Dark Angels - Dark Vengeance Deathwing - TO DONE!

It's been nearly a year since I first posted about these guys and to finally have them complete in such a 'short' amount of time is good going for me, well for the Dark Angels at least. Once again I have mixed feelings, both of pride and disappointment. There are things I really like and they're definitely improved on their Assault on Black Reach predecessors . But there are still elements that don't quite sit right with me, especially when I see other Dark Angel forces that are more consistent uniform in their execution.

 However, I know these are far more complex, detailed and well executed than my Tyranids and if they don't stand together quite as well as the nids do then at least the nids have something to be proud of.

I'm still dubious about the 'enamaled' crows raven feathers but I used a different gloss varnish which isn't as thick so I get the reflection without the distortion of detail. The lightning effect is also both something I'm impressed with for it's nebulous nature and disappointed with for it's lack of crispness, I just cant win with myself!

They all came together as a unit though and overall I'm pleased with the results.

It's not immediately evident but I reconciled my litanies/native markings dilemma. Compared to the AoBR Terminators these guys are riddled with extra detail. To add more elements would just make them even more busy.

So I tried to only add bits were appropriate, mainly on the back, which you'll see later on.

I was also pleased with the green lenses. They're a bit more vibrant than the AoBR ones and probably not true OSL effect but I was pleased with the results.

Assault Cannon, I wasn't 100% happy with the black and white heraldry shield but there wasn't too much space for extra details.

I added litanies on his backside armour, it seemed the best place on all the models, unobtrusive but sufficient to fit the theme I instigated with the Tacticals. He also got three tribal stripes on his left leg armour.

There were three tribal stripes on the side of his carapace, but they were so small and inconspicuous I added the leg stripes.

The Sergeant was a mixed success. I actually think the iridescent Raven feathers is quite effective but the blackness just look incongruous with the rest of the model. Even the Obsidian sword blade does little to tie this black colour into the rest of the model. 

He got 3 tribal stripes on top of his carapace, and I just noticed that spot of turquoise paint I need to touch up. I also painted the litanies to be like a very fine pen illustration, like you see all the 'scribe work' in the 40k rulebook. I was really chuffed with that.

And here you have the severed Chaos Space Marine head. I did ask if people could guess which traitor force it would be, did anyone imagine it would be the Alpha Legion? I'm not sure DA's have a traditional arch-enemy like the Space Wolves/1000 Sons, Imperial Fists/Iron Warriors but I do know the Alpha Legion outwitted them a lot to keep them out of the Heresy.

They're infiltration tactics also fit well with some Ferron Proxima fluff I've been thinking about for ages, just not had the chance to explore. 

I used a Land Speeder Storm Missile Launcher to represent my Cyclone Missile Launcher

I also added an old skool knife blade as a bayonet on the Storm Bolter. This was from the old metal Space Marines that had plastic arms, bolters and back packs. I'm not happy with the blade if I'm honest but c'est la vie.

More litany on his butt plate.

And the tribal markings on his leg. I know the bottom chevron tapers a little bit on the left hand side but I kind of like it, like it's been daubed on but isn't quite as neat as it could be, at least that's what I'll keep telling myself.

And the top view with added Ravenwing or Terminator badge

The Chainfist Terminator. He's got three tribal stripes on his thigh plate and a single stripe on his Chainfist blade.

I did litanies on his butt plate too and a small 5th company badge to represent the company he was part of before ascending to the Deathwing.

I really liked the tribal stripes, subtle yet distinctive.

The severed cultist head. He's decked out in the colours of the Free Radical Collective at this point you should be able to piece together some of the extra fluff. There's no coincidence that their accent colour happens to mirror a certain traitorous legion also found on Ferron Proxima... or is it?

I was a little less happy about the First Legion numeral on his kneepad, it seems I can't do neat and tidy lines and these pics look really distorted too :(

This guy also shows his legacy company on his heraldry shield.

The added DA upgrade element on his carapace and heraldry shield was an additional touch to differentiate this from the other model that looks the same from the set, although the other one does have the Cyclone Missile Launcher too.

Big fat Roman numeral again :(

He decorated his butt plate with sword artwork and litanies. There are also three tribal stripes on the left hand side of his back armour, you can just see the, as they come round the edge of the armours.

Here's the Red Stamp of Approval and it's on my list too! I've got Deathleaper up next for completion, just because and then my Azrael kitbash and even the AoBR commander who has been languishing for ages and is practically 90-95% complete. Then I've got to finish my Land Speeders [or at least one] and maybe do a bike squad.

