcoming mega battle... and the plastic it is being glued to is actually a plastruct pond kit, meant for model towns and what not... meanwhile, in a 28mm scale game it makes for a decent terrain base - not so much crater as a natural depression... since i decided (this morning) to build a doomsday device, this seemed the best premade base i could ask for (and for only $12)...

the doomsday device itself, i decided (also this morning), should be more than what games workshop showed on the apocalypse - they made a coffin-shaped mockup with some kitbashing... i decided to go vintage death weapon with my incarnation, and came upon the greatest wargame structure i could recall from my youth - the obelisk of light from command & conquer... yes, the brotherhood of nod's giant pointy laser tower shall be my doomsday device... i can almost see kane smiling upon me as i type... yes... total devastation in the name of peace...

as you can also see from the pic, i started with a square base concept with two jutting points, then scrapped that for a more quirky look - the triangle... the base is equilateral, 3 inches per side, with the next triangle (the one with the composition notebook back on it) being 2 inches per side... the inside supports going from triangle to triangle make this base level 4 inches high (scaled 24 feet), and the outside supports rotate the top about 30 degrees to the right - this makes the base corkscrew upward... supports were added in the middle for when the sides are cut and attached... i haven't decided if they will be triangular or concave yet, owing to the fact i did all this in about an hour and ran out of wood... i also need to decide if i'm going to use sheets of flexible PVC or wood for the sides... i want to say PVC, just because the paint job will be smoother... the base itself will be trimmed down to suit my terrain needs, glue applied, followed by garden variety sand (literally)... spray paint and drybrushing applied, it will be almost complete...

for the top, however, that has already been decided... i purchased another sheet of plastruct, this time "stormy water," as well as hot pink PVC... i will spray one side of the PVC white, then glue the other side to the water effect plastic sheets... i will then cut the assembled sheets into three more equilateral triangles and assemble them into a little pyramid shape, then put another clear PVC layer on top of that... the pink death crystal on top of the structure becomes a shiny beacon coruscating with energy, and the white interior ensures that the pink is bold and bright...

the game i mentioned earlier in this post is the most ambitious to date - 13,000 points per side, single army, 3 assets each, imperial guard v. my chaos marines... the game itself will take place in september, and i already have my list ready and written up - death guard, emperor's children, iron warriors, alpha legion and word bearers... bring it on...

/post

#021 - compensation...

i have been challenged to a massive mega-battle, one-on-one, of at least 10k per side... i have until september to prepare for the carnage... this means i now have one month to finish the construction of the subjugator, which you now see before you...

as this is my second scratch-built super-heavy, i decided to show the comparison in size, as well as where i plan it to extend to... the arms are already constructed and waiting for the body to be built, which will be done with plasticard and more bits... the head will be a speaker covered in matte varnish and painted over boltgun with gold... mounted into the shoulders are the two tormentor cannons, which are its primary weapons...

so on top of that, i have also started a brainstorm journal for all things wargame... its a small, red leatherette deal, magnetic clasp, $8 at walgreens... basically, every time i have an idea, and nothing but time to write it down in it goes in there... table ideas, mission ideas, etc... helps keep track of all the creative stuff i can't "shut off" in my head...

then there's the fantasy tournament coming up, which i already put my name down for... ill be going in as a fun list, just 33 ogres... i dont expect to come in first, just "not last" again... its more for fun than anything, quite honestly... once i get the body of the subjugator done at the least i can concentrate on painting my ogres... since its only 33 models, and most of them all the same color scheme (lots of bare skin), it shouldnt take too long to get most of it ready... i have a month and a half so i should be fine...

then there's the specialist games push happening at the store... necromunda, blood bowl and mordheim are going to be seeing a revival soon, with the blood bowl league starting in august... i would have had a team but i decided that would be too many projects to have at once... add to that the fact that monsterpocalypse is gaining in popularity, its going to be rough to do too much of anything at this time...

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#020 - the workbench is full...

this is what has been done so far... the subjugator is now somewhat assembled, mainly freeform in design... currently, i can fit two predators side-by-side underneath without touching the twin-link blastmaster... this bastard will be rather huge...

right now, i have a lot of projects backed up on the bench... in addition to this one, i have a complete death guard contingent to paint, a complete emperor's children to paint, half of my daemon units, several squads of iron warriors, my imperial guard, my sisters of battle, as well as every fantasy model i own... needless to say i have a lot that needs doing...

i should probably be painting right now, but its too humid and sticky in here, and that means id need the fan on... which means paint would get dried out too quickly... on top of that, id need to spray matte my work, and the heavy mist outside is not conducive to doing so... ill probably finish my second soul grinder this week (khorne) and figure out how to finish constructing the body on the subjugator...

my original plan to build the amp failed, so there will be no functional speaker... my other original plan to construct the component parts first and then paint them has also failed... since this is a makeshift creation i have to build finalize as i go along... pain in the ass to be sure, but at least i can make changes going ahead without jeopardizing the rest of the project in the meantime... one change will be leveling out the body and legs, as they didnt come out perfectly... maybe its just my need to have everything even on all my vehicles... i dunno... its too hot to think...

