Battle Missions Batrep - Ultramarines vs Relictors

Well I returned home for Easter and Pornstarjedi came to visit and we got a cheeky battle in between drinking heavily. We thought we might try out one of the Battle Missions, all round defence. The Ultramarines would defend a statue whilst the Relictor's attacked from all sides.
The Ultramarine Vindicator saw movement in the surounding building and open fired with its main weapon, levelling a floor but somehow, the Relictors went unscathed, Pornstar throwing some typical Siph-like '1s' for a change. The Ultramarine Chaplain lead the charge from the fortified sanctuary ruins into the approaching Relictor assault troops and their own Chaplain - after some softening up from the Thunderfire in the ruins above, it was an equal match.

The tightly packed defenders where a prime target for large blast weapons, however the Relictor strike force lacked that sort of firepower, preferring up close and personal assault Termies and Troops and a drop pod of Sternguard yet to arrive. (I hadn't painted the Whirlwind and forgot my Vindies! Doh! - Siph)

The Chaplians and their accompanying Assault troops fought on to the last man, only the Rosarius saving the Relictor priest. Seeing the Relictor Chaplain being struck, the Relictor Captain leap to the sky in his defence and struck the Ultramarine Chaplain down with his Relic Blade. Both heroes then advanced on the fortified ruins, death or glory! Amongst the ruins elsewhere, the Relictors closed the noose, assault cannon Razorback keeping the Ultramarine heads down.

Seeing the mighty Heroes advancing and striking down a squad of defenders, the Ultramarine Terminators and Venerable Dreadnought defending the statue advanced toward the Relictor scum. This would be a tough fight for the wounded Capt and Priest - lightning claws and TH/SS were not easy prey. Elsewhere, a lucky strike from a krak missile opened up the Ultra Predator Annihilator. The Termies and Dred killed the Chaplain and Captain but not without loss of the dred CCW to a strike of the Relic Blade.

Turn 3 saw the arrival of the Sternguard in a drop pod and the TH/SS Relictor Termies entering the field from the table edge (to avoid the inevitable Deep Strike Mishap in such a busy centre - must invest in some teleport homers). The Termies marched toward the Ultra Terimes and a 'clash of the titans' was on the cards (don't bother to see the re-make film - it's gash).

The Relictor Sternguard walked into a hail of fire from the Ultramarine defenders who poured out from the doorway and the Vindicator reversed and spotted an opening, firing it's mighty shell through the doorway flattening the Relictor counter strike dead - not even a cover save could help 5 of the Sternguard! The Relictor attack was now floundering, the Termies were battling on, cutting the last Ultra down and advancing further to the statue but with only 2 of their number left. These were then charged by a combat squad to slow the advance and maybe hold out for the end of the turn - in true Siph fashion, he failed a save and a Termie was cut down by a Tactical Marine with a combat knife!

This left plenty of Relictors out side the Sanctuary but with little hope of advancing to the statue within the remaining turn limits. The defenders had held to the last 7 men. The vindicator finally blowing up after presenting the rear armour to a Krak missile when it attacked the Sternguard. The Relictors still had a Pred Destructor, Razorback Assault cannons and a few squads in ruins but the main assault force of Assault Troops, Characters, Termies and Sternguard had all fallen except the Terminator Sergeant (my avatar pic- Siph).

Result - Ultramarine Victory, barely. But that's all that counts. Better luck next time for the Attackers, more template weapons would be a must. Siph had a Thunderfire and 3 Vindicators painted which could have made a big dent in the tightly packed ruins. Each battle is a learning curve...

Reaver Titan 'Honorum' WIP Shots

Hi Titan lovers, just to keep Weemen ticking over whilst I'm away at sea in some foreign waters, a few WIP Reaver Titan 'Honorum' shots to whet your appetites. I've seen the completed pics now and boy it's worth the wait. With magnetized interchangable Gatling Blaster and Titan Powerfist. The artist, Richard Gray Art certainly doesn't skimp on the detailing, look at the cockpit details and even digital text on view screens inside! Only the Techpriest will get to see them!

