Death Company WIP

What do you do when you can't sleep at night?  Build models!  I recently used pieces from two Death Company box to build some Vanguard Veterans and had quite a few left over bits.  Combining those plus some bits from the bits box, I was able to put together this unit of ten DC.  Two are armed with power fists while the rest are chainswords and bolt pistols.  I will probably pick another box up eventually and build a few of the other options out, like infernus pistols and such, and the kit has tons of great bits for conversions and special characters.  The backpacks will be magnetized and have the option for jump packs as well.  I'm going to paint my DC in a white color scheme rather than the black that is traditionally in Blood Angels armies.

Battle of Epsilon Corvi

Battle of Epsilon Corvi - Mission 2.

Initial board setup

Lamenters Deployment

Tyranids Deployment

Additional Deployment

Flying Hive Tyrant moving forward first turn

Assault Squad getting assaulted after flaming Genestealers

Lamenters advancing forward

Mephiston taking on last Zoanthrope and two Genestealers

Mission: The Scouring (6 random objectives, fast attack scoring)

Deployment: Vanguard Strike (Diagonal)
Points: 1750 (kind of)

Lamenters list is here.

The Tyranid list is below.  Sadly there was a mistake on the expected points value, and the Tyranids were only 1500 points.  This definitely skewed the game in my favor.

HQ:
Hive Tyrand (wings)

Troops:
8 Genestealers (toxin sacs)
1 Broodlord

8 Genestealers  (toxin sacs)
1 Broodlord

24 Hormaguants (adrenal glands, toxin sacs)

Fast:
12 Gargoyles (adrenal glands, toxin sacs)

1 Harpy

Elite:
2 Zoanthropes
2 Zoanthropes

Heavy:
Trygon Prime

Tyranids had first turn and they slowly advanced up the middle.  Nervous about the flamers in the front of my army, they tried to stay back a little, but not far enough, as the flamers were able to move in and wipe out one of the units of Genestealers.  A couple marines got killed by the force dome psychic power as there shots  bounced back.

The next turn the Gargoyles, Hormaguants and Trygon wiped out the two squads.  The free overwatch hits with the flamer managed to thin out the Gargoyles pretty well, but didn't do much to the larger creatures.  The other unit of Genestealers assaulted an assault marine squad in cover, and with the lack of grenades, were fairly ineffective.  The Vanguard Vets came in and assaulted a unit of Zoanthropes and killed one, while Mephiston made a huge 10" charge and killed the Trygon, Mephiston with Iron Arm and Warp Speed made him super nasty in combat.

Third turn the Hormaguants charged into Mephiston and managed to bring him down to one wound but the Sanguinary Guard joined in and wiped the unit out.  The flyrant charged into the vanguard veterans and killed two, but the return attacks finished off the big bug.  The genestealers lost combat and ran, though they managed to get into cover.

Fourth turn was mostly re-positioning and the movement toward objectives.  While a few smaller combats finished up.  Going into the last turn the Tyranids were down to the Harpy, one Zoanthropes, and a couple Genestealers.  Mephiston was stuck in combat with the Zoanthrope and genestealers, and an assault squad managed to ground the Harpy and the TH/SS Terminators pounced on it out of the Land Raider.  The game ended on turn 5 with a great victory to the Lamenters.  They of course had a huge upper hand since they were playing with 250 more points!  Always check lists before you start a game.

The game was a blast, and we have two more missions in our mini-campaign.  Learned a bunch of stuff about 6th edition and the army, and I'm really enjoying the new mechanics and play-style.  We played with mysterious objectives this game, and they really didn't have any impact on the game.  Even the sabotaged one never blew up the entire game.  We never remembered challenges, and I keep forgetting to throw grenades, something I've been wanting to try and always forget!  Can't wait for another game.

Invasion of Epsilon Corvi - Mission 2

The strike force has been readied.  They deploy tomorrow to cleanse the bio pools the filthy Tyranids have established on the world of Epsilon Corvi.  The objectives must be destroyed or there is real danger of losing this world.  After action report will be given tomorrow.  This will be the second game in a small narrative campaign Michael and I are playing.  Really excited to get a game in, and as a bonus all of the models I will be using are fully painted!

