Red Planet BASING

In an effortto avoid finishing the Land Speeders I decided to crack on with both the familiar and necessary - my old friend Red Planet BASE! I picked up these bike bases at Double Trouble, they're for my Black Knights and Command squad. Unfortunately they only had one pack of each but I'm hoping that they'll still match thanks to our favourite crimson planet painting technique.

They'll also help differentiate units/squads. Luckily the slate ones match my existing bike bases, of which I have 5, so 1 will make up the 6th. That leaves me with 4 concrete and 3 slate to break up my 7 Command/Black Knights - that's providence! I just need to work out the split - 

3 command/4 Knights or 4 command/3 Knights

The Deathwatch also got a quick first higlight.

And second, there's a lot to do on these bases that's not Red Planet but I'll just concetrate on what I know for now.

It's not Land Speeders but at least I'm doing something :)

Deathwatch Overkill basing [and undercoat]

Motivation and progress is currently at a nadir. My Land Speeders are stalled and the only real thing I've done is base these guys from Deathwatch. This is using my rubble mix and despite the rest of the Deathwatch set [the Cultists] being on resin bases I hope I'm able to match them all up.

I followed up with a black undercoat and then usinga piece of card to cover the model Red Oxide primed the base. This is post Vermilion craft painting, the Red Oxide was really only to catch the edge of the base which is always prone to chipping and it's much easier to do my Heavy Red edging on primed Red Oxide.

I watched Duncan's guide to painting the Deathwatch and I may well try and do very simple edge highlighting, no blending on these [like the Ravenwing]. The Deathwatch could possibly be used alongside my Dark Angels but their primary purpose is for Overkill, thus a different style of painting black wouldn't be a problem. I'll also be deviating from the tutorial and use the same colours I currently do so it should tie in tonally with the rest of my force. I just think they need to be painted quickly and if I do it simply but neat they may turn out quicker than normal. That said I'm really inspired by this picture to add weathering powders on them when they're complete. Not much else has it but it clearly works here.

Overall though I think I've burned out just a little bit from all my previous efforts. The season is coming to a close and although I'm sure my Land Speeders [which should be my priority] could be done in the time remaining I've sort of sabotaged myself a bit. Not sure if I was subconciously doing it deliberately or it's just fatigue, either way time is running out on them and I think they're more likely to be completed very early in the next season than bow out of 2015/16 in style.

The Holy Grail has been found!

The other night while sitting down for tea we had a bit of family drama while the eldest decided to choke on a Yorkshire Pudding [I blame Aunte Bessie, the wife's are usually much better]. Anyway, in the midst of him vomming into the kitchen sink the doorbell rang, which we rightly ignored. Then a minute or two later the house phone rang, which was also ignored. Then my mobile rang and I saw it was my brother, I answered it just to say I'd call back later but inbetween my information he managed to explain he'd left something on my doorstep.

After the situation with my son was thankfully resolved I had chance to look at what it was. It was a concertina folder that mainly contained a couple of old White Dwarf's, a tin full of all the Blood Bowl 2nd edition Star Player cards and a bunch of art prints by the likes of John Blanche and other classic WD artists [I may well scan some in]. But there in the bottom were two figures, one rather unremarkable dwarf the other was the figure that started it all!

I described this guy originally here and more recently on Michael Corr's Better Know a Blogger feature. This is the first figure I ever bought!

And concurrently the first figure I ever painted, I think I've improved a little bit. As you can see Humbrol enamels do a great job of covering up all the details.

Clearly the sculptor was a little inspired by the Mighty Thor and possibly Hulk Hogan, I find his oversized head just a little amusing though. Interestingly I checked underneath to see the manufacturer but there was nothing aside from a barely visible number 3 so I don't know the manufacturer or anything.

I will definitely be stripping him down to repaint at some point. He deserves that at least but for the time being I'll revel in all his original glory. Anyway, I'm over the moon at finding this, or more accurately, having it materialise out of thin air. I'm sure you can all see the importance in it regardless of it's physical properties. This made me very happy indeed.