'nids part 168 - Deathleaper micro-blog

It's funny I just realised I've hardly posted anything about this guy, well except for his base back in February. Anyway he's pretty much finished now and before I post the final completed pics I thought I'd at least share this WiP of the Blog Wars banner. This was just before I was going to paint the words 'Blog Wars' on it. I'd already decided that the number wasn't going on as it's already difficult to see the logo and adding the text will obscure it further. To try and add a big blue 9 over the top, well it'd just be a mess.

With all the folds and tears it's already very busy and adding Blog Wars alone was a gamble, hence why I took the picture, to have a record at least. I've since painted on the words and thankfully it's not ruined, it's quite OK really. Naturally I could have chosen a more interesting banner but I want this guy to have one last shot at redemption for BW9. If I have to go with nids at BW10 [although I hope it's actually titled Blog Wars X... Alex?] then I will definitely drop him for either the Swarmlord or Old One Eye. So this is just to get you up-to-date, hopefully I'll be getting his completed photos done over the weekend and you'll see him in all his glory... or, given it's Deathleaper, not see him then be in all your own gorey [do you see what I did there?]

Dark Angels - HQ choices

As mentioned in my Seraphicus post I took some more pictures while I was at it. Asmodai got to be photgraphed in natural light and the rest of my completed HQ Choices all came together:

• Watcher in the Dark
• Techmarine
• Asmodai
• Seraphicus
• Librarian

Given the massive variety in colour schemes for this Mötley Crüe of individuals I pleasantly surprised [relieved] they actually aren't as disparate as I feared. I think it's the Red Planet Base that's tieing them all together so I'm grateful for having that theme once more.

It's also nice to see some of these models that have been completed and boxed up for a while as I've not got enough to game with yet so essentially they're in storage.

But they look great and soon I will have that 1500pts, which is looking to need to be expanded to 1875 for the the likes of Throne of Skulls and 1850 for Blog Wars.

And here's Asmodai, you can see a bit more about the shading and highlights on the black. It's very subtle and time consuming for something that is barely discernible but I'm still pleased with the results. Any lighter and I feel it would have gone against the reflective properties of fabric, maybe I could have done some cross hatching to mitigate that...

It certainly looks a bit better on the folds on the back.

I tried greggs piece of paper underneath to bounce light under the hood with little success.

But really these shots are about better colour and I think it helps give and additional perspective on Asmodai.

I hate painting purity seals, my ham-fisted bits of text look awful. However, I actually love them as bits of decoration and will be adding a lot of Purity Seals to a number of new models.

Anyway, I still like this guy.

Dark Angels - Dark Vengeance Interrogator Chaplain Seraphicus - TO DONE!

It's funny, when I originally put down on my To Do List that I wanted to complete a Dark Angel Chaplain this the one I had in mind. That's really only because he was the one that I had, then I thought Asmodai was a beast because I was applying the same rules of melee weapons as how the 'nids work, got the model and then found out he can chose either his Blades of Reason or Crozius not both. 

Anyway, from what I can gather Seraphicus isn't all that, you're probably better off with a plain old Interrogator Chaplain and upgrade him to the same weaponry. I have to admit these pics are doing a lot to lift this model, the incense smoke and plasma effect look far more vibrant and effective than in reality.

I applied the same gloss varnish to the power armour as I did with Asmodai but it does have a weird effect on distorting the scale of these miniatures. Because the gloss is thick it distorts the finer detail and essentially reminds you this is a tiny model. It's difficult to explain but it's the vibe I get which is overwhelming the intended shiny enamelled armour intention.

But other than that I'm actually quite happy. I have another lead [pb] Rogue trader Chaplain knocking about that I want to bring up-to-date but I need to put him on a slate base so he stands tall alongside his modern equivalents. I also had a cool DA back pack that has gone missing that would have looked cool on him. Until I find what I'd planned [and I'm not 100% sure what the back pack was] I'll leave him.

I'm quite chuffed with the cloaks markings.

It doesn't stand up to too much close scrutiny but I think I managed to do far more with it than I usually would so I'm happy with that.

His shoulder skull is still cool too.

And i like his pink eye too, I mean his glowing eyeballs, like he's just been maced!

