1500pts battle report - Dark Angels v Imperial Guard and their Skitarii mates.

I hadn't intended writing this as a battle report but I think there are some pretty cool things that happened so it may well become one. My army was:

• Librarian [Psychic Scream & Hallucination]
• Techmarine
• Deathwing command squad with Apothecary
• Deathwing squad in Land Raider Redeemer
• 5 x Scout Snipers with camo cloaks
• 10 x Space marine Tactical squad, missile launcher and Flamer
• 8 x Space marine Tactical squad, Plasma Cannon
• 5 x  Devastators, 4 Missile Launchers
• Ravenwing Dark Talon
• Bastion

The low down:

• Cleanse and Control - Maelstrom missions - 3 cards. Vanguard Strike
• Warlord Trait - Bonus for Seize the Initiative, re-roll reserves
• No night fighting first turn, won deployment, went first, Ben failed to steal the initiative.

Compared to Ben's army this didn't feel like very much and as he's got Leman Russ's, Basilisk's, Wyverns and Heavy Weapons Teams my army was pretty much outgunned.

Oh yeah, he also had a Quad gun, even though he didn't know I had decided to take my unfinished Dark Talon!

I was more conservative than usual with my positioning of the scouts.

But they did look cool in the ruins.

First, turn and with Land Raider potentially falling in Ben's turn I went flat out through the craters, passing the dangerous terrain test. Unfortunately I couldn't do anything to the Quad gun so I concentrated on the Hellhound. The Devastators managed to get 2 hull points off it. The Tactical Squad Missile Launcher failed to glance and the Plasma Cannon missed. The bastion did pick off a Guardsman, and the Scouts took a few. My cards were pretty ropey, kill Ben's Psyker, kill 1 or 3-5 or 6 units and I think to hold all the objectives, which I discarded.

The Hellhound got to kill the Scouts, it's Flamer killing all but the one on top of the ruins, who was picked off by it's hull mounted Heavy Bolter - First Blood. Ben's Wyverns removed the Devastators :( Tactical squad in the woods get reduced to 2, fail their morals check and run off the board! Tactical squad in the Ruins have their Plasma Cannon marine shot off the board too.

The Leman Russ Targeted the Land Raider and it managed to survive with 2 Hull Points damage and a wrecked Assault Cannon. I feverishly consulted the rulebook... My turn 2 and the Dark Talon arrived [after Warlord Trait re-roll], the Deathwing also arrived [again after Warlord re-roll] but then mishapped after teleporting onto Ben's psyker, who I'd laughingly suggested was a Fallen. Turns out they were very interested in him and managed to return to the orbiting strike cruiser to come back again next turn.

With the Dark Talon at risk from the Quad Gun I had only one option TANK SHOCK! I passed my dangerous terrain test to get off the craters, passed the next one to crash through the Aegis.

The guard scattered without injury but with the Quad Gun unable to move it was destroyed instantly - CRUNCH! [At least that was my/our interpretation, it's not a vehicle so it isn't rammed either]. Unfortunately, having used up so much speed I couldn't do anything else. The Assault Cannon was gone, the Flamestorms can't fire and the Terminators can't get out. The Techmarine failed to repair the Hull Points.

Having avoided the Quad Gun the Dark Talon opened up the Rift Cannon on the Leman Russ Vanquishers. Rolled to scatter, got double two so it hit both tanks. Rolled to pen and got another two 2's, then I remembered the main reason I wanted to use this afterall. Doubles on the scatter get me VORTEX! So the second roll becomes the Destroyer table rolls and I get two D3 hull Points on the Squadron, I get a 5 and 1, destroying the nearest tank.

Ben's turn, the Vortex moves in front of the Aegis, killing one Guardsman [I love this]

The Dark Talon manages to evade all incoming fire, without even resorting to Jink.

The Basilisk takes aim at the Bastion [because I'd retreated the remains of my Tac Squad into it].

The Bastion collapses, leaving just two marines alive, they bolt and run back 8" before regrouping.

My Turn 3 and the Deathwing arrive, this time safely in the woods deep in enemy territory.

I manage to get a couple of Hull Points off a Wyvern.

The Vortex continues it's merry way. I try to move the Land Raider and it becomes immobilised on the remains fo teh Quad Gun. The Deathwing sally forth with the Librarian. The libby psychically screams at a command unit of five Guardsman killing all of them. The Terminators manage to destroy the Basilisk with a perfect 7" charge and another unit falls allowing me to get D3 VPs, getting 2, plus another one for claiming and objective. Meanwhile the Librarian gets killed assaulting the other Command squad, overwatch did not help.