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#019 - the work continues

so here we are, day two of the serious business that is engineering a death machine... let me start by saying that fun-tak is the best modeling tool ever... using the wondrous blue material, i managed to get the general idea for you all as shown above... the soda can isnt part of the model, by the way, just to support the beast without glue...

on a painting note, the legs can and should be attached at this point because the spacing on the undercarriage will not screw up my painting later on... there is plenty of room for the gold trim without being a bother, so the next step will be attaching the legs... the blastmaster will be fun-tak'd in and tested with a brush to see if i can get that on as well without problems on the painting... would be nice to get a large portion of the beast assembled so i can work on the rest without worry...

on another note, tomorrow is the first day of the fantasy league, and i am, as always, ready for action... whether or not i do well is another story, though, so let's see if the dice gods favor me on the morrow... /post

#018 - the great work begins

what you see before you are the first stages of construction - the glorious opening to what will surely be the magnum opus of my conversion career to date... and its been a pain in the ass to be exact...

the hip assembly was simple... i clipped the right side of one and the left side of the other from the two defiler kits, applied glue, then stuck them together... the next step was simply taking two of the armor plates from the weapon sprues, gluing them to face forward on the front, then taking the dozer blade and attaching to the plates... the twin exhaust systems in the back are spaced almost equidistant by sheer accident, which made me happy... roughly the size of a rhino already, the hip assembly makes for enough of a platform to construct the torso upon...

which brings us to the legs... the initial problem with the defiler's legs is that there are four to a kit, and i wanted this beast to be tall... by ordering a third leg sprue, i was guaranteed more than enough parts to work with, and it worked out very well... the second problem with the defiler legs is that they are sculpted complete, a right and left half on each leg... so i had to sit there and clip, glue, and shave each section's right and left halves together, then glue the sections together until i had 6 legs... as you can see, each leg is composed of 4 separate sections, and took forever to get everything even... there are still blemishes, of course, but that is what green stuff is for, is it not?

also, i went to radio shack tonight and picked up a circuit board, amplifier chip, and a power switch... the board itself is about half a playing card in size, so i have plenty of breathing room to work with when making the torso... also finished at the moment is the twin-link blastmaster, made from the two flail arms of the defiler kits, two dirge casters from the vehicle upgrade sprues, and lots of armor plating... its looking rather prehensile at the moment, and very virile to boot - oh how slaaneshi it is...

i will, thankfully, be able to bypass the "make the circuit" step for now and concentrate on positioning the legs and developing the torso... probably start working up an idea for the arms as well, since i have enough parts to make two of them... but for now, sleep... /post

#017 - subjugator, part 1

what you see is the schematic for my speaker amplifier... total cost to produce, roughly $20 (including the speaker)... picked up some cheap desktop speakers from rite aid today, took them apart and stripped the wires to what i need for later... the best part is the plastic speaker casing will make for a good front torso plate... the warstore shipped out my order, so the extra leg sprue will be here by friday... and tomorrow i get my second defiler kit to start knocking together the hips... pics of that will follow when it is assembled... i should be getting the electronic components by the weekend as well, so the first few steps are already planned for...

on another note, i am also in the final planning stages of building three 4x4 game tables so i don't have to rely on the game room every time i want to play... im tired of having to watch my minis, tired of not having music, tired of distractions, and tired of not being able to drink while i play... also, im tired of using the "game table" they have at the store - static terrain tables are good for tournaments, not for leisure...

also, the fantasy league starts sunday, and i have updated my list - low leadership was killing me in close combat, so i dropped some models and added more orcs... the increased morale and toughness should do much better in close combat, and at the same time i barely had to reduce my shooting (only dropped two bolt throwers in that department)... the black orc boss gives me a nice punch, and throwing a brick of 25 orcs isnt too shabby either... at least now i know i have a plan instead of just marching forward and hoping for the best... /post

#016 - knowing its half a battle

so today saw my first new 40k game of the new year - sisters of battle (me) versus world eaters (victor from the store)... half a game, my favor by the time he had to leave... he had a fairly decent list, but the problem with going against sisters is always the bolter gunline... plus two exorcists... it doesnt pay to stand against them...

so next sunday is the fantasy escalation league, at which the green divas will be strutting up and down the field in their pink finery... i still havent decided if i should orc out my force a little bit (namely by dropping a goblin spear squad and fanatic and replacing), or keeping it all the same... i'll probably come up with another list or two during the week to test out saturday... simple enough task, really...

