Raven guard army showcase.

Hi folks.

So this one kind of slipped through the net. I was just going over which armies I needed to do a showcase for still (I make it 5 now - coming up soon) and raven guard stumped me a bit. I recalled taking the photos for them and posting them but couldn’t find the showcase anywhere. Turns out I posted them to the end of year round up but never actually gave them their own spotlight. So, without further ado, here it is.

My raven guard army was conceptualised as an almost pure infantry army that was jump pack heavy. As a result you can see that in addition to the demi-company it also has an extra assault squad and a fair few veterans. No Primaris reiver/aggressor spam for me, and aside from the devastators there are only a few units designed to operate at range, such as the storm eagle, rapiers and dreadnought. There are also a chunk of scouts which fit the fluff nicely and help to tip the army over the 100 model mark. This army also has Corax in it, although he has only graced the battlefield once in 7th when he took out Horus! Great army yet to make its debut in 8th edition. Cheers.

End of 2017 look back plus 2018 hobby targets

Hi everyone. 

A belated merry christmas. As per usual I thought I would post a rundown of my hobby throughout 2017 and hobby aims for next year. My aim for this year was to finally get all the marine armies finalised, make headway on the non-marine/non chaos armies I have and then start the turn to chaos in 2018. Despite a promising start I didn't quite get there. In no small part this was due to the release of Dark Imperium which threw yet another marine collection into the mix. If that wasn't enough, the new marine codex shook up the organisation of my armies and made me go back to the drawing board with some things. I have also been spending more time playing 40k with the advent of 8th. Here's a rundown of my hobby targets I hit. 

Whitescars were deemed complete fairly early in the year having been rebased onto both 32mm and oval bases for the bikes. I added a Jump lieutenant towards the end of the year and now consider them complete. Blood Ravens too were deemed complete earlier in the year but will need a brief revisits since the codex dropped, as will space wolves. We're only talking about adding a couple of infantry models so no big deal. A small aside was assembling, spraying and basing the Legion of the damned as a nice little side project. 

I finally finished my Luna Wolves army, which for me was a tremendous milestone as I never quite believed I would get there. Grey Knights also got some refinement and were brought up to standard. The Crimson fists are also now deemed complete having been slightly restructured and had time spent on basecoating the infantry to tabletop standard to go with the half of the army that is fully painted. A last minute hobby session (literally today!) also brought my Raven guard up to spec with a few characters and bases being added. 

Sons of Orar were a wishlist army based on a fanfic I wrote. When Primaris Marines dropped, I decided to keep them totally seperate from my other collections and draw a line under them. This left me with a Chapter to make fully Primaris and the Sons fit the bill. They are now complete save for a few characters I still haven't assembled which will be addressed in the new year. Sticking with red, Blood Angels were another milestone for me as they too have sat in their boxes for quite some time and desperately needed the last few models organising, building and magnetising to call them done. Now this is complete, I just want to add a land speeder storm and stormhawk to them which Claire kindly bought me for Christmas. 

So all in all a productive year. I'll be sailing into the new year by finishing up the last few models for my blood angels and then continuing to fight the good fight updating all the other armies as I go. Dark Angels will be the first on that list followed by the other in turn. Some, like the blood Ravens, require only minor attention, swapping out some scouts and adding an ancient models. Most require some form of updating to their command squads / now individual characters and having a lieutenant adding. One other thing I am trying to do starting with my marine armies is to change models that are on clear flying bases to sit on oval bases with a clear stem in the middle. Some xenos armies such as nids and eldar will be a lot of effort, but marines usually only need land speeders addressing. 

Three armies will give me a bit more of a headache and these are Salamanders, Ultramarines and Imperial fists. The Salamanders really only need the above updates but in addition still need about half their bases to be done - as these are scratchbuilt and need painting before the models are added they will take a bit of time. The Ultramarines are missing a dozen models, which were used to fill gaps in other armies, the idea being to replace them with the amazing looking Japanese exclusive models. If I ever get my hands on them that's the plan. Lastly, the Imperial Fists need a few models (command and Lt) adding as well as their land raider being refurbished to an achilles pattern and 5 centurions being put together. 

