28 Sept 2010

40K-ing the Temple of Skulls as Relictors Base

As soon as the Temple of Skulls was released, I had to get one for my Relictors as an HQ or Outpost - game wise, an ideal Objective.
I removed the Chaos eight pointed star with some greenstuff in-filling and extra paving cutting to break up the pattern. Then I cut a hole in the paving and inserted a fan assembly from an airline turbine model kit i had loafing in the bitz box. Each large skull had some tech bits from Chaos Accessory Sprue and SM Searchlight fitted in one eye.
I added the mounting from the Aegis defence line Autocannon as a hatch to the underground base as well as making hatch doors from cut down rhino doors. A Brass etching Aquila from FW continued the Imperial theme.
Finally I added some Cities of Death lamp posts, lights, Chaos Hooks and some barricades. The final pieces were some metal rods which will form the basis for Barbed Wire emplacement to make the ground impassable terrain. The two accesses game wise to the top will be up the stairs as normal ground and a scramble up the rear 'steps' as difficult terrain.
I hope this has given you a few ideas to '40K' your Fantasy Terrain.

24 Sept 2010

Relictors Devastator Squad WIP

This is the first of a squad of Devastator Marines in MKIII Iron Armour from the new FW Armour sets. I experienced some heavy frosting from the Army Painter Uniform Grey Primer, think I sprayed too much from a distance too far and the can was nearly empty so more propellent was sprayed and evaporated, however, it doesn't take away from the Iron look.

19 more Devs to go, one squad in MKIII Iron Armour with 2 RT style Missile Launchers from FW and arm conversions to keep the Iron Armour wrist guards and a new Devastator Missile loaded Powerpack conversion to fit onto a MKIII backpack - pain and fiddly but a curved file is a godsend on the wrist guards! And a take on a Signum so the Sergeant can have a banner as well. The second and final squad of my Battle Company will have MKVII plastics.
And yes, they are Vanguards in the background...

21 Sept 2010

Relictors Assault Squad VII Finished

Here are the last two members of my first assault squad finally finished, now I can game legally field the 8th member who had a 2nd Plasma Pistol as a WYSIWYG rather than proxy bolt pistol! Next time these get to the field, they'll be as a ten man squad.

Actually, maybe a ten man squad plus a 5 man squad with Chaplain...

18 Sept 2010

Relictors Sternguard with Magnetized Weapons

This is my latest Relictor Sternguard, with heavy weapon options. I couldn't decide whether a Hvy bolter for it's rate of fire or a point blank (assault 1) template would be best, so I did both with some magnets. Knowing my knack fro rolling ones, the Heavy Flamer is probably best!
I added a small handle for placing the magnet you can see on the above - but from more than a foot away you don't notice the round magnet.
Again, I've used Cyphers backpack for the squad of Sternguard, very Relictor-ish.
Just noticed the rim of the shoulder pauldron needs touching up. Oh well, next project beckons...



15 Sept 2010

Relictors Attack Bike

Welcome to the newest member of the ever growing Relictors 5th Battle Company. I picked this bike up ages ago but only just got round to making it. I've magnetised the Heavy Bolter and Multi-Melta so I can either shoot up Tyranids (6th degree) or melt Ultramarines (Pornstarjedi)!

I like the idea of turbo boosting 18-24" in first turn to get a 3+ cover save in open ground and then moving 12" and shooting both twin-linked bolters and heavy weapon (relentless rule) before crashing into assault 6" with 2 attacks (+1 for charging) - as part of a bike squad with a Sergeant armed with a power weapon as well and their toughness 5 makes these a great fast unit.



The Pennant is from the Chaplain on a bike model - but he's been sold and bits saved for the Sergeant's bike (feathered Fairing).

Photographing Weemen - FtW Collaborative Post

Ron at FTW asked about how we go about Photgraphing and editing our pics. Well here I simply use more than one desk lamp, one for the face view and one to wipe out shadows from the side.
The mini's are simply placed on a piece of white paper and a photo taken with 'Macro Mode' on, the one with the flower icon.
Once done, I use the free downloaded Picasa to edit the photos, mainly Crop and 'Feel Lucky' then done.

This was done with just the two lamps, on an overcast afternoon, with rubbish 2MP camera - not too bad eh?

