All your bases belong to me!

Well after deciding on how to base my Paladins of Steel army I thought I will share how I am making the bases - in a surprisingly quick and effective manner.

First off I brought some scenic kits

Cut to fit base

Now cut/trim/file the plastic scenic piece to size of base

Paint as you see fit!

Now repeat X number of times!

Simples!

And don't forget to visit my my friend's blog!

The Paladins of Steel: Building the Chaplain

Remember my crazy dreadnought army.

Well with there being so few models in the army (30/31), it's the sort of one I can do literally one model at a time, so here's my Chaplain for the "Paladin's of Steel" made using purely plastic bits from various kits (mainly BA and DA)

I need to finish the helmet and level it off with Green stuff and files but I want to show him off :)

Once my Space Wolves are finished I can't wait to get my hands on the Lovely new Furiouso/Death Company/Librarian Dreadnought kit!!

Army Update/Filler post

I was going to post something else on Sunday or Monday but something else has popped up in real life so here's my 1,750 point army so far - roughly 60%ish done, sorry about the rushed nature of the pics, but reality calls.

Choosers of the Slain

Hi everyone,

One big bone of contention for many Space Wolf players is where to a get a model to represent a Rune Priest's Chooser of the Slain, and if the only place you can play is you local GW then you are limited to GW models (give or take the odd generous manager).

Well for me (and hopefully you) the search is over!

High Elf Giant Eagles - but Warmaster ones!
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat490078a&prodId=prod1130088

At £8.70 for 3 they are a decent price and for 3 should keep most Rune Priest heavy armies happy.

New Year, New Models

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had a good Christmas/Yule/Dinner too!

Today I have a few models I've been working on, some Wolf Scouts using the Scouts from the Land Speeder Storm kit as well as two Wolf Guard with combi-weapons. You may also notice some Forgeworld Space Marine Character Conversion kit bits in amongst them too. It's a nice set of Umbra style bolt pistols, bionics and special weapons.

First off 4 Wolf Scouts, these are Scouts using the Land Speeder Storm sprue, and some IG bits too:

Wolf Scout armed with a Melta Gun

Simple converted Scout with Hand Weapon and holsted pistol

Scout with Bionic arm on a crate

Surprised/resting scout on Container

Wolf Guard with Combi-flamer and bolt pistol

Wolf Guard with Combi-melta and bolt pistol

So a few conversions that I like. I just hope I can give them a decent enough paint job.

Till next time!!!

Playtesting 101

Well after seeking some advice from Kirby and the idea of dropping a couple of Grey Hunters and a Rune priest for 2 Razorbacks with Lascannons and twin linked plasma guns for the Long Fangs seems quite obvious now (Yay for hindsight!)

So this means some play testing. Now play testing should be a piece of piss for me, as those of you who know me should know that I use to be a computer games tester for Free Radical Design before they went bust. I did not work on this. Honest. No sirree George.

 
Anywayyyyyyyyyyy...................... 

while at work today during a quite period I started to write down to pros and cons of each group:

1 Rune Priest + 3 Grey hunters vs 2 Las-plas-backs (Lascannons, TL Plasma gun Razorback).


So the Pros for a Rune Priest and 3 Grey Hunters are:

Pros:

• Psychic Defence
• 2 Psychic Powers (living Lightning + X) 
• Runic Weapon
• +3 Scoring Bodies
•  Need 3/4 Shots/hits to kill off
• Flexible - can shoot stuff and assault stuff

 Cons:

• Vulnerable to small arms (lasguns, bolters etc)
• Can fail important leadership test
• Grey Hunters only have standard kit
• Rune Priest can be shut down by enemy psykers

And for 2 Razorbacks:

Pros:

• Has an armour value so is pretty much immune to small arms fire
• Can move and fire a heavy weapon
• Lascannon and TL Plasma guns gives me much needed Long Range Ap2 fire
• Can't be locked in assault
• Can tank shock and ram
• Is a spare transport for other grey hunter units if their Rhinos get wrecked
• Can get my Long Fangs into good spots in Dawn of War set ups
• Have a 1/3 chance of being destroyed thanks to the damage chart (1/2 vs melta/Ap1)
• Can insta kill MEQ characters.

Cons:

• Can be killed in one lucky shot
• Low armour value
• Hard to give a cover save to
• I have no experience in using them! (note to self: this is what play testing is for dip shit)
• Must be stationary to fire at full effect

At the moment it seems like a decisive victory for the Razorbacks so far, but we have to consider the rest of the army these units are working with:

2 More Rune Priests, 2 Full unit of Grey Hunters with melta and Rhinos, 2 small units of Grey hunters with Rhinos and wolf guard, 2 units of Wolf Scouts with melta guns, and combi melta Wolf Guard, 2 Units of Long Fangs with Missile Launchers, 3 Land Speeders with Multi Meltas and Heavy Flamers.

