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+ THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK + 'Twelve High Lords, where a dead man rests, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, Drink and the devil had done for the best, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. Huron kill 'em all for the treasure chest, Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum...' I have no Raiders and I must scream: Certain forum goers will know my undying love for the completely innocent and Imperial propaganda maligned, Lord of The Maelstrom by right, by the Emperor's Devine Will and Mandate, and by skilled force of arms and brotherhood, Lugft Huron. The Red Corsairs, unless you've been stuck in the warp, have had a bit of a make-over recently, and they're absolutely gorgeous. Huron's head? Well, it's a double-bagger, that one, but the Reave Captain is high on my list for flowers and chocolates. Anyway, I couldn't get my hands on the box, and the Raiders are too damn expensive, so I had to go and beg, borrow, steal and threaten, kill the moths in my wallet, and I managed to start making do with some decent deals on Mk II, Mk III and Mk VI Horus Heresy kits, with a CSM box tossed in. These are some of the results. As you can see, they're fairly rudimentary, but I'm trying my best to take design cues from the Raider models, including trying to build some bandoliers on the copious and thankfully bare Mk III plastrons. The objective is, of course, to reduce the amount of CSM rubbish on them, whilst also convincing the eye that they are, indeed, Bad GuysTM. I've got a few bits and pieces on order (mainly third-party bobs) that should go some way to sorting out a much better overall load for the models which add to the theme. Each of these models is uniquely kitbashed/converted, and I with the boxes, I have 50 marines at my disposal to continue the trend. I've assembled a collection of tools, parts and experience over the years, and finally, I've the lost the fear of cutting models up. The Mk VI's for example have suffered more horrendously than they did at Terra, with the sprue trembling at the sight of the razor saw. They're coming together, and I'm enjoying doing them. How the hell I'm going to paint them is anyone's guess, but I'll have a go, because the Red Corsair scheme is a magical bobbins device, where I can just splash the crimson and black wherever the hell I want. And Huron cried - 'I don't care who you are, here's to your dream!' And the Corsairs flocked to his banner, cheering with all their heart - 'Here's to you, Huron, and stolen dreams!'

+ THE CLAWS IN OUR STARS + + A REFLECTION ON PAST GLORIES AND MY JOURNEY WITH THE ASTRAL CLAWS INTO THIER DARK FUTURE + [THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS] In my last post, I mentioned I was a long time Astral Claws afficionado. It all started with White Dwarf 101 and the two-page pull of the Badab War, and Lugft Huron and his Tiger Claws. It was that nascent time for 40K, when things were just kicking off, and everything was still punk-struck and the grimdark hadn't bleached my bones white with the careless aeons of the darkness between stars. It was the age of tiger-stripe-clad Whiteshields, of a Goff Rock Band, of RTB 001. We fast-forward many years to Imperial Armour, and the heady products of the Specialist Games Team, and the notable Alan Bligh. They took it seriously, they improved on 99% of the source materiel and expanded it over and above what could be expected from such short snippets regarding the Imperial Commander who would become the best Villain of 40k (IMHO) and most serious threat to the Imperium outside Ol' Armless himself. I've been fascinated with this for decades, but never went forward with it in all my years of throwing dice on the tabletop, I had seven Space Marine armies, 1st and 2nd Ed were Blood Angels, which continued into 3rd Edition and joined then by the Black Templars, Imperial Fists, Crimson Fists and Salamanders. Scythes of the Emperor in 5th, and finally Space Wolves in the back end of 5th to the mid 6th, which is when I left the Tabletop. It was about that time (possibly into 7th Ed?) I happened on a thread by Noctus Cornix, called 'The Bitter End' in which he began to detail and build a small force around a host of characters, complete with IA-style vignettes about their last actions of the war, their defiance and desperation as the Palace crumbled around them, just like their world. I had most of a Space Marine Battle Company (when you could buy it from GW) on a sprue, and, with the release of Primaris, I realised these Firstborn, as they were newly dubbed were pretty much for the chop. I'm not going to get into the argument here, it's a dead horse I'd rather no-one beat. I decided on one last charge of the Astral Claws, one last steel and sapphire charge to coalesce my collection into one solid force, instead of dribs and drabs of different Chapters. I kept most of the models I was proud of, but the rest got a makeover - or cut to pieces and binned if they couldn't be salvaged. I continued to read Noctus' snippets, I immersed myself in the character of the Badabians and Imperial Armour IX/X, and I worked. In six weeks, I had a fully assembled battle company, 111 infantry models, and 11 tanks mostly built, mostly painted and mostly based, with Lugft Huron and a TDA bodyguard at their head, Silver isn't hard to paint, so I was happy enough with that. I'm not a great painter. I tried to do some flourishes how the IA/FW boys did them, and some weathering to scuff everything up. I think I did ok. Them I ran them over the tabletop for one last time, against a WAAC dude who literally erased them as the Imperium did. Then they went into boxes or case-foam and that was the end of them. With the release of the new Red Corsairs, that infatuation was rekindled. I am not a Chaos player, never really have been despite a couple of dalliances with it in 3rd and 4th Ed. I just couldn't get on with it. Maybe I don't like playing the villain - even if sometimes people tell me I'm good at it. These though, were Renegades. They weren't just acceptable, they were almost permission. I began building, converting (you can see that in a previous Blog entry) and now, I have 40 models built awaiting my terrible painting skills. Not bad for a couple of weeks. I broke out the old models, the Astral Claws of yesterday's Imperium, and looked at them with a strange, divorced, fondness. The Tiger Claws still had their hooks into me, and it merely feels now like two acts of the same play. This new version of the Astral Claws will likely never grace a tabletop, but at a time of my life when I'm having a spot of trouble, building my pirates and making terrible use of the Giria from even worse films and stories, has certainly helped. The war for Badab is over. The war of vengeance begins. All hail the Tyrant.