Well, that's about it for now. Undoubtedly there will be more Marine releases to come as time moves on, perhaps more Primaris and special character focussed going forward. This has been a real labour of love for me and a grand ambition that, with a lot of time, dedication, ££ and paint I have against the odds nearly brought to a conclusion. There's plenty of detail painting to be done on them in the years to come but it's extremely satisfying to know that I have the armies all converted, themed and basecoated sitting in boxes ready to game with or paint further whenever I choose.  2017 is almost over and 2018 looks set to be the year I finish all the marines armies off by halfway and branch out towards chaos marines. 

Here's wishing everyone a happy new year.  

FIRST post of 2016 - much belated hobby progress and musings

Hello folks.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated! It only just occurred to me the other day just how long it has been since I shared a blog post. This will be my first post of 2016 shockingly, due to many factors. Firstly, 40k has been a bit dry first quarter, and thus there's not really been much to comment on. More importantly things have been super busy in non-40k related terms and I have in that period sat exams, got a new job, sold and bought a house.

All in all pretty nightmarish, and though I have found time for hobby sadly the blogging side of things has suffered. The vast majority of my stuff is packed away with only a few armies and models being left out to work on over the next few months around the time of the house move, but at least that brings some focus to what I'm aiming towards. Now that's out of the way, I'll run through what's been going on these past 3 months.

 
Raven Guard:

I've added the last elements to my battle demi-company and have also given these chaps a Command squad made from the FW kit. Most importantly, and something I'm working towards with all the SM armies, I have rebased the entire army onto 32mm and pretty much basecoated every model except for about 10 stragglers. Very happy with how these chaps have come out - I only have a couple more purchases planned for them in the form of the two 30k squad types to use as vanguard / sternguard respectively.

Space Wolves:

I added 5 Wulfen to the army, which as it turns out are gorgeous models. I am currently hoping to spend a couple of days on the army both updating them to 32mm bases and also updating my original wulfen models to be wolf guard using some spare parts from the new Wulfen kit - seems that particular pack is more influenced by their presence. I do love the new Ulrik and Iron Priest models and have added them to the never ending wishlist.

Blood Angels:

Couldn't resist adding the gorgeous new Chaplain model to the army and at the same time I invested in another tactical box, replacing 10 of the older more static members of the army with newer models. I also went all out and replaced 90% of the marines onto 32mm bases, leaving just a few chaps (DC and characters) on 25mm for now until I spray up some more 32mm bases. The Blood Angel army is my largest and most beloved but sadly never quite gets to the point where I'm happy with it. My new policy is to focus more upon getting models to tabletop standards (i.e. one coat on everything) so from a distance they are respectable, rather than painting up squads to a high standard, which takes a lot of time. To this end I am trying to paint up a demi company to those standards as a starting point. I'm about halfway there and hope to be done by the summer in between other things. 

Luna Wolves:

The last real project army amongst my marines. These chaps got the final piece to the puzzle when Betrayal at Calth (still not played it) came out. With a couple of exceptions, every model was donated to them and thus the ranks of the wolves swelled to almost double the size. As well as these models I also added both a Spartan tank and Xiphon Interceptor to them. My main aims are as follows with the army between now and Summertime. Firstly, get all the models assembled and sprayed white. (or black in the case of Abaddon and his Justerein) Secondly, as none of the models are on bases and the resin bases I have for them are all 25mm, I'm going to have to either use 32mm adaptors to make them al up to size or buy/make some 32mm bases for them. This in itself is a massive undertaking and will take some time. Once all this  is complete, the army will still be a few models away from completion, needing some accessories and a couple more tanks, but the back of the beast will be broken.