Once I've returned home I will be travelling to Richard's pad to pick up the titan and then post the completed work alongside his 'lil brother Warhound 'Canis Bellum'- I don't trust the postal service on something this large and fragile but I'm sure they would be fine if you pay them enough, but I'd rather pick it up in person.

Pornstarjedi is hopefully keeping to his new year resolutions and posting regularly, but until April sometime, adieu.

Relictors Landraider Redeemer WIP - exterior

Following on from my previous WIP post of the interior, I have gotten so far with this Landraider but not finished before I had to go back to sea and earn a living.

So, here she is, or should I say he is as it is named after my real Warhound Zeus. I still have a few detailing and bits to add. It is Army Painter basecoated Uniform Grey with a tidy up of Codex Grey which matches the paint in a can exactly, then a wash with Badab Black which I found quite difficult to avoid streaking over large panels so I applied it in vertical lines, so any streaks could have been made in the environment of the battlefield operations. Once I return home it will be a quick finish off of those details, then it's a day or two of highlighting and drybrushing Fortress Grey (oh how that stage bores me!), transfers and then finally weathering to match my other Relictor tanks and a thousand rivets, doh.

I quite enjoyed this build and when I actually sat down and painted, it was done in two day sittings. The doors were Red Scorpion FW doors but I've used the skull wound markers from AOBR just as I did before on my Rhino's to make it Relictor-ish.

Oh, and one of the real Warhound 'Zeus'.

Work In Progress - Baneblade Squadron

Hi all,

I just thought I'd share we all my current WIP, currently I'm working on a couple of projects, The first up is three Baneblades, the plan is to have an urban scheme of black and grey. After seeing some cheeky magnet use (cheers Siph) the Las-sponsons will be magnetised into place. The lead Baneblades turret has been designed so that both crewmen rotate freely.

My next project is to finish my trio of Dreadnoughts- Two FW models, and an Ironclad. The UM Dreadnought has had a dead Tyranid Warrior lying by its feet, with several huge Plasma blasts in its chest. The Mighty Ironclad, (The destroyer of Warhounds! - sorry Siph) is also on the paint station ready to be completed. I'm hoping to include a couple of Titan based trophies from his previous outing. Included in the Reaver titan are one or two titan purity seals, which are going to look great on the Ironclad.

Relictors Landraider Redeemer WIP - interior

I am posting this whilst away at sea again, I won't be around until April again so hopefully this and Pornstarjedi's new years' resolution of posting at least once a fortnight will keep weemen alive and well.

These are the shots of the interior of the first of my Relictor Landraiders, I have a fairly big force now but when it comes to fighting Pornstarjedi's loyal lapdog Ultramarines, he always has a Landraider or two for my lowly Predator to answer too. So, I'm bringing out the big(ger) guns.

The plan will be to build a Redeemer, a Crusader (for that massive amount of transport capability) and a 'bog standard' Godhammer Landraider. I might even stretch to a Terminus one day soon for the Apoc field, but that will need a little work as the standard Pred sponsons get in the way of the rear cannons - silly.

Something like this would suffice, awesome work by Lord_Zymran -

Image from Lord_Zymran photobucket. Link here. (Used without permission).

I know the interior doesn't get much of a look in once you construct and put on the doors, but hey, I know it's there and painted. So these front hatches won't be glued shut (unlike a Terminus who doesn't have a transport capability therefore will not get painted inside and sealed shut).

I plan to paint the pieces seperately, put together, then wash and highlight once constructed. More updates scheduled before I get back home. Stay well.

Something BIGGER is coming...

As I posted in the Warhound Canis Bellum posts, the Warhound was merely the vanguard for something bigger. Here are some teaser shots of the WIP.