12 Sept 2010

Battle Report Relictors vs Ultramarines 2500pts - pic heavy

I won't be going into much details, let the pics do the talking. We decided a nice big 2500pt battle but as it happens I think my altered and altered list came out nearer 2600pts. Not a game decider however not a totally fair one too. Needless to say, the Relictors really countered and then destroyed the Ultramarines - helps when you know that the UM will come in with a Dred Drop Pod assault turn one and then Vanguard later. And I had my new Venerable Dred and 'counts as' Tigurius to use...I had my own Relictor Drop Dred too as a contesting distraction - ended up drawing the troops into CC and destroyed them before the UM Termies destroyed him - job done though.Lots of focus went toward the middle objective but sniping Pornstarjedi's troops was my main aim. It worked leaving him only one troops choice to claim one objective. I still had 19 out of 25 troops alive at the game end and claimed 3 objectives.The Relictors castled up at the beginning unleashing lots of hurt on the two dreds and destroying them with ease with Melta shots and Assault Termies and 'counts as' Tigurius, then a few units of Assault Marines and Ven Dread held back on the table rear quarter for the inevitable Vanguard. This put Pornstarjedi off and he placed them straight from reserve to his table edge and then the Relictor force opened up its guns and shot them to pieces.
Morale of the story, get your uber CC troops in cover or CC, not out in the open - Pornstarjedi miscalculated assault distances twice which I think lost him the game. Tigurius was my man of the match, great in CC and sneaky Null Zone to re-roll Pornstarjedi's successfull inv 3+ Storm Shield saves and Machine Curse to inflict glancing damage on Dreds and Landraiders.

9 Sept 2010

Relictors 'counts as' Librarian Tigurius

I thought it was about time I put paint to one of my HQ choices, and since fluff wise the Relictors have a lot of Libarians to study the Chaos Relics they come across, it was only a natural choice to do the Master of Librarians, Tigurius (counts as).
The Tigurius mini had lots of lots of Ultramarine symbols which I dremeled off and then cut the arm off holding the Rod of Tigurius to use something all too different. The left arm was replaced with a suitable gauntleted Chaos SM hand and a Scout Bolt Pistol was placed instead. The grey power pack vents and the shoulder Pauldrons indicate his Relictor Chapter markings.
I had a look at Ron's How to Paint Force Weapons from the FTW archive however lacking turquoise paint I used Fenris Grey Foundation and the Blue Asry wash, not bad I thought for a first attempt. The book was from a Dark Angels Veteran sprue and the Force Weapon from a Grey Knight in Power Armour.
Hope you like. It was fun painting something not Grey!!

7 Sept 2010

Development within Hive Fleet Thorn

Hi – I’ve not posted in a week or so, but it appears that I’m not the only one that’s been busy – there’s been exponential ‘Nid growth happening at my house…they’ve evidently found a good source of bio-matter to feed on.

What started as a couple of small broods and a few large creatures has now become a 1500pts+ army consisting of multiple full broods, a couple of Fex’s, a Tyrant, a Zoanthrope, a pair of Hive Guards…and other stuff…

I have managed to get a few games in – a couple of 2000pt doubles games where my Nid’s really excelled and relentlessly munched their way through assorted Tau and Space Marine armies and a one-on-one Wave Assault mission against a Tau army that didn’t exactly go to plan…

I have seen how the new cover rules really work to my advantage too – requiring half a troop to be in cover for it to apply to all units in the troop, is great for big broods. Applying some thought during movement (and having some terrain to work with…) can mean that most of my army can move across a battlefield with a 4+ cover-save.

As well as getting games in, I have been painting an unending stream of gaunts and have been rewarding myself by painting one big creature for ever 6 gaunts finished.

Tyranid Warrior (with colour scheme that will be used on all bases)


Carnifex (just needs basing)

What’s next? Current WIP projects include buying more gaunts, working on my painting skills and putting together some nice terrain to fight around. Oh – did I say buying more gaunts? I mean LOTS more gaunts! My aim is to field at least four broods of 30 in my 1500pt list.

Hopefully a battle report will be up in the near future.

4 Sept 2010

Relictors Venerable Dreadnought

Progress on my Relictors Battle Company continues albeit not with the remaining troops. After last weekend's Battle with Pornstarjedi's Ultramarines and his long lasting Dreadnoughts i thought it was time I put paint to brush and did my Venerable Dreadnought.
I'm quite pleased how the plasma coil came out. As usual I did all the arm options to keep my choice of weapons to use open. The paint scheme was generally a normal Relictor Dred but with extra "bling" Gold touches throughout.
The spiked halo is the same as the previous dred (see last pic below) but with gold tips. Taken from the Chaos Vehicle Accessories Sprue.
The shoulder and groin numerals reflect his Veteran status being a member of the 1st Company, however he has been seconded to the 5th Company for these operations, hence the large numeral 5 on the opposite shoulder or shin guard.
Lastly a comparison with the previous Dred. I had him out on the painting station the whole time to monitor and mimic painted areas and schemes etc. so they would finish off looking similar but with distinct Venerable differences. I think I achieved a good overall finish and a coherent look.