Deathwatch:

What a treat this set was. Beautiful and characterful minis galore. I had to restrain myself from getting two sets for conversion potential. Ultimately head won over heart though and I stuck to the one set. I have a dozen deathwatch that I have made previously and so will be great alongside these chaps. Saying that though, when I built the new deathwatch models I gave them industrial bases to match the board, so now they have a similar theme to my Iron hands (need updating to 32mm) and are out of synch with my old deathwatch models, which are still on 25mm 'alien' bases. The bases incidentally were easy to make using a pair of dividers and some textured plasticard. Not only some glorious models but also a fantastically fun game - Dan and I are about halfway through the campaign.  

That's all for today folks. Will be posting on other blog in 2 days then here again with an exciting post on Friday. Cheers.

Air support inbound - Fire Raptor, Storm Eagle and Caestus ram

Hi Chaps,

Finally achieved dragging some of my Marine armies kicking and screaming out of 5th edition and giving them some air support recently. Keen eyes may have spotted the Raven guard Storm Eagle in my recent batrep, the Imperial Fists Fire Raptor in the army showcase and the flying bases for all 3 here. My new hobby philosophy when working on a project is to get everything as close to tabletop standard as possible before moving on to the next - this allows me not only to game with them but also to be able to revisit the army at any time and crack straight on with detail work.

The Imperial Fists got a Fire Raptor as it fits nicely with their overwhelming firepower philosophy. All the weapons are magnetised and the army painter yellow looks pretty tasty on it. The Raven Guard got the Storm Eagle as it can transport jump pack squads as well as providing some much needed heavy firepower. The cockpit window got the yellow treatment to fit with the eye lenses on the rest of the army. Lastly, the Salamanders got a Caestus ram, perfect for transporting lots of hammernators and providing a melta blast. Sadly, the caestus ram isn't actually all that good vs other flyers and so doesn't give them a great deal of AA but never mind. It looks the part. Next flyer on my hit list is a Xiphon Interceptor for my current project, the Luna Wolves. Cheers.

Raven guard battle report and army pics

Hi guys,

Dan and I got together for a game over the weekend and went all out on a 3300 point battle allowing me to field my entire army against his Nurgle army. If memory serves the army was something like this:

Typhus

Nurgle Sorceror

3x 30 zombies

2x 5 plague marines in rhino with meltas

2x 5 plague marines in rhino with plasma

2x blight drones

3x vindicators

3x Obliterators

3x Mutilators

Heldrake

All 4 assassins

Pics of Dan's amazingly creative army can be found HERE and HERE.

My army was divided as follows:

I managed to get everything painted up to tabletop standard prior to the game which was a great landmark, with only rebasing onto 32mm remaining. 

 

Battle report

For the battle report I took a top-down photo every turn and will use brief summaries to try to explain what's going on. 

Setup: Our usual board arranged to represent an industrial area with barricades and wrecked rhinos. We drew maelstrom mission 4, which allowed each of us to score off the opponents objective cards. 

Deployment: Prize if you can spot the floating marbles being used as objective markers. (the glowing penguin has no significance, was just there for fun) Raven guard (bottom) deployed about half their forces with a devastator, tactical and sniper scout squad in the southwest building and the artillery in the southeast. Nurgle deployed in mainly in the northeast quadrant. The two shadowstrike scout squads infiltrated in the northeast ruin, denying the assassins ability to infiltrate. Raven Guard first turn.

Raven Guard 1: Dreadnought drop pods in and roasts a dozen zombies, while down the centre the assault and tactical squads advance. Thunderfires wipe out the middle unit of zombies, Devastators nearly destroy a vindicator. The Shadowstrike vanguard arrive and destroy the eastern vindicator. 3:0

Nurgle 1: The remaining vindicators kill some assault marines, Plasma gunners damage the dreadnought before Typhus charges it and is summarily instant killed. The zombies charge the Vanguard. 4:1

Raven Guard 2: All reserves arrive with Shrikes squad and the scout-escorted tactical squad approaching from the West, Land speeder storm from the East and Storm Eagle in the centre. The storm Eagle destroys a vindicator, while the Chapter Masters assault squad finished the other in melee. I accidentally overlook the Thunderfire cannons. Doh. Combined fire from the Southwest ruin destroys one rhino, while the scouts in the northeast and the Land speeders open up another, allowing the dreadnought to charge the occupants. 6:1