I'm a member of Yaktribe because I occasionally mess about with Necromunda and for a long time it was the default organizational tool for that game. Now, I mainly hang out in their hobby boards because I can post about my minis that aren't 40k. They have periodic contests of differing topics and this latest one was Hallowed and Haunted: make something that is sacred, uncanny, or cursed. I had some leftover models and decided to wipe something up- in this case an Ash Wastes scavenger and his hired guns who stumbled on something that they really shouldn't have. Luckily, it is 40k-adjacent so here it is in WIP form.

So, the other day I finally got out of a bit of a hobby slump (to be fair to myself, I'd been steadily, but very slowly, painting some Nurgle guys for AoS but mostly/only because I meet up with some friends once every week/fortnight and paint) and felt the urge to do something creative. So I found some styrofoam I had lying around as well as a ship I bought in the local thrift shop a couple of years ago, decided to build a harbour and got to work. I initially just placed the styrofoam sections in different setups to see what might work, then started brainstorming ideas. Once I got started on the "real" work, I was in danger of feeling overwhelmed a couple of times, so I forced myself to just focus on one section at a time, rather than trying to have some grand vision for everything all at once. I'm happy to say that this worked out for me and I managed to get quite a lot done, while still leaving some areas of the terrain set undeveloped. Hopefully some good ideas will materialise soon :)

So who is the Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons? Is it Kenot Friche or Alvaro? Alvaro (Lexicanum) Alvaro is the current Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons. During the Third War for Armageddon he led the First Company of the Chapter from the Battle Barge Force of Destiny, where they engaged in the persecution of a company of Night Lords Traitor Legionnaires under the command of the infamous Daemon Prince Periclitor. At the conclusion of the Indomitus Crusade, he and his Chapter were among the Imperium's forces that Lord Commander Guilliman led to Ultramar's defense, during the Plague Wars. The original version of the Dark Imperium (Novel), states that Alvaro is the current Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons. Kenot Friche (Lexicanum) Kenot Friche is the current Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons and he is leading its forces that are taking part in the Plague Wars. In the 2nd Edition of Dark Imperium, Kenot Friche is stated to be Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons So who I am I choosing as my Chapter Master... Kenot Friche. There is no information about him outside his name and this allows me to forge my own narrative for my Howling Griffons. As part of that goal as my own force but still wanting to keep them aligned as Ultramarine Successor Chapter, I am using Ultramarine keyword for them. This will allow me I have a very cool Chapter Master model in the Form of Marneus Augustus Calagar in Armour of Antilochus. And if I decided down the line to add more Howling Griffon version of Ultramarine characters I can add Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius, Master of Sanctity Ortan Cassius, Antaro Chronus (commanding the Land Raider Excelsor) and Scout Sgt Torias Telion. So as the title says this is the mock up stage and there will be lots of of work to de-Ultramarine Calgar. Enough talk its preview time Calgars head versus Wolf Guard Terminator Head I am using for Chapter Master Kenot Friche How the head looks in the Armor which working title is "Panoply Renomee". Look at all the U that have to be change With the 1st Company Captain Barrau De Sescas, Regent of Mancora Hopefully the holiday has passed I can get back to painting.

Adepticon 2026: A Word on Competitions. I did the Long War Doubles tournament Friday (everyone has a bit of grey in their beards these days, we aren't getting any younger). I also did the Team Tournament Saturday and Sunday. THis was a lot of late night and early morning shenanigans. I'm getting too old for this. Now, this year team events were part of an overall best-in-show type of award, now called the adepti-cup. This is new to me as I missed out last year. So, we aren't just competing against other teams - we're competing against the whole convention. Yikes. But... we can't let the old Bolter and Chainsword down. We've got to represent. I think the convention was said to be over 8,000 last year (I'm sure it was much more this year, frankly it's gigantic now). So, can we compete with the fantastic castles and sweeping imagery of titanic Sigmar displays? Can we compete with the near-golden demon winning paint jobs of kill team team events? No. But, I can give it all I've got. How it Ends. As to the Adepti-cup we got invited to the showcase. That in itself feels like a big honor. On Saturday night, invitees line up their armies and get judged (this year by Sam Lez, Courtney Devries, and other big names in the miniature world). We didn't place. Which, if I'm honest the rushed work on this really did show up close. If i only had another week or two... But... Fear not brothers! In the end we did take best display in the team tournament. Lots of displays were amazing. Like really really great stuff. This was the hardest competition I've ever been in (well except that one year where a necron player built a digital board that interacted with QR codes on models., that was genuinely insane). We got real lucky. On to the Display. The team wanted a 'Pacific Rim' movie theme. I didn't really know the movie, but the team was set on it. So that's what I went for. For today's entry, I think I'll just start with the water effects problem. I wanted each section of the board to have some kind of 'showstopper' element to it. Here are the main points on the board: Rock formations + Hangar (with fog machine)+ Reaver Titan Landing pad (rotating lights)+ Void Shield Generator (working lights) Crane + Billboards and Terrain kits Wall Sections, AA guns Ocean Effects + Statue of Liberty + Kaiju (Giant Nids) Vintage Monster Movie Posters + skullls Space and Transportation. So my jeep only fits about 38.5 inches wide, 31 high, and 61 inches deep. This board had to be broken in to at least 3 parts in my mind. The full statue of liberty had to be cut down down. I made my own base for it. This was a filament 3d print. So it had a lot of lines. This required automotive primer and sanding. it did get fairly smooth though. I went with Vallejo for the copper. Using some dark blue under coating in the shadows the patina really jumped out. I should have added seