A few years ago I painted a fleet of ships for a charity auction at a game convention out East. I volunteered to paint another fleet this year and was give a fleet of Tin Men ships from Ravenstar Studio.
These ships have a robotic crew, so I wanted to make sure they had a look that matched that idea. In my head, this group of ships has been assigned a guard post in a distant nebula and have been stationed there for millennia. The constant exposure to the corrosive elements in the nebula have taken their toll on the ships and they show the wear and tear. (I know this may not make scientific sense, but it sounded good in my head).
The ships have interesting designs and I was happy with the paint scheme. I hope whomever won them at the auction enjoy them and put them to good use.
Epic Warhammer 40,000 holds a special place in my heart. The models are fantastic and the scale allows you to play truly "epic" battles.
With the new release of Adeptus Titanicus from Games Workshop, I decided I need to dust off some of my old models and paint a few things up. The new edition uses a different scale and currently only has Imperial forces (loyal and traitor), but I figure I can use my old models and make some adjustments to use Orks and Eldar as well. I will probably just use the rules as written and substitute some appropriate Ork (or Eldar) models for the battle.
First up in this project were a few Stompas that could serve as knights in Adeptus Titanicus. These can also just be used as themselves in my existing Ork army that I can use for Epic 40k, LaserStorm, Future War Commander, Horizon Wars, or any other game I decided to use them with.
I've always been a fan of Epic Warhammer 40,000. The models are great and you can play massive games in this scale without losing the ability to maneuver.
I've got a fair amount of models painted for my Space Marine army and after watching an army showcase video on a fellow YouTuber's channel, I thought I would show off my army.
Here you can see my painted Space Marines. I need to paint more for sure, but this is still a nice looking force (if I do say so myself).
Predators
Dreadnoughts
Razorbacks
Devastator Squads
Land Raider and Terminators
Bikes and Attack Bike
Assault Squads
Tactical Squads
Land Speeder
Hunter
Rhino
Vindicator
Whirlwind
Commander
Sub-Commander
I will do another army showcase soon showing off my Epic 40K Orks.
A friend has encouraged our gaming group to start playing Relicblade. This is a fun game that plays on a 2' x 2' board and each player only has a handful of models. So far, it has been a lot of fun.
The game has rules for different terrain types, so I thought I would try my hand at doing a cave board. I thought about doing stalagmites and stalactites, but I was under a deadline and I wasn't sure my skills were up to it. Instead I went with a more basic look. I'm pleased with the results and only have a few more minor details I plan to add.
My friend Bill picked up the second edition box of Deadzone and wants to try this game out. I've got a copy of the first edition and a fair amount of terrain, but never put any of it together or painted any of it.
This game needs terrain so I thought I would assemble a building and do a test run on a color scheme to see how it looks. I want something that will be easy and quick to paint, but still looks good on the table.
I sprayed the pieces with a black primer and then sprayed them with a medium grey. I think I ended up putting a heavier coat of grey than I wanted, but they still look alright.
After this was dry, I masked off a small section and used a foam sponge to apply some yellow to the wall sections.
I painted the beams on industrial sections with black and then dry-bushed them silver.
I assembled the pieces and am pleased with the look. I think I will used some different colors for future buildings so there is some variation on the table.
I think for the next building I will try to sponge the grey onto the black to see how that looks. I'm not sure about the time it will take to paint them that way, but they might have a better look.
I think I will be able to paint a fair number of buildings pretty quickly which is always a good thing.
Round of Fire is a game that is currently in development. I have been given the opportunity to help a little with play testing the game.
The game does not have a specific period or genre attached to it, so you can play the game with lots of different models: Old West, Pulp, WW2, Sci-Fi, etc. I'm not sure how well it would work with a fantasy setting, but you never know.
After a read through of the rules, I generally like what I see. There are some interesting mechanics and I was very interested in the activation mechanic.
Each unit has a token on the turn wheel. When a unit activates, it progresses on the turn wheel a number of "steps" based upon the action it has taken. A walk (moving 2 grid spaces) costs 3 steps for most units, while a run (moving 3 grid spaces) costs 5 steps for most units. Shooting costs 3 steps for an Elite fireteam, but costs 5 steps for a Regular fireteam.
I like how this sounded and found it to work well in the game as well. I liked the idea that if you are taking quick actions, or are well trained, you can act more often than a team that is doing a more complicated/lengthy action.
The game also allows for use of suppressing fire to push units along the activation wheel. With this action you can delay an enemy unit's activation. This adds some interesting tactical choices and means that sometimes you will be shooting at another unit without the chance of killing anyone, but it still has a useful purpose.