UPDATE

I just asked on the 'eavier metal facebook page if anyone recognised it and a guy called Jean-Baptiste Garidel had this to say:

Asgard miniatures, still available from Alternative armies and Vikking forge. Oh and it was sculpted by no other than Jes Goodwin.

 He then shared this link: www.alternative-armies.com/products/bp3-beasthelm

And you can also get him here: www.thevikingforge.net/BP-03.html

So, he's called Beasthelm [actually that's a mistake in the reissue name, he is in fact Kern the Reaver], still available and is a Jes Goodwin model, that's amazing! Also note I put that notch in his axe myself - I was modifying even my first miniature!

www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Barbarian_Personalities_%28Asgard%29

1500pts battle report - Dark Angels/Knight v Tau

Liam and I haven't had a battle since Throne of Skulls, we never even finished that properly thanks to the early closing at Warhammer World. It's odd really as he lives only about 20 minutes away from the train station I get to work so as I'm half way there anyway I just take my stuff and go straight from work, he even made me tea - spaghetti and meatballs which was pretty awesome.

The low down:

• One of the Maelstrom missions - 3 cards per turn cannot discard numbered objectives, opponent can 'steal' them from you.
• Dawn of War
• Warlord Trait - +1 to Seize the Initiative, re-roll reserves
• Liam got a Maelstrom Warlord Trait that allowed him to discard even the numbered objectives
• I lost deployment and set up second but seized the initiative without need to use my Warlord Trait!
• No night fighting.

Initial deployment

Liam came unstuck, as battlescribe no longer gave him an option to take his Skyshield, of course a big ruined tower works exactly the same, near enough although my Dark Angels were the focus of a lot of scorn when they used cover ;) .

Like my Bastion, 'hiding' behind the ruins.

Having stolen the initiative Liam was convinced he was already doomed, banking on a first turn where he destroyed my Lancer. But for me it was all about the objectives and my Ravenwing managed to get objective 2 while my Tactical squad [not shown] next to the Bastion secured objective 3.

The Lancer got within range of the Stormsurge and I got 3 hull points on it. The Ravenwing went for the Tetra's

I managed to kill one Tetra and I think another was damaged. Liam's turn, despite his worst fears turned out really well. The bikes by the ruined tower got reduced to one and fled. He had the mission to get D3 VPs for holding three objectives, he also had to claim objective 2, which his ObSec Fire Warriors took with ease out from under the nose of my Ravenwing. They also shot them with everything they had but their Ravenwing Jink re-roll meant only one fell to the Xenos weapons [much to Liam's dismay]. With three objectives he got the full 3 VPs on his D3 roll, plus objective 2 so ended the turn 2:4 in the lead.

I rolled for reserves but rerolled a passed Deathwing to keep them off the board, hoping they'd be better off if I'd got an objective to capture in Liam's board half, which I didn't currently have in my hand. The Dark Talon Zoomed on though! Interceptor fire took 2 Hull Points off it, I didn't Jink to keep the Rift Cannon in play. Shooting-wise I think it shot the Tetras to pieces with Hurricane Bolters, the Rift Cannon doing very little. This won me First Blood and a VP for killing a unit in the shooting phase. More importantly it took out all but one of his Marker Lights which meant his Stormsurge would struggle to fire it's D-weapon missiles!

The Lancer had to make a decision though, take out the Storm Surge or assault the Fire Warriors. I was reluctant to do the latter as I thought I'd be tarpitted with hindsight I should have done that and hoped to remain locked in my turn [by not stomping at the least] and then win in Liam's releasing me to assault in my next go. Instead I went for the Storm Surge, it seemed the biggest threat but thanks to his saves I think only 1 or 2 more hull points went on him.

The remaining Ravenwing on my left flank shot at the fire Warriors, killing just one, the Bastion also took another. I was hoping to thin the numbers for assault and as I was only 1" away at the beginning of the turn didn't think it was risky. Then I assaulted and overwatch by them AND the Riptide lurking behind the ruin meant I needed a 10" charge roll through cover... Yep these guys did it, hence the Evel Knievel pose as they jumped to the first floor!