He's kind of cool all round, just such a shame I don't know if I'll have an end use for him. I know there's a datasheet with some Chaplains in that sounds interesting but I'm not sure what the rules are or if they're useful but it might justify this effort.

Anyway, here's the Red Stamp of Approval! I've completed a few things recently and taken some better picture than my usual efforts which puts me back in the luxury of having some content to share. Of course I don't want to blow my load so forgive me if I use the next few posts to share these pics. I took a couple of new shots of Asmodai so the colours are less orange, if slightly darker. I did a little photo shoot of them with the other HQ choices so far. Then I've got my Deathwing done and did a combined shoot with my other Deathwing. There's definitely a difference between the older ones and newer ones but the pics are far more forgiving at least. Things to look forward at least.

1500pt battle report - nids vs nu-new Craftworld Eldar cash grab not wave serpent spam anymore, no! just some other cheese :P

This may actually be the first game PeteB and I have had this year, actually since before Blog Wars 8 last year! Having sold his Space Wolves and started back up on Eldar only to have his raison d'être - Wraithknight/Wave Serpent spam turned upside down by the new Craftworld Codex it was overdue we had a bash. This face off has been postponed a couple of times due to my illness, and Pete's new job but finally lets see what we've got.

I amended my list that I played Otty with, dropped the Children of Cryptus and a Carnifex and reintroduced a Bastion with Escape hatch and Quad Gun and the Broodlord Hunting Pack formation for the reserve shenanigans from buildings + Preferred Enemy

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant W Winged Tyrant Tervigon Plain Tr Broodlord Onslaught Onslaught Psychic Scream The Horror The Horror Psychic Scream Dominion Dominion Dominion Dominion

The low down:

• Maelstrom game but based on the Blog Wars 9 rules - 3 Cards based on their amended maelstrom mission table - Dawn of War
• Warlord Trait - Move through Cover and Stealth in Ruins!
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, went second and failed to steal the initiative, yeah, that's right ones all round, where were you when I needed a darn Catalyst?!

I deployed with most of my high value items on the opposite flank to Pete's Wraithknight, Prism and Serpents I put the gaunts over on that flank to Objective Secure the objectives when contesting against his units.

I foolishly positioned the Flyrant for synapse that didn't take into account his units could move to get a bead on him round the corner of the Bastion for shooting! But we'd already chatted too long and we were down to 2 hours for the game!

The other flank really only had Striking Scorpions to worry about. Pete rolled his missions and got:

1. 1VP to destroy a vehicle or MC. 2 VP if 3 or more destroyed.
2. 1VP to destroy a unit in shooting phase. 2 VP if 3 or more destroyed.
3. 2VP if you control 3 objectives at the end of the turn

Pete was easily going to score mission 3 as he already had 2 objectives and only had to move to score the third.

Having got the angle on the Flyrant he took a wound, with only cover and night-fighting stopping it from being worse. Amusingly the Fire Prism immobilised itself which brought back memories of his old Rhino getting stuck on the weediest hedge you've ever seen. So Pete took the one VP for his mission as consolation and it was my go.

I didn't take any pics in my turn but rolled my missions and got:

1. 2VP to secure objective 5.
2. 1VP if a unit has Linebreaker, 2 VP if 3 or more units do.
3. 2VP if you destroy 3 units in your turn

Mission 1 was out, the Eldar had got Obj5 and I wouldn't be able to get the gaunts there to contest. I could get mission 2, thanks to reading up on the rules of FMC's and discovering they can actually still 'run' when they swoop. So I managed to get Onslaught off on my left Flyrant, 'ran' into his deployment Zone and also got to shoot at the Scorpions for little effect. Meanwhile the Warlord Flyrant targeted the Warp Spiders who disappeared out of sight behind the little watchtower as soon as he cast his baleful gaze in their direction! The Tervigon and Carnifex also surged forward with the Tervigon spawning 12 without doubles.

Pete's 2nd turn and he rolled to secure objective 5, which he could do with ease. I'm not quite sure what happened in his turn, mainly killing gaunts like it was a fashion trend and my Malanthrope helping to keep everything else alive. He also flew his Fire Dragon Wave Serpent across half the board to get close to my Bastion.

The pic below is actually Pete's turn two, but in my turn two only my Rippers arrived from reserve [lazy Stealers!], deep struck and deviated away from objective 5. Luckily the Termagants managed to steal objective 5 from the Warp Spiders and the Rippers would eventually run into scoring range too.