The Reaver 'Honorum' as seen in the Siege of Vraks II is done. Painted to an exceptional standard once again by my friendly artist Richard Gray. He can be found at Richard Gray Creations and is open for commission work. I plan to send another Warhound his way eventually so I can have a Titan Hunting Pack Apocalypse formation!

I have to go back to sea now for a couple of months to pay for these (and the mortgage!) so you will have to wait until Easter for the titan to come home and be seen in all it's glory. I will however in the meantime post some WIP shots that Richard had forwarded on to me to keep all you titan lovers sane. It will also proudly wear the banner done by our own FTW Ron! Seen here. The 10 is because this was the 10th FW Reaver off the production line, so one of the first - I ordered two on the first day they went on sale, Pornstarjedi has number 11. Incidently, the Warhound was also an early one, number 10 too! And the big skull to match my Relictors chapter badge.

Can't wait to get this titan home.

Vraks PDF Emperor's Fist Tank Company - Pt. 5

So after my last Vraks PDF post, John Lambshead from John's Toy Soldiers was asking about how the Army Painter Quickshade worked out for me. Well John, not too bad.

As you can see from the pictures, after leaving for 48hrs to dry as it is an oil based product (and the Purity Seal will shrink and crack), the shine prevented me from seeing the true results. Furthermore, although you can paint straight on to the Quickshade, it was fairly easy for me to rub the Citadel paint off so I've decided to matt varnish (GW Purity Seal) before continuing to do the detailing, started in the next photo.

As you can see from this photo the Quickshade results arn't all that bad and save a ton of airbrushing/applying washes. I would liken the Strong Tone Quickshade to a wash of GW Devlan Mud. There was a little pooling along the base of the track units however most was dabbed away with a piece of kitchen towel whilst wet, the remains will be covered up by weathering/mud splatter anyway.

Now just ten tanks to detail, highlight, further washes and weathering... oh boy.

Vraks PDF - Emperor's Fist Company Project Pt.4

So a quick update as this is a time consuming job for me. I thought rather than buy a heap of GW washes and spend ages brushing on or using that GW airbrush (which imho is a pain in the ass and very temperamental) i would try out a new (to me) product.

I was ordering some Army Painter Grey Primer to speed up my Relictors painting, which btw is a great match for Codex Grey, so I thought I'd get some of the quickshade too. I bought the strong tone as it recommended it for reds and browns and got to work.

The quickshade is designed for dipping, however a Leman Russ is a bit bigger than the tin so a normal paintbrush (DIY) was used. To prevent getting my finger prints over the finished tanks I also used the lids of the car sprays to act as holders on the underside and this had the added benefit of allowing drops of excess quickshade to drop away rather than pooling on the track bottoms.

So far, so good - i'll look tomorrow as it takes 24hrs to dry, and this stuff is oil based to you will need some white spirit or paint stripper to clean the brushes afterwards. Once dry I'll try Citadel paints onto the quickshade surface but if adhesion is not brilliant, a quick coat Purity seal should take the shine off and give a good surface to continue with the highlighting and detailing. It has the added bonus of acting as a varnish too so that should seal the car spray camouflage real nice.

Whilst we are on the subject of Army Painter, this was one coat of Grey primer on a bright red plastic mini. Not bad, only a few touch ups needed so i'll spray another coat before going straight to Badab Black washes and highlights and detailing... hopefully this will speed up the rest of the army painting!

Apocalypse Battle Report - 4500 pts

Once again the forces of the Ultramarines and Relictors drew swords, both armies brought along several considerable units from requisitioned from the Zevas IV Planetary Defence Force and garrisoned Titan Legions.