I won the combat by 2, the Tau broke and I over-ran them consolidating towards the centre of the board. I also claimed objective 4 for another VP

The XV-109 arrived, flying into position directly behind the Lancer. With no shield to protect his rear armour he got plasma-flamed to oblivion [everything else, including the Storm Surge missiles missing by miles]. 

The resulting explosion did no further damage to anyone else.
 This gave Liam D3 VPs for taking down a big walker, he got 2 VPs on the roll. He also gained a VP for holding objective 1.

The Riptide focused on the Ravenwing, I think he won, making the score at the end of turn 2 5:7 in Liam's favour.

Turn 3 and Deathwing arrive. I need yo kill their leader for D3 points to get me back in the game, it's at this point I'm regretting the Lancer not assaulting those Fire Warriors he's joined to.

I throw everything at them but a Warrior and the Leader survive to thwart my attempts. I do however score 2 VPs for gaining objectives 5 and 4, we've drawn even again.

The Deathwing assault at some point [presumably the turn after they arrive] with only three left, one being the sergeant with powers sword, another the Apothecary with Narthecium and the last being my 'big gun' with power fist I do little damage thanks to some upgrade that prevents me getting the extra attack on the charge. The Riptide would subsequently crush the three of them and controlling objective 1 elsewhere would take Liam into the lead by 1 VP.

My next turn saw the Dark Talon hover, so I can get a shooting attack on the Warlord and hope the Rift Cannon will double and take out the Storm Surge too. Unfortunately the cannon misses, deviates wildly and no doubles :( The Warlord survives the Hurricane Bolter by heroically throwing his bodyguard into the blessed bolter shells. Thanks to hovering I couldn't release the Stasis Bomb, so the mission and Slay the Warlord goes begging I get nothing this turn still 7:8

With the flyer vulnerable in hover mode the Storm Surge brought all it's weapons to bear.

Which were significant, with obvious results.

The Riptide roasts the Techmarine getting Slay the Warlord.

The other Riptide smashes the Bastion to pieces [has it ever survived?] Liam gets Line Breaker, completes another mission of being in my DZ, claims objective 3 AND gets D3 VPs for having twice as many objectives as I do. You guessed it Liam gets 3 VPs on the roll. So the maximum  5 VPs from all his Maelstrom cards, plus the 2 VPs for Slay the Warlord and Line Breaker resulted in a final score of 7:15. It was 12:30am so I called it there.

Before I look at any of my actions Liam was adamant that the battle report made something very clear - his dice rolling was appalling. Mine was ridiculously lucky but his was atrocious in his eyes and wanted everyone to know how bad it was. That said let look at how he beat me 7 VPs to 15!!! ;)

Bottom line I screwed up with the Lancer, I should have charged the Fire Warriors. Hindsight is always 20:20 and to be fair I did not realise the XV-109 could be so devastating, or in fact remember it was coming on!. Rergardless that exposed back is quite the weakness for the Lancer so I must remember that in future.

I was also impressed by the bikes and I'm looking forward to adding some more, they'd have definitely been more effective than the Deathwing. Another 8 bike would have been more shooty, more board control and more target saturation. I need to get more bikes done. I never imagined my Dark Angels being Ravenwing heavy but they are seriously effective [as has been observed by many] and playing with them I can see the appeal and if I can get to grips with how to use them I think I could really enjoy the fast hitting nature of bikes.

Anyway, it was a great game, one I casually threw away but I still see these as learning experiences so I'll try to be more aggressive next time with what I have at my disposal.

Deathwatch Overkillin'

A while back PeteB and I had a second Deathwatch Overkill night, he wanted to go through all the missions as a campaign so we started from scratch again.

This time around it was a bit better and we managed to get more rules right: 

• only rend weapons get to carry over shots onto other models [which makes the stealers a little more durable]
• and you can run if you don't attack [which makes things move a little quicker.

I guess it pays to make some attempt to read the rules.

Anyway, Pete still rattled through the first mission with ease, I think this is the second mission where I had to control something just out of shot on the left.

Instead of the painted cultists we used the undercoated game ones which has prompted an urge to crack on with them, an urge I'm currently ignoring!