HQ:    1 Mephiston, Lord of Death

Troops: 
Assault Squad
7 Assault Marines   
2 Assault Marines with Flamers   
1 Sergeant (Power Fist)

Assault Squad   
7 Assault Marines   
2 Assault Marines with Flamers   
1 Sergeant (Power Fist)

Elite:
Sanguinary Priests   
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour (Jump Pack)   
1 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Sanguinary Guard   
5 Sanguinary Guard (Chapter Banner)

Terminator Assault Squad
5 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield   
1 Land Raider Crusader (Multi-melta)

Fast Attack: 
Vanguard Veteran Squad   
1 Sergeant (Jump Pack; Power Fist)   
4 Vanguard Veteran (Jump Pack)

Allies Incoming - Tau Hammerhead

My first Tau model is finished up and ready to ally with the Eldar.  Really excited with how it turned out and love the Mymeara color scheme on these guys.  I'm getting better at doing the black-lining.  My process now is to gloss varnish the model and then use a heavy black wash in the crevices.  You can wipe off any over-spillage with a wet paper towel and it flows into the cracks nicely.  After it dries I apply a matte varnish spray to take the shininess away.  Can't wait to see more of the Eldar and Tau models in the color scheme.

Painting a Storm Raven

So with one Storm Raven down, I figure I should learn a few things from the first build and painting that I could really do a better paint job, with much less effort.  The first thing was not gluing everything together, rather do sub assemblies that can be combined when the majority of the painting work was done.  So I built the wings, engines, and hull separately and then primed and airbrushed the base coat.  I'm much better with the airbrush now as well, and the finish on this one is much better.  I'm using Vallejo GC Heavy Ochre as my base color (thinned down about 1:1).

I also masked off a couple parts of the model that will have the checkered pattern on it.  I used blue painters tape, and then cut squares out and laid out in the area to do the black.  Much easier than free-handing all of them, though I will need to go do some cleanup.  I'm planning on adding more black and red details to break up the yellow and give it some nice contrast.  This model is also magnetized, and I made sure the polarity lined up with the other Storm Raven so I won't have to keep the different bits separate from each other.  The result should be finishing the model in a fraction of the time, to a higher quality.

Calix Loke - Sanguinary Priest

Calix Loke is one of the oldest members of the Lamenters Sanguinary Priesthood.  Entrusted with one of only two suits of Terminator Armor that the priesthood possesses, he will generally lead one of the chapters few Terminator squads into battle.  Tasked with keeping the chapters Terminators fighting, he has helped them overcome insurmountable odds to keep the struggling chapter alive.

Sanguniary Terminator WIP

Did some work on the Sanguinary Priest Terminator model made out of a Grey Knight Terminator.  Still need to clean up and do the power sword, but it came together super quickly and much better than any previous attempt at a white figure.  Followed Ron's guide on From the Warp here.  I'm going to eventually go back and repaint the other priest that I did using this awesome method.  

Painted Lamenters Army

 

After finishing some stuff up this afternoon I figured I would put the army together to see what I have finished to see what kind of army I could run.  To my surprise I have 2500+ points done!  While not the most effective army in the world, I can run a nice fully painted army at a variety of point values now!

HQ's:

1x Mephiston

1x Reclusiarch in Power Armor

1x Reclusiarch in Terminator Armor

Elites:

5x TH/SS Terminators

1x Sanguniary Priest w/ Jumppack

5x Sanguinary Guard

1x Furioso Dreadnought

Troops:

20x Assault Marines

Fast:

1x Baal Predator

5x Vanguard Vetarans (could be run as DC or Honor Guard)

Heavy:

1x Storm Raven

1x Vindicator

Land Raider Finished!

I finished up the Land Raider last night and put the matte varnish down this morning.  There are areas that could be improved, but I'm happy with it so far and I think it makes a nice center piece to the army.  Really happy with adding more black to it to break up the yellow.  I'll probably be doing this for other vehicles in the army as well.  Still need to come up with a good name for it though.