The battlelines were drawn across the ruins of the former capital city which through earlier battles had been reduced to ruins. The Relictors were searching for relics in the ruins of the Shrine of the Aquila temples when the large Ultramarine and Super Heavy force came at them. The Relictors won first turn and struck back with 3 Baneblades and a Warhound and Linebreaker Squadron. The Banes opened up on the Reaver taking down some Void Shields but failing to penetrate the defences, the Warhound fired at the greatest threat - a titan killing Shadowsword and destroyed its main gun with the Plasma Blastgun on maximum power. The relictor Predator and Dreadnought fired at the accompanying enemy Baneblade taking out its main cannon.
The Ultramarine force kept up the initiative and launched a drop pod assault with its Ironclad Dreadnought landing at the feet of the Warhound. The Reaver opened up its main weapons destroying one of the three enemy Baneblades and an Apocalyptic Barrage on the Relictor Linebreaker Squadron, destroying two of them. The shadowsword carried out damage control and repaired the main gun whilst the Reaver regenerated 2 of 3 collapsed voids. In the assault phase, the space marine hero within the Ironclad showed us why he should have been saved from death and carried out a near suicidal charge into the Warhound - the warhound struck back at the Ironclad stunning him but not before the dreadnought sheared through one of the Warhound's vunerable knee joints bringing the mighty War Engine to the ground in a mighty explosion - when the dust and flame dispersed, the ironclad stood alone in a smoking crater.
This was the beginning of the end for the dubious Relictors, the Assault Squad and Chaplain holding a recovered Legion Relic were lost to the warp in a deep strike mishap, whilst the Sternguard in a drop pod assault behind the Ultramarine lines failed miserably in the shooting phase and overheated 6 Vengeance bolters killing one of their number and only slaying 3 enemy. In a response to the titan killing Dreadnought, the Relictors fired a point blank Demolisher round from the surviving Vindicator killing the heroic space marine ancient outright. The surviving two baneblades turned their guns on the enemy baneblade taking its last structure point and destroying it in an apocalyptic explosion. The Relictor Dreadnought and Predator fired at the Shadowsword destroying the repaired Volcano Cannon once again.

In response, a second Relictor baneblade was destroyed by the Reaver, a second Baneblade loyal to the Ultramarines flank marched behind the Vindicator and Relictor troops holding an objective and started to open fire on the Relictor marines but misjudged the short range, killing 3 of the troops but the misfire also destoyed the main cannon in the large explosion. The Ultramarine Captain with the Legion Relic and Assault troops charged the Relictor sternguard, slaying them all but one - with the Legion Relic and finishing of the remaining veteran with the accompanying assault squad. It was not going well for Siph!

Siph only had a squad of Terminators and some Tactical Marines left in reserve against the unstoppable Reaver and Ultramarines. The loss of the Relictor Legion Relic (resulting in minus one to any objectives held) and the Warhound and 2 Baneblades was too much for Siph and he called the battle there and then. This was a well earnt and first victory for Pornstarjedi against Siph, and an excellent result for the Ironclad Drop Pod assault!

Points we learnt from Siph's first foray into Apocalypse and Pornstar's second, were to be wary of close assault on our 'invincible' and highly expensive super heavy walkers. Baneblades act better in large groups! and are great fun to play. Even a humble dreadnought can seriously hurt an over confident foe - punching far above it's weight. Deep strike is a risky business without Homer Beacons or Drop Pods. We also think that Apoc battles will be better played against bigger forces, and different ones, we will try to arrange an Apoc at our LFGS with some other gamers as well. We look forward to getting our FW Reaver's done so they can bring as much death and destruction to the enemies of the God Emperor!.

Imperial Guard - DKK Command

In the absence of any other work completed over the holiday season so far... too much beering and eating to paint, I submit this work to you.

Now, truthfully it was not all my own work but I've painted his greatcoat to match the rest of the Vraks PDF i've done and he is a test scheme for the DKK when I finally get round to starting them and I've based him to match all my weemen.

After completing him, I think the DKK will have Red helmets and khaki uniforms under the greatcoats but as this is the senior officer, he has his own tailoring and uniforms - so his may stay grey/blue. The Greatcoat will tie him in enough, but if not I can re-visit him.

The Hellhound post was found here