So 2 Rune Priests offer up a lot of psychic pandemonium already a 3rd is more fun but it would mean 2 in a rhino and reducing that Rhino's Grey Hunters to mere passengers as the Priests "psych out" of the hatch.

I can't see 3 more scoring bodies going that much further, granted I bet there will be times where I rue not having them there but being in the right place at the right time is more important.

2 more vehicles to join a mass of rhinos and land speeders will/should/could help dilute enemy anti-tank fire - this has certainly been the case with my Imperial Guard in the past.

The added Lascannons can take some of the Anti Tank/monstrous creature weight off my poor long fangs and they are mobile too. Then add in the Twin linked plasma guns for when they hit 24" range and rapid fire at 12" then it looks good. Also they add so much needed AP2 fire power out side the 12"/24" my melta weapons.

So I will definitely get 2 Razorbacks and play test around with them and see what works and dose not work, so a slightly reworked list will look something like this:

HQ (210)

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain = 110

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf = 100

Elites (292)

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80

4 Wolf Guard (2x Power fist, 4 Combi Meltas) = 132

Troops (655)

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180

Rhino = 35

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180

Rhino = 35

5 Grey Hunters, 1 Melta Gun, = 80

Rhino = 35

5 Grey Hunters, 1 Flamer = 75

Rhino = 35

Fast Attack (210)

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Heavy Support (380)

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115

Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Gun = 75

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115

Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Gun = 75

1747

Till next time folks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Army building on the cheap and me

For those of you who know me personally will know that I have spent the last 2 years in and out of employment due to the rescission and George Lucas. (I have a job now so no worries any more). So trying to continue gaming and building a army has been hard.


The best sources I have found for building a cheap army are:


E-bay - I got super cheap Space Marine scouts still on the frame, and some bits to repair tanks etc.
(This is quite obvious for most savvy gamers nowadays)

Webstores - Cheaper Space Wolf Pack box sets
(Most have a good 10-15% discount on normal high street prices)

Trading - see examples below (This oddly has been my main source)

Your old armies - see below (If you have been gaming as long as I have then you have some old minis knocking around)


Most folk know of good web stores like Firestorm Games, Wayland Games,and Malestrom Games, as well as e-baying little Timmy's old marine army.


For my Space Wolves I have traded bits for bits. I have gotten a Land Speeder for my old Dark Angels Codex, a Rhino for a truck load of Imperial Guard tank accessories, a few Space Marines bikers for the metal Bjorn the Fell Handed Dreadnought, as well as bits for other bits (arms, weapons etc).


Some popular forums now have trading areas but as with internet activity buyer beware. 40kforoldmen, 40kforums, and Warseer all have trade areas, and I guess many others do too.


My last source for cheap gaming is old models and armies. My Space Wolves are probably 70% recycled from my old Space Marine army - the Sons of Aran, or as they are more commonly know as - The Tic Tacs (hence my username). I did this by stripping down my old Space Marines of paint and where possible break the models up in to sections (arms, legs, torso etc) though to be honest quite a few fel to bits in the stripping process!

So a Space Marine went from this:

8 Year old Metroid fan boy to....

To this: (a very unfinished Space Wolf):

.......... badass Space Viking!

So what has been recycled in the above model?

Legs, Shoulder pads, and the back pack.

I have some models where it's all old Space Marine parts except for the Space Wolf head, or the legs, or just the arms. Some models are purely Space Wolf. It's a credit to the sheer number of bits you get in the Space Wolves pack set that you can kit bash so much.

While mixing the 2 sets of kits I kept to (vaguely) strict system of the more senior the Space Wolf the more "wolfy" bits which kind of fits the background as they acquire talismans, honours and such things over time. So my Blood Claws are quite plain with only a few Space Wolf bits, and my Grey Hunters have a larger selection of Space Wolf bits - mainly weapons, torso, legs.

Using the above guideline I have made 2 Space Wolf pack box sets and my old Space Marines to make over 60 Grey Hunters, 20 Blood Claws and a few Wolf Guard!

I would like to thanks those who I have traded bits with over the last few months:

The Student (40kforoldmen)
TheUnnamableOne (that's really his name) (40kforoldmen)
Kingfig (40kforoldmen)
edmundblack (40kforoldmen, 40kforums.com)

My poor abused fingers for stripping models!


Lasty I would like to thanks those of you who have helped me personally during my unemployment - Suzie W, Suzanne T, Mook, Tom (thanks for asking me to be your best man!) and the rest of "Da Wot Notts", Lucy and Ken, my family, and my girl friend Lucy.

Evolution of the Army List

Well I had my first two games at 1,750pts yesterday. It's a bit of a strange points cost for me as my friends and I tend to play 1,500, 2,000 or Apocalypse.