Nurgle 2: Most of the reserves arrive, save for the 2 plague drones. The callidus arrives near the thunderfires, all other assassins in the northwest corner. The obliterators arrive in the East, Shooting down the Storm killing 3 occupants, with the mutilators materialising nearby. The heldrake flies on and roasts Shrikes squad. Zombies butcher scouts in the West with the surviving Sergeant retreating. The Vanguard and Dreadnoughts win their respective combats. 6:2

Raven Guard 3: Unable to attack the Heldrake the Storm Eagle flies off. The Chapter Masters squad engages a squad of plague marines and Sorceror, after the devastators destroy their rhino. Combined fire from the rapiers and tactical squad kills one of the Mutilators. The techmarines and Southeast tactical squad fails to injure the callidus. The Dreadnought and Vanguard slay the Eversor in combat, while the Speeder and Northwest scouts kill the Vindicare. 8:2

Nurgle 3: One of the Blight Drones arrives and destroys the tactical squad near the centre of the board in one volley. The Heldrake roasts some of the rapier crew before the Mutilator charges them and forces them off the board. The Callidus doesn't fare so well, dying to the Techmarines overwatch fire of doom. The Obliterators kill the dreadnought with lascannon fire and the Culexus dies having engaged the Vanguard in melee. On the other side of the battlefield, the last of the zombies charge Shrikes squad, while the Chapter Masters combat continues, joined by more plague marines. The last rhino positions itself out of line of sight of the devastators. 8:3

Raven Guard 4: The Storm Eagle returns and almost kills the Heldrake, destroying its baleflamer. The land speeder grabs an objective . The techmarines kill the Mutilator with plasma fire, while the Vanguard heroically engage the Obliterators. Shrikes squad gains support from the other outflanking marines and kills the last of the zombies, while the Chapter Masters combat continues. 9:3

Nurgle 4: The second Blight Drone arrives, chipping away at the Marines in the West with its twin. The last rhino claims an objective, while the Chapter Master and Chaplain finally win the combat. The Heldrake fails to vector strike the land speeder. The obliterators remain in combat with Vanguard. 9:4

Raven Guard 5: Volume of fire from the Southwest ruin brings down one of the blight drones, while the Storm Eagle finishes the Heldrake. The remaining scouts in the Southeast join the attack on the Obliterators and aiding the remaining Vanguard to victory. The Thunderfires pummel the remaining rhino forcing the passengers to disembark. 12:4

Nurgle 5: The remaining Plague Marines meltagun the Chaplain, while the Chapter Master weathers the fire from the last Blight Drone. 12:4

Raven Guard 6: The Storm Eagle finishes the blight drone while the Thunderfires, land speeder and the remainder of Shrikes wing kill the last of the Plague Marines. 16:4, GAME OVER

After-action thoughts

I felt bad at it being such as crushing defeat for Dan and I feel that by pursuing a fluffy, mono-God Chaos list he does leave himself at a bit of a disadvantage. Things of note I took away from the game, however, were as follows:

• Thunderfires are even more awesome now with the improvements to Techmarines. Devastating Vs most targets and also very hard to take down in melee due to the Techmarines servo-harness weapons for overwatch.
• Heldrakes still scare the shit out of me
• Mixed feelings about swiftstrike and murder – I feel they should have done more than they did.
• Love the sniper scout / devastator spotter combo – very effective at taking out vehicles.
• Storm-Eagle is one of my favourite models and the ROC pattern is badass Vs tanks.
• New Dreadnoughts are so much more effective with the extra 2 attacks.
• The Scout / Vanguard combo worked very well both in terms of denying the deployment of the Assassins and also in allowing me to alpha strike a vindicator. The Vanguard in general did well this game, killing a vindicator, half a squad of zombies, the culexus and also helping kill the Eversor and Obliterators.
• The pre-game re-rolls really helped to take control of the game early on.

That's all folks, hope you enjoyed the batrep. I like the top-down view and will try to do the same format with any interesting batreps in future. Cheers.