After playing the game, I am not impressed with the combat mechanic. It seems to be more complicated than it needs to be, but this is just my first game. Your fire is based on the weapon you are equipped with the range to the target and if there is any cover. That is straight forward enough, but then target gets a save and that is where the process starts to break down. The target gets to roll 1 die for each hit made on them, but then can add dice for their toughness value as well as dice for their armor, but then the Armor Penetration of the weapon reduced the dice added from the armor. A 5+ on each dice is needed to shrug off the hit. In my game, almost every model had the same weapon (aside from a few machine guns, that didn't get to fired much) so it wasn't that difficult to keep track of this, but if you have a wide variety of equipment (and the game has a pretty wide variety of equipment available) this could become much more cumbersome. If the models doesn't save from the hits, then they are wounded. However, you have to calculate of how wounded they are so you can see their status from the fire. When a model is knocked out, he can be killed, bleeding, or unconcious. So know you take 3 die and add dice based on the models toughness, but you reduce that pool based on any excess wounds received by the model. So if he failed to save 2 wounds and only had 1 wound to start with, he has taken 1 excess wound so reduced his dice pool by one. You roll those dice and based on how many successes you get, you determine the level of injury.
These different levels affect the victory points for different factions (which is interesting and adds some character and variation to the different factions) but adds another level of rolling to each round of combat.
I'm not sure how to simplify the process and I will try to think of something to offer to the designers, but at this point, it just feels cumbersome and I would like to see a more streamlined process.
Overall, I did enjoy the game and think there are some very cool things going on in these rules. I look forward to trying out the different factions to see how they work and using a bigger variety of troops and specialists.
The Reticulans took command of this battle field. They eliminated all but one model of the Earth Alliance forces and managed to take control of most of the objectives. They did all this with only the loss of a few soldiers. The Earth Alliance will need to rethink their troop selection and equipment before the next engagement.
I had the chance to play a few games of a recent addition to my game collection recently, Airfix Battles: An Introductory Game.
As the name says, this is an introductory game and has fairly simple mechanics. However, the game still offers some challenging decisions for the players.
The box comes with rules and scenarios, two double sided grid-based maps, dice, a deck of command cards, a deck of unit cards, and card board tokens to represent your troops. They suggest you replace the tokens with Airfix models, but you can use any models you have, or just use the tokens provided.
I've made use of some Battlefront models that I already have painted for my Americans, and am using some 15mm robotic forces to stand in for the German forces.
This game uses a deck of command cards that offer special actions the players can make use of, interrupts so you can react to the enemies actions, or the cards can be used as a basic move, shoot or reinforce if you don't want to use the special action. These add a degree of "fog of war" in that you don't know what you are going to be able to pull off from turn to turn.
The rule book includes solo rules with an AI that uses the cards drawn to dictate its actions. I have found it enjoyable to play against and look forward to playing more games.
I have finished the project and the models are going in the mail. I hope these go to a good home and make a few dollars for the Toys for Tots folks.
I decided to magnetize the sides of the dreadnought. I was worried about it breaking during shipping and I thought it might be fun to add a little flair. It isn't a perfect job, but not too bad for my first effort (other than turrets).
After using my Space Marines for a GASLIGHT in space game several weeks ago, I realized I need to get more painted up. Now that I have finished my Goblin army for Kings of War, I'm ready for a new project and I think I'm going to work on expanding the Space Marines.
Some time ago, I ordered some sponsons and turrets from Shapeways that will turn a regular Rhino into a Predator. So I pulled them out of storage and got to work on some models. I also want to add some regular Rhinos and a few Whirlwinds. The whirlwind launchers from also came from Shapeways.
I cut plasticard to make a riser for the turret to sit on so it has clearance over the bolters.
The bottom has been painted and they are ready for the tops to get the base coat.. I use painters tape to keep these from flying away when I paint them.
Not bad progress for a couple hours of work. I'll post updates as I make more progress.
To Commandar Krause of the Dark Lion Space Marine Chapter
The planetary government of Antia has stopped distribution
of agro supplies to the Imperial collectors.
Repeated attempts to reinstate the delivery of these supplies have
failed.
Review of available data has shown this planet and its
government has significant similarities with others that have come under the
influence of Chaos. There seems to be a
86.42% chance that there is a large chaos cultist influence on the government
and its population. It is important
to note that there are significant deviations from previous experiences with
the corrupting influence of the dark gods.
At this time, though the deviations cannot be explained so we must
assume that you will face forces of the dark gods.
Scans of the planet show a PDF contingent deployed around an
agro processing/storage plant. You will
deploy your forces to the south of this plant and then advance on through a
wooded area and destroy the opposition.
Any data you collect regarding the corrupting influence should be
forwarded on to fleet command for further review and analysis.
Supreme Commander Darius
Quote of the Day:
Adamantium walls and plasteel bulkheads may seem formidable, but an
unshakeable faith in the Immortal Emperor of Man can overcome any barriers.
++++++ Message
End ++++++
My group and I played another game of GASLIGHT using my collection of Epic 40k models.
This game took place a few months ago and I failed to write anything up for the game, so I'm afraid, I don't have many details of the game for you. However, I did take a few pictures so will at least be able to share a bit of eye candy.
The original transmission stated that there was some Chaos taint among the local population, but it turned out that it was actually a Genestealer cult and the invasion of Tyranid forces was already underway.
The Tyranid forces in this game came on kind of piece-meal, so they didn't put up much of a fight for the Marines. And when the Terminators teleported into the middle of the Guard lines, the game was over pretty quickly.
I need to make some adjustments to stats for our next game, but I think this was a fun game and I look forward to the next engagement.
Hopefully, I will get some more Guard and Tyranid models painted before then as well.