Bottom line this was another night of casual fun gameplay. As the nid player I end up feeling like a GM, really just there to put obstacles in the Deathwatch's path for them to cut through, I quite like it.

Ultimately Pete ended up in the last room, with plenty of obstacles

Which were summarily destroyed for him to capture the tech I was guarding.

We've another game coming up this week we'll see how the campaing progresses.

Given the simplicity of Overkill and having sat through a rather tortuos Pokemon game with my youngest I 'forced' him to have a go one weekend. I knew he wouldn't be disappointed going Marines as every game they've won. I hoped it might prick his interest, he often wants to hang out with me so I figured he'd get that, we'd be doing something fun, just the two of us and he would be winning so much he'd get the appeal. Of course I was wrong, he was bored halfway through, wanted to stop and kill the remaining 12 Stealers the next day. I even caught him mouthing "help me" to his Mum when she walked in the kitchen! I guess that says it all.

In fairness he did play on to kill the 25, he wanted to stop as soon as he had but I fillowed the same rules as with PeteB and played until the end of the game turn, meaaning he'd killed 34 by the end of the game! It was certainly more fun than Pokemon but I think I've learned my lesson, this games just really for big kids ;)

The 2016/17 Hobby Season starts soon, join me!

The 2016/17 hobby season will be starting soon so for those alumni who joined in last year it might be cool to look back at your lists at what you've achieved , what might have slipped and those lovely unexpected successes that happened despite life getting in the way and loss of mojo - I speak from experience.

The original plan when I started with 'big stamps of approval' was that I wouldn't do multi-coloured stamps, just alternate between red and green but who was I kidding? So I give you the official 40kaddict 2016/17 Big Purple Stamp of Approval!

Or you can record your achievements with an 'unbranded' version.

And should you feel inclined todifferentiaite your efforts yet further here 's the major goal stamps

And minor goals.

Just a reminder of what it's about, in 2011 I made my first To Do List, amusingly it now looks like this:

• AoBR Tactical Squad
• AoBR Dreadnought
• AoBR Terminators
• Scout Squad
• Ravenwing bike squad
• Dark Angel Drop Pod
• Purity Seal all of my son's Tyranids
• Gloss Varnish all of my son's Tyranids
• Tyranid Prime
• Mycetic Spore
• Paint Vent Tower
• Paint defence platforms x4
• Complete pot pourri vegetation
• Complete future containers
• Complete 40k Cathedral tower
• STC Single story ruin
• STC Hex Defence platforms
• STC Targus Assault Blockade
• STC Vent tower
• STC Athena plateau
• STC Mercury plateau
• STC 40k Cathedral tower
• 60mm Dreadnought crater

So 5 things still haven't been done. The purpose was to try to focus my efforts to outline a list of things I'd love to do over a twelve month period and if I acheived any of them great, all of them, so much better. But more importantly I needed a structure to cling to when my efforts became aimless. That's not to say deviations from the list were forbidden it was more for when I went 'well what's next?'

It became an annual blog post to review what I'd done and set new tasks and throughout the year I would reveal my 'To Dones!' as completed items both on and off the list. Showcase posts ar enothing new to hobby blogs but again it was a structure to help build the identity of this blog. Then in 2014 I invited readers and passers-by of the blog to join in. Well, when you have a good idea why not share it around. I got about 10 people joining in and it looked like we were quite a supportive little bunch. I think over time steam ran out a little bit but last year folk joined in again and hopefully the same will ring true for 2016/17.

To help things out a bit I've created a Hobby Season Facebook group, it's here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/278747245819138/

So, if you're joining in just ask and I'll add you in, that way you can share your blog posts or any efforts to those also joining in. I hope this platform will allow more interaction for those taking part and keep us all motivated.

I guess the last question is why 28th August as the start/end date, why not January 1st?
I think back in 2011 it was at that time I thought a structure needed to be in place and it was as good a time as any to post a To Do List, afterall the footy season starts around this time too, no one complains about that, do they?

Anyway, 28th August join me for the new Hobby Season :)