The Chaos G.O.D.s are a capricious bunch as the Vortex scattered directly on top of the last remaining Vanquisher, but I only rolled a 1 on the Destroyer table meaning the leman Russ was left with a Vortex hat!

With the Land Raider wrecked by Haywire grenades from the Skitarii the Techmarine abandons it and takes out most of the Heavy Weapons squad. The Terminators scramble over the wrecked Vanquisher to assault the remaining tank only to be overzealous and the resulting pummelling from powerfists blows up two of their own!

On the other side the last remaining Terminator assaults the second Heavy Weapons squad but nobody does anything.

The final score was 14:4 to Ben, his Maelstrom cards were a damn sight more forgiving than my own but even so my army was pretty much outgunned and outmatched. The Dark Talon was pretty cool, but it was pointed out that with a tank killing S10 AP2 Rift Cannon and infantry killing double Hurricane Bolters you're going to struggle to utilise both weapons on the same target, which is unfortunate. I love the Vortex though and although 160pts is quite expensive I'm sure I'll be taking one just for the lolz. That said the Bastion was an utter waste but I really don't have anything to replace it with points wise and at least it increased it's unbroken record of not surviving a game.

A lot of things failed to perform, but most didn't even get chance to as they were wiped out first turn - Scouts, Devastators. This is still a steep learning curve for me, every marine is valuable, I can't sell them cheap like Termagants and they run away too! It amazes me they're the 'basic' choice for beginners. It's definitely making me look with fresh eyes at the nids and the things that do work but although I was 'crushed in defeat' I did really enjoy trying something different for a change.

'nids part 196 - Deathwatch Overkill

Shortly after Throne of Skulls the Amazon marketplace price for Deathwatch Overkill stabilised and I was able to pick it up for £87.62 [supplied by Wayland Games] but I had a shedload of Amazon vouchers so it only set me back about £16 overall. Quite often Amazon Vouchers are given as gifts so it's handy to find an option on getting a good deal and make the best of use of them and not feel guilty about hobby purchases.

I'd really like to play the game but really want to have the models painted first!

One thing I have noticed, is that the mould lines are quite pronounced on the sprue. It's not as bad as the Genestealer sprues from my Deathstorm, they were shocking but that was presumably an old mold. This however, is a modern mold, and so much of GWs plastics now requires minimal effort to clean, apart from sprue removal. However this was surprising and as there are identical sprues it's not a one-off as they're both similarly affected, although they could have been molded concurrently. It's certainly nothing worth complaining about but I would be interested in knowing if anyone else noticed this.

So, having made savings on the box I then went and blew them on some resin bases. I'd figured that making some rubble bases like my current cultists would be too time consuming [although I may regret the disparity in styles eventually]

I also noted that models I'd seen at GW poly-cement glued to the bases had their feet melt a little bit. I wanted these to stand on top so I looked into the various manufacturers and opted for bases4war due to the great value and range of all sizes in their battlefield debris range. Ben is using their Dragons Causeway range for his Skitarii but I also like the Hive range. Regardless you really do get a lot of bases for your buck and the casting is great and they've been belt sanded afterwards so are perfectly flat.

Of course the time saved not making my own is now completely wasted as I have to mill out flat areas to mount the hybrids, which is messy and time consuming and obviously costly [despite the great value] compared with using the supplied bases and my own basing materials. Not to mention that milling the bases means they're now sunk in the dirt instead of standing atop as was my initial beef with the models! Still, I wanted to try it and these models do deserve quality bases and hopefully I can still make them match my other bases, which is the challenge.

'nids part 195 - 31 Genestealers

I have absolutely no idea where I am in keeping you up-to-date on the 31 Stealers? But here was five of them, old skool Space Hulk with modern Scything Talons and additional carapace plates.

I then stormed through the Soft Tone Army Painter Wash.

Followed by the Dark Tone wash on the blue and fleshy bits.

Chitin highlights came thick [I don't thin my paints so screw 'em] and not fast - just the predicted amount of time - 2 days per highlight.

Highlight two went onI got to play with some new paintbrushes my oldest friend got me for my birthday. They're really good but I did notice I overload them so it doesn't matter how fine the brush I still manage to lay down the same amount of paint. I'm comfortable with that though, this is my level and so long as I keep producing I don't need Golden Daemon quality. 

Now, here's my progress chart [minus an X on the last Chitin highlight]. I was ctually feeling like this was going well but realise I'm not even a tird the way through and the next steps will be even more mind numbing. Because the chitin can be managed en masse it feels lik it was quick but each gorup of five will be a 3 day job for each highlight!