as for the subjugator, i now put pants back on and head to rite aid to pick up cheap pc speakers to dismantle... wish me luck... /post

#015 - the subjugator of slaanesh

and so, with the plague tower completed, the vulture gunship i received from forge world almost done (2 more guard HK missiles and its ready to prime), and nothing else left to assemble, i find myself without a springtime project... sad, i know...

as it stands now, the weather is improving, so i will be able to actually go outside and prime my fantasy greenskin project, "queer eye for the green guy"... the base of the entire army will be a powder pink spray paint i picked up at home depot, with varying degrees of ink (and in the case of my black orcs, glitter) applied to clothing and armor... oh yes... there will be gay in my collection...

but that is not the purpose of this post, as you can clearly see by the image... this is an update based solely upon metal and muscle... this, dear public, is the announcement that i have already started devising my own subjugator of slaanesh for apocalypse...

this 500 point, 3 structure, super-heavy walker of huggy badness will be based off two complete defiler boxes for most of the parts, as well as a lot of ad-lib construction and random bits for the rest (warstore will appreciate the business for spare parts)... but it doesn't stop there, children... there is one more surprise in store: the subjugator's doom siren will be a functional amplified speaker hooked up to an mp3 player...

i'll let that previous statement sink in for a bit...

as such, i have already found the perfect circuit plan for an amp that runs on a 9v battery, and requires minimal cost investment (already own the soldering equipment)... but enough about that - you want to know how i plan on doing the rest of the beast... so here are the steps i will be taking, in order, to get this project done...

1. lower body/hip assembly - can't build anything without a base to model it on, so the hip assembly must come first...

2. leg assembly x4 - using two kits' worth, plus a third leg sprue from warstore, i can make tri-segmented legs for added height, as well as double-thick for a tougher look...

3. audio amplifier assembly - before i can go any further, i will need to build the circuit on a tiny patch-board and make sure it works, as well as keep it small for the next step... i may or may not attach the speaker at this point...

4. upper body/torso assembly - once i have the size of the circuit finalized, i can begin building the torso around it; the torso will have to fit the mp3 player, 9v battery, circuit, insulation, and speaker... the actual siren cosmetics will be done at this time as well and attached to the chest of the beast... also, this will require creative pinning on my part, as the mp3 player and battery would need to be removable, most likely having the chest swing upward...

5. arm assembly x2 - with two sets of defiler claws, i will make the subjugator arms using the same style as the legs... easy enough...

6. blastmaster assembly - the twin-linked blastmaster will undoubtedly be an original design, and will have the honor of being the beast's giant penis of death, hanging scorpion style between the legs under the hip assembly... that's right... giant penis of death...

7. tormenter cannon assembly x2 - using the two defiler cannons, i plan on mounting them on servo-platforms attached to shoulder armor, a la the predator... this is both aesthetics and functionality at work, giving the beast freedom to target as it pleases and still kill and destroy with the remainder of its weapons...

8. add pieces of flair - this will be the difficult part... i will be modeling green stuff for possessed organic bits, plus already ordered slaanesh marine icons for use on the vehicle... then theres the daemonette banners i still have left over... lots of spiky bits and razor wire wrapped around things... there will also be chains hanging down, but those will not be added until after the final assembly...

9. prime everything separately - there will be a hip section, torso section, 4 legs, 2 arms, 2 shoulder cannons, and a blastmaster... the base color will be a deep magenta, most likely spray paint from home depot again (i saw a very good color for it)...

10. paint everything separately - this bears no explanation, as this is a giant, complex model... it would be silly to try to paint all angles after the fact...

11. final installation before assembly - the speaker would be installed with the amp and player inside the torso...

12. final assembly and spray varnish - legs to hip first, then torso to hip, then arms to torso, then shoulders to arms, then penis to groin, then chains to various locations... after all this, two light coats of spray varnish...

13. open a beer and throw a party - because this is how i roll...

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#014 - valentine's day...

is a horrible holiday for gaming, apparently... it's now 3:45 pm... i've been here at the store since 11:00 am... it has literally been just myself and the employees here... i helped sell the skull pass set and the fantasy paint kit to a guy though... so i guess it's been a good day for gaming... also helped paint over the damage on the foam table here...

so i picked up a box of wood elf wardancers... im not starting a wood elf army, just using them as death cult assassins for my inquisition force... converting all 10 as best i can for preparation in the cash johnson apocalypse league, starting in april...

yup, 5000 points per 'team,' up to 2 people per team, running from april to july... there will be prize support attached to it in july as well, so hooray!! details to follow soon... /post