Lamenters Land Raider WIP

 

 

 

A few pictures of the Land Raider I'm working on and the guys who ride inside.  I've been enjoying jumping back and forth between my two armies and working on terrain, it keeps me from burning out on painting particular color.  Really happy with how the Land Raider is coming, just need to do some touch ups and do the black-lining.  Most everything is magnetized so it can be run as a Crusader or Redeemer.  

I am also building another LR that I got for my birthday as well.  I imagine a list where I run two of them, one with TH/SS Terminators and the other full of Death Company.  Shove that down the middle and it should pretty much take care of anything.  Also armor 14 seems like it could be a little more survivable in this edition, but we will see.

Tau Hammerhead WIP

The Eldar are receiving reinforcements.  With the new Allies rules, I pulled some Tau stuff out of the garage that I've had for a while.  I found part of a Tau mega-force box at Value Village a few years back and have been holding on to them until I had the resources or desire to build a Tau force.  Well with the new ally system I don't need much to get a small force of Tau to supplement the Eldar.  I've decided to just paint in the same color scheme as the Mymeara Eldar to keep a nice cohesive look.  I have no plans on growing them beyond maybe a 1000 points or so for use in Ally games.  I really enjoy the aesthetics of the Tau tanks, the battlesuits, on the other hand, are a little too clunky looking.  I like what Forge World have done with the battlesuits, but can't afford that sort of thing right now, especially for a secondary force.  I should be able to finish this guy up this week, and also have a Land Raider on the table that will hopefully get finished as well.

Editing Miniature Photos with Gimp

I watched this nice video on editing your photos to better display miniature online.  I'm most definitely not a graphic designer, but this is simple enough that I can follow.  I just need to assemble some sort of light box to improve my photos.  I'll be trying this out soon!

Wraithseer WIP #2

Broke the airbrush out last night after finishing the assembly up on the Wraithseer and put the base coats down.  One thing I love about this army is how fast you can paint it, while having it still look nice.  Still need to do the ten trillion gems and other detail work.  I'm going to do the spear blade and shield with the airbrush in some nice purples when it's dried enough to mask off.  Will be putting snow on the base as well.

 

 

Wraithseer Conversion WIP

I finished up my conversion for a Wraithseer for my Mymeara Eldar.  It was not too difficult and I'm really pleased with the result.  The base is just a plastic Wraithlord kit and a D-cannon from a Support Weapon platform.  The spear is made out of the wraithsword cut off on top, plastic q-tips for the shaft and then the fuel tank from a flamer from the wraithlord kit for the butt.  There is a wire run through the whole length of the spear to give it strength.  The shield is just made from plasticard with a spirit stone glued to it.  Really excited to get this painted up and ready to play.

Ice Table WIP #3

 

I managed to get all of the white portions painted yesterday and it is really coming together.  I will give the snow areas a coating of Future floor to give a nice glistening effect and then I just need to figure out how to do my ice.  I'm thinking clear resin with a little blue and a little white ink or paint mixed in.  I'll try to pick some up this evening for testing purposes over the weekend.

Terrain Failure - Ice Crystals

Cutting the ice pillars

Painting the ice pillars

Gloss varnishing the ice pillars fail!

Last night the wife and I had a crafting/Star Trek night.  While she worked on some crocheting I pulled a bunch of scrap foam from building the table to work on some ice crystals to use as terrain.  Managed to make a whole bunch of various sizes and was pretty pleased with the result.  I used some cheap acrylic craft paint (only slightly darker than the actual blue of the foam) and dry brushed the edges white.  This morning before work, I took them outside and gave them a spray of gloss varnish to give them a nice shinny look, but to my dismay they started dissolving away despite the paint!  Generally I use a thicker latex paint on foam which will protect it enough that spray paints and varnishes will work, but the acrylic paint is not thick/strong enough.  Probably half are ruined beyond repair, the other half should be alright, but I'll need to make more.  Next time I'm going to use Future Floor polish through the airbrush instead to avoid further failure.