2 Sept 2010

Battle Report- 1600 point Ultramarines Vs Relictors

Another weekend, another confrontation between the two mighty armies of the Ultramarines, and Relictors. The battle took place over the shattered remains of a once proud imperial city, three key objectives littered the city, with both armies looking to capture them from the opposition.

We decided to go initially for a 1500 point battle, however we opted to increase that slightly to 1600. For this battle we went for a similar approach, infantry heavy, tank light due to the built up manner of the battleboard. The Relictors force comprised of 2 Scout squads, 1 armed with sniper rifles, two Tactical squads, a Dreadnough in a drop pod, a 5 man vanguard squad, 8 Assault marines and a Thunderfire, Devastator squad and his new Whirlwind giving artillery support. The army was lead by a captain and chaplain both with jumpacks. Only the dreadnought in the drop pod was held in reserve.

The Ultramarines had a slightly similar force, only the Whirlwind and a Tactical squad was deployed, with the remaining force - an Ironclad and Venerable Dreadnoughts in drop pods, 5 man Vanguard and Assault Terminators and a 10 man Tactical squad with an Epistolary Librarian mounted in a third drop pod.

As Siph has only one drop pod painted, the drop pod assault was always going to be one sided. The dice off for table edge was won by Siph and first turn was secured by Pornstarjedi.
Turn One. The Ultra Drop Pods containing the Dreds crashed down into the Relictor Lines sowing confusion and a bit of dread [two ;) in fact]. The Venerable opened up with his lascannons on the Relictor Captain gunning him down outright after his Iron Halo and Artificer Armour failed to protect (S9, T4 - instant kill). The Ironclad fired its Hvy Flamer and Melta Gun gunning down a Vanguard, a tactical marine and the Jump Chaplain after his Rosarius failed to save him.(Siph - one of those dice rolling 1's days again!) The turn also saw the whirlwind opening up, blasting incendiary missiles into the scouts located in the ruins, by the objective- however only one fell to the blast... Then the Ironclad charged into the remaining Vanguard squad, a lethal combat ensued. Due to the high armour of the Ironclad, only the powerfist sergeant could inflict any harm, however the sergeant was unable to penetrate the metal behemoths armour- the ironclad wasn't in a forgiving mood, and took another 2 marines down.
In response the Relictors hit back with drop pod of their own- aimed directly into the ultramarines deployment zone, the dp landed within the reach of the whirlwind, and tactical squad holding the objective. Other movement saw the tactical marines moving in to close on the Ironclad, the sergeant also had a powerfist- could the Ironclad survive? The whirlwind of the relictors fired upon the UM tactical squad moving forward from their deployment zone- however the shot missed by some way. The thunderfire had more luck, killing one of the marines. The razorback fired upon the venerable dreadnought, and inflicted a stunned result after penetrating the old one's armour. The newly arrived Relictor dreadnought wasted little time, and opened fire on the whirlwind, and tactical marines, the heavy flamer killing one marine, and stunning the whirlwind crew. Unable to engage the melee with ranged shots, a tactical marine armed with a melta gun fired upon the drop pod that housed the Ironclad, destroying it, and the precious locator beacon. The Relictor dreadnought then charged into combat with the whirlwind, this time the tank was destroyed. (Poor dice again for Siph...) The Ironclad was then charged by the tactical squad, with the hope that 2 power fists, were indeed better than one, and finally destroy the Ironclad, however the marines were unable to best the might veteran (who has a warhound kill to his name in single combat :0 Jedi) with the Ironclad claiming the lives of another 2 marines.