Luckily I'm on a Dark Angel mission so I'll be inserting a highlight here and there, hopefully to mitigate the face-gnawing. Now it's 146 days until the hobby season closes and predicted 36 sessions* worth of work [oops just realised edge basing hasn't been included - another 2 sessions at least], which is eminently doable, or is it? Only time will tell...

* a session represents a single amount of time/effort I can bring to these Stealer without causing a nervous breakdown

Dark Angels - Tactical Squad 'last chance to dance'

I've continued to crack on with the Tactical Squad, it's funny how everything feels like it's downhill after the green has been done, even if the remaining details are actually just as time consuming. The chapter symbol and company markings have all been done and I've picked out the Purity Seals too.

Unfortunately having done all this I then failed to take any further pictures so the next update will be the To Done! pics, when I take them. I have to admit that the litanies I've subsequently painted are a mixed bag. One in particular reminds me of a Pearly King and a couple just didn't go to plan but I was able to claw back a result I'm happy with.

All that said they ended up done and even though there's quite a lot of room for variance between the efforts on these and their AoBR brothers I think they hold up well together and in isolation. All I need to do now is add a few tufts of yellow flock and Tamiya Clear Orange X-26 the sniper scopes.

Dark Angels - Tactical Squad 'pushing through Vs go with the flow'

I’ve been advocating ‘going with the flow’ for a long time now. When the muse strikes it is always much easier and more productive to go with it than to force yourself to do things less appealing or more difficult. Quite often you can harness s this power of procrastination to deliver something else and that’s perfectly valid and worthwhile.

The one on the left is a completed AoBR marine for comparison

However, it’s worth noting that ‘pushing through’ is something we shouldn’t always shy away from. Case in point I finally painted the second set of highlights on just three Tactical marines the other night. This has been a task I’ve been avoiding, in fact I’ve a number of those that are all vying to be ignored and when it was a toss up between containment spikes on the Tyranid VSG or paint a few Dark Angels I had to give the First a little attention. There were perfectly sensible reasons for making this decision, afterall the VSG is just a vanity project, it’s not something I need to do or is particularly urgent. The Dark Angels are needed, long overdue and as I could run 750pts of them at Alex’s Double Touble event I really should have some options. And, I don’t want them half-finished as I’ve been playing with them like this for a while.

Now I often envisage this ‘pushing through’ as wading through treacle or quicksand, it’s a mental picture that just helps me to overcome the creative inertia. You can feel it’s a chore, it’s not coming easy, every step forward needs to fought for and pushed kicking and screaming into existence. But three figures down I felt such a relief, such a sense of achievement. Hopefully I can do another three then finish the last four, or do the four and it’s the easy finish? I could even switch to a 3, 2, 2, it doesn’t really matter it’ll progress slowly but eventually the drag that is holding me back will loosen, the project will advance and eventually you’re no longer up to your waist in the thick of it – you’ve reached solid ground.

Two nights later it was a 4, 3 finish

With all that in mind I can look at the remaining 7 models and not be completely disheartened by the bulk of the work that still remains. It’s far from easy and often the effort to push through just isn’t worth it, not when a quick side-trip to something familiar will result in more progress [my recent Termagants for instance] but these detours are useful for morale. The ultimate driver for your own progress is your state of mind - the tougher the slog the easier it is for your mind to just want to give it up. For most of us this isn’t a job it’s a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun, there are some tasks that feel more like a chore but if you can find a balance to overcome them it can be just as rewarding, if not moreso than those quick wins.

Now to darken it down...

Keep on painting, while I have this left to do...

'nids part 194 - Tyranid Void Shield Generator part 9.

Second side plate completed. I think I'm getting the hang of this now, I mean it's not the most amazing sculpting, it's pretty basic in fact but it's a level I comfortable with, both in results and effort involved to achieve it.
 

I know I could achieve something similar with a tonne of hot glue and some simple haousehold rubbish but I wouldn't be happy with it. Whereas this aesthetic is a bit more involved but not too much I'm rendered motionless by the weight of the task at hand.

The fourth spine plate was done too.

This was the progress night before Throne of Skulls, side plates complete and spine done.

Next up containment spikes on the spine.

Then fleshy bits on the spine interior and the battlements.

I'd been musing on the battlment base, It'll be similar to the Skyshield but the VSG stamen will hopefully look similar to this, the centre of a pumpkin flower.

Although it'll be red, like this.

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 1. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 2. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | part 11. | part 12. | part 13. | part 14. | part 15. |