The Flyrant shot the back of the Wave Serpent, which was wrecked allowing my Warlord Flyrant to shoot the disembarked Dire Avengers with some success.

I contested objective 5 but shot at the Warp Spiders who jumped out of the way leaving me alone in the crater.

Pete got the Fire Dragons out and promptly turned my Bastion to sludge.

Warp Spiders managed to do some serious damage to my Termagants who end up outside of synapse range requiring a morale check. I passed on 6 and would subsequently pass all morale and Instinctive Behaviour checks on this unit on a 6 in various forms for the entire game!

At around this point I lost 'The Game' but this is the 'Tervigon Game', wherein I realised I had forgotten to spawn any Termagants in my 2nd turn which usually heralds the Tervigon's impending demise. You may recall the exact same thing happened in my last game with Otty. She'd already taken a couple of wounds from various other quarters, including the last Dire Avenger.

And then the Striking Scorpions happened, sallying forth from the building they occupied. She killed a few in overwatch but was chopped into bits, although I think only just losing those last two wounds - so close. I'm also pretty sure I'd hoped to charge the building with my Carnifex in my previous turn but failed the distance. It's almost as if the dice were against me!

Gaunts burst apart at her passing but the Malanthrope kept them in check. The Scorpions consolidated back behind the defensive walls. In my turn I would need to secure Obj 4 off to my left. The gaunts managed to just get into range with the Malanthrope taking cover to the left of the large Ferron Fire Fir. A brood of Stealers woke up in the ruins on the far right.

The Carnifex chased the Scorpions down. I killed 4 in shooting, leaving just 2 behind the walls. I charged and ended up suffering 2 wounds in overwatch thanks to their stupid little Shurikens. I only got 1 Hammer of Wrath off, squashing 50% of the remaining Eldar.

Only for the Exarch to slice and dice me like sushi with just 2 AP2 wounds removing the Carnifex from play!

The Fire Dragons [who were out of shot on the right of the Fir trees] shot at the Malanthrope. It had taken two wounds already but it's cover save was strong. However the Wraithknight jumped round the trees to get an unobscured view and blew it to pieces. It also took out some gaunts, possibly all of them.

This was the last turn as time had run out. I was 3 VPs behind. Both my Flyrants were surrounding objective 5 and I had missions to have 3 units in my own Deployment Zone, 2 VPs to kill 3 or more units and 1VP to kill his Warlord [which would also net me another VP for Slay the Warlord]. I got only one brood of Stealers come in from Reserve so I brought them onto my table edge now I needed two more units. I'd surrounded the Warp Spiders, killing most of them but the Autarch was in combat with the Termagants, with only the Rippers and 3 remaining Stealers from the ruins. I had the two flyrants to gain my DZ but would give up on the VPs for destroying 3 units and line breaker.

So I took a gamble. Warlord Flyrant flew for Line breaker. Stealers and Rippers bundled into the Warp Spiders. 2nd Flyrant went for the Fire Dragons - the only thing in range of my DZ and swooping turn. I was doubtful only one Flyrant could kill the Fire Dragons and I was proved right with the Exarch surviving on his own.

My Warlord Tyrant secured linebreaker and Destroyed the Fire Prism, thanks to its inability to jink. That lone Dire Avenger mocking me in the distance.

The melee on objective 5 came to a messy end for the Autarch, with the rending claws of the Stealers cutting him to pieces.

This secured me 2 VPs and two thirds of my objective to kill 3 units, but not quite enough.

Here's the score sheet, it's not quite correct as we think we included First Blood on Pete's side, although we couldn't remember what First Blood is. However, we realised there isn't any First Blood in BW9, it's First Strike - kill a unit in your first turn, which neither of us achieved. So the final score was 8 all and it was a really great game. Before the last turn I didn't even know what the score was, I wasn't even playing to win, just going from one mission to the next. It actually felt like I wasn't playing against Pete, just playing against these random set of conditions that were created each turn. It's actually a nice way to play.

We both had our fair share of misfortune - the Fire Prism being immobilised, the Carnifex getting shot before it could do anything and my useless Broodlord who never showed up. I realised afterwards I should have put him in the Bastion on turn one and have him come out of the Escape Hatch. At least he'd have been able to do something. I've gone a bit down on reserve rolls, without access to a Comms Relay [so I could take the only slightly useful Quad Gun - it actually shot really well considering it was on auto-fire] there's no way to raise those odds. But it was a great game with plenty to think abotu going forwards.