Turn 2.
Turn 2 saw the arrival of another UM drop pod, this time housing a 10 man tactical squad, and the Librarian. The DP landed in the middle of the board, with the marines splitting into 2 combat squads, also that turn saw the arrival of a 5 man vanguard squad which homed straight at the Relictors dreadnought. The turn also saw the now 4 man tactical squad move into position to assault the scouts that had infiltrated forward. The shooting phase saw the newly arrived tactical marines flaming the Relictor Combat squad that had sneaked by the ironclad, killing 2. The venerable dreadnought fired upon the whirlwind- but missed the tank from point-blank-range!! Close combat saw the ironclad again taking on all comers, this time felling a single marine. The Relictors in response could only immobilise the dreadnought. The other combat saw the UM tactical marines charging the scouts, and killing all 5. The vanguards were unable to penetrate the Relictor dreadnoughts armour.
The Relictors were now short in number, the assault marines moved into a charging position around the Ironclad- could a third power fist take the beast down? The whirlwind fired at the drop pod in the middle of the board, scoring a hit. the blast took out the drop pod, and 2 marines. The assault phase- two major combats were taking place, the first saw the Ironclad once again survive the attention of the Vanguard sergeant, the tactical sergeant (+1 tactical marine) and the assault sergeant (+ 6 assault marines) the other marines had to watch- due to being unable to penetrate. In response the Ironclad took the lives of another 2. Over the other side of the battlefield, the UM Vanguard Sergeant, armed with a thunderhammer, smashed the Relictor dreadnought with a might blow, catching a major power line- the dreadnought exploded, killing a vanguard who strayed to close.
Turn 3.
This saw the arrival of the Ultramarine Assault Terminators, however due to a mishap the terminators arrived miles from where they were expected to arrive (Siph was able to place them where ever he wanted) thus, the termie's were place way back into the UM deployment zone and effectively out of the game. The librarian moved into position to see the relictors combat squad and the Vanguards moved forward to try to get to the center objective. The second UM tactical squad moved away from the dead scouts, and moved to take position behind the center objective. The shooting saw the Librarian 'Smite' the remaining 2 Relictor Combat Sqd marines into pieces. The UM Venerable dreadnought took aim at the whirlwind and stunned it. The close combat again centred on the ironclad, could he survive yet another round... Incredibly, yes he could and took out another two assault marines for good measure!
The relictors turn 3, saw little movement, but lots of shooting. The land speeder moved into position and fired into the sole survivor of the tactical combat squad holding the center objective, however the multi melta shot hit, but did not wound the marine (Siph rolled a 1 to wound... lol) The thunderfire fired into the second combat squad holding the objective, and killing all. The scouts in the ruins tried to sniper fire the 3rd combat tactical squad moving toward the center of the board, however all marine stood firm. Again the close combat saw the Ironclad defy all odds, this time no marines were killed, the Ironclad was penetrated, and was only shaken for the next turn.
Turn 4, potentially the final turn. The Ultramarines moved forward with the Vanguard and terminators charging at full speed towards the Relictors, however it was going to take another turn or 2 to get anywhere close! The combat squad of tactical marines got into position, claiming the center objective, the sole surviving combat squad member from the second dp wave fired his multimelta at the razorback, the shot missed due to the smoke from the onboard grenade launchers. The Librarian charged the razorback and destroyed the tank in single combat, the Ironclad managed to survive another turn of combat, this time again killing another relictor!
Turn 4 for the Relictors- due to most of the relictors being tied up in combat with the Ironclad, or dead there was little of the force left, however the Landspeeder sped round into the center of the board to contest the final objective- and fired upon the 4 man tactical squad holding the objective. all 4 died under the combined weaponary of the multimelta and thunderfire. The Devastator Sqd near the Venerable Dred opened up with 4 Krak missiles, only one penetrated and shook the Ancient Warrior. (i know, bad rolling ...again! But this was because of the Venerable re-roll). The combat with the Ironclad again was a stalemate.
Siph rolled to see whether the game would go onto a 5th turn, however a 1 was rolled (typical). All finished another draw!!

Jedi- the man of the match has to be the Ironclad dreadnought. The ability to hold up virtually an entire army single handily was amazing. The initial turn was pivotal. Having two dreadnoughts arriving on turn 1, into the oppositions deployment zone was key to changing the course of the battle. Siph had to change his entire plans, and the dreadnoughts managed to take out both characters in the first turn-much to my enjoyment!

My typical throw!

Siph- well I never really got going. It was in my face from turn 1 and losing both characters was a bit of a blow. I do blame some part on the dice, who could penetrate an Ironclad over 5 times and still get nothing but an immobilised. But, you got to hand it to Pornstarjedi, those DP assaults are deadly and he knew it! We both learnt a few valuable lessons as well as had a good time. The Thunderfire proved a marine killer for me but the landspeeder kept me in it with a quick dash to constest the objective.

A great battle, the Ironclad will be getting several more honour markings!