#013 - new things

so ive been away for a while, and rightfully so... my laptop finally gave out to the forces of the interwebs, got a virus, and will be reformatted for service once more in the army of doom... in related news, i has a new laptop of incredibly tiny proportions, which is what i am currently working on now...

in recent news, i didn't place dead last at my first fantasy tournament... in fact, i placed 10th of 14... lost the first game to vampire counts (a balanced army this time)... won the second game in a sweep against ogre kingdoms... lost the third game in good spirits against orcs & goblins (and coined the phrase "the grot's tots")...

but for relating this blog to the picture, as i often do, i have announced my orcs and goblins shall be participating in the warhammer fantasy escalation league - 1000/1625/2250 respectively... so i tested my 1000 point list against wood elves yesterday...

result: tie, my advantage by 55 pt

my list had a lot to do with it... at so little points, i figured the only way i was going to survive was to maximize my troops, and i did... 131 night goblins and 4 spear chukkas... my list does not need to change ;) /post

#012 - death and beasts

so how did i fare against vampires? incredibly well, considering i was using beasts - i lasted 5 full turns against an army i should have fled from immediately...

things i did right:
- units that cause fear and have frenzy dont need fear checks
- taking 2 trios of nurgle minotaurs because they dont die
- keeping the doombull within 12" of units i knew would break

things i did wrong:
- keeping linebreakers near hound packs, which caused panic checks
- not marching my bestigors up further
- warhounds dont pack enough punch at 10x each

the main problem with facing the vampire army i did was it happened to be a cheese list... 2 units of zombies, some dire wolves, 5 blood knights, cairn wraiths with a banshee, 2 corpse carts... then a vampire lord, 2 vampire heroes, and a wight king in one unit of skeletons... with a battle standard... and a banner of regeneration... that brick was impossible to damage...

all in all, i feel my list should hold up well against armies that dont cause blanket fear or have blanket immune to psychology... i think im going to split up my warhounds so i can have three packs instead of two - the rank bonus really doesnt help unless i take more of them or attack smaller units... possibly throw my doombull into one of the minotaur trios, since i now have two of them to work with... ill keep looking over what i can trim and replace with... still have two weeks left to go... /post

#011 - practice, round one

well, it could have been worse - at least i wasn't crushed in the second turn (just the third)... the list i had was fast, and it was hard hitting... but against an all khorne chaos warrior list, with a giant and a shaggoth included, it just wasn't hard or fast enough... also, i changed my list at the last moment to test the effectiveness of a great bray shaman - it wasn't, so i won't be doing that again...

on a positive note, i learned a few things about my army while losing:

1. beast herds make better screens than charge units, even if you have a lot of them
2. spread the brute squads out more in the front line, since they need more room to move
3. take more squads, period
4. use natural speed to my advantage and engage their line by turn 2

so i dropped the ogre bulls from the list, as they didn't see any combat until the end, and that was getting charged by 2 marauder horsement... dropped the great bray shaman and threw the doombull back in there... swap some magic items around so the regular shaman has two dispel scrolls... and now the new list looks like:

- doombull
- wargor of khorne, 26 beastmen
- wargor of nurgle, 26 beastmen
- bray shaman, lv 2
- 15 khorngors
- 15 bestigors, vitriolic totem (poisoned attacks)
- 10 warhounds
- 10 warhounds
- 3 minotaurs of nurgle
- 3 minotaurs of nurgle
- 3 dragon ogres

this should perform rather nicely for general purposes... we'll see how tomorrow's fight against the vampires works out... /post

#010 - failure

i have failed myself... im not proud of the fact, but it happened... i was not able to finish my sisters in time, so i did not go to the tournament... standards, you know... i wasnt about to travel out of state with an army that was mostly primer white, and still missing 6 models (something else entirely wrong) on the hope that because i drove so far they'd let me play anyway... i wanted to play with an army i could be proud of, but without the pride there was no army... some people i know don't understand how the whole "i have pride in my paint" works because they don't paint... poo on them... painting is just as much a part of the game as the dice are...

in any event, i now have 20 days to play test, modify and paint my beasts of chaos for a 2250 fantasy tournament... as of right now i have a good theoryhammer list:

- doombull (general)
- wargor of khorne w/ 25 beastmen
- wargor of nurgle w/ 25 beastmen
- bray shaman, lv2
- 3 minotaurs of nurgle
- 25 khorngors
- 10 warhounds
- 10 warhounds
- 3 dragon ogres
- 6 ogre bulls (for the impact hits)

of course, with almost 3 weeks to train, this list will probably see one or two revisions as time goes on... tomorrow night i have a battle against the new chaos warriors, and wednesday should be a magic heavy vampire counts list with a rumored 2 vargulfs... luckily i have extra shamans for that battle should i need them... something tells me i will lol... /post