So I wrote a list with models that I have (bar 2) and this is what I used yesterday:

HQ (315)

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Saga of the Beast Slayer = 110

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Storm Caller, Wolf Tail talisman = 105

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf= 100

Elites (204)

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun = 85

3 Wolf Guard, 2x Power fist + Combi Melta, 1 x Wulfen = 119

Troops (820)

10 Grey hunters, 2 Plasma Guns, Wulfen, Wolf Standard = 185

10 Grey hunters, 1 Flamer, 1 Plasma Gun, Wulfen, Wolf Standard = 175

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon = 195

Rhino = 35

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon = 195

Rhino = 35

Fast Attack (230)

Land Speeder Typhoon, Heavy Bolter = 90

Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Heavy Support (180)

4 Long Fangs, 3 Missile Launchers = 90

4 Long Fangs, 3 Missile Launchers = 90

1749

In my first game I played my friend Liam's Eldar. He had:

Eldrad and Seer Council in a Wave Serpent with TL Shuirkan Cannons and hull mounted cannon too.

A Farseer with Guide

2 War Walkers with 2 Missile Launchers each.

11 Storm Guardians, 2 Fusion Guns, Warlock with Enhance and a Wave Serpeant as above.

Guardian Defenders, Bright Lance, Warlock with Conceal.

7/8 Striking Scorpions with Exarch with twin chain sabres.

2 Vibro Cannons

Game was Capture and Control (1 objective each) with Spearhead deployment (Table Quaters).

In other words the classic "draw" scenario that plays in to a fast army's hands (ie Eldar)

Liam reserved his whole army so the first 2 turns nothing really happened. His army turned up on turn 3 (nasty). Short of the story was that Liam hasn't played in a while and was in a "6 turn game" mind set so didn't have my objective contested and just wasn't close enough to hold his, so when he rolled for turn the game ended in 5 and he lost.

So a bit of a hollow victory to be honest but if there was to be another turn he would of lost the last of his scoring units more than likely, and I might have his objective while mine is contested (dice permitting).

2nd Game was against my friend Ben's Imperial Guard. I'm a BIG guard player myself so I know his bag of tricks and what's to come. He had:

Primaris Psyker

2 Squads of Veterans with 3 Plasma Guns, Lascannon, in a Chimera with 2 Heavy Bolters

2 Squads of Veterans with 3 Melta Guns, Lascannon

2 Vendettas, with Heavy Bolter Sponsons (Melta Vets ride in these)

2 Leman Russ Demolishers with 3 Heavy Bolters

2 Banewolves

Mission wise we got a good old fashioned slaughter - Pitched Battle, Annihilation.

All my melta guns did jack shit (3 missed, and one rolled snake eyes for penetration). But Living Lightning 3 times over and the Land Speeder Typhoons missiles did a lot of damage. Ben squeezed out a 7-5 win by getting his last 2 KP in the last turn.

So what have I leanred?

Well vs the Eldar, Rune priests are so damm good. I didn't get many powers off due the Runes of Warding, but when I did stuff died. But on the upside 4+ to stop psychic powers reduced Eldrad's effectiveness massively - he only got off 2 out of 8 attempted powers.

Wolf Banners and Mark of the Wulfen ruin most people's days. In a combat vs the Striking Scorpions the banner reduced my casualties by 50% and when the Wulfen rolls a 1 for his number of attacks *bang* re-roll that, oh look its a good roll (4). And vs Toughness 3 my 5 Marines where wounding on a 3+ re-rolling 1's!

Vs the Imperial Guard:

I need to mech up everyone, or they are going to sit still and do nothing and probably die - even if I'm going to camp on a objective all game.

Again Living Lightning kicks ass, but I could do with some Choosers of the Slain to beef up the Rune Priests roll's to hit as I did roll a lot of 2's.

Take a page for the Guard book, send 2 units to do 1 units job. I sent my melta units in piece meal and they paid the price.

If I'm going to take wolf scouts then I should take 2 units (or 3) or none at all. As in both games the unit rolled poorly for their out flank and either died vs the Eldar or did nothing vs the IG. - Again goes back to 2 units doing 1 units job.

So after some note taking and some tinkering around this is the list I want to try next but I lack the extra 2 Rhinos, a melta gun or 2 and 2 missile launchers, and a Land Speeder:

HQ (315)

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain = 110

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Storm Caller, Wolf Tail Talisman = 105

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf = 100 

Elites (292)

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun =80

4 Wolf Guard (2x Power fist, 4 Combi Meltas) = 132

Troops (700)

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180

Rhino = 35

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen = 180

Rhino = 35

6 Grey Hunters, 1 Melta Gun, Mark of the Wulfen =110

Rhino = 35

5 Grey Hunters, 1 Flamer, Mark of the Wulfen =90

Rhino = 35

Fast Attack (210)

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer = 70

Heavy Support (230)

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers = 115

1747

I feel its better, I've basically dropped a few men and power weapons for transports, scouts, and wolf guard.

On the painting side of things I've 'dipped' 90% of the models now in the Army painter strong tone varnish and they look pretty nice even in a half arsed state. So I just to renovate 2 Land Speeders, buy a 3rd, 2 Rhinos, and some melta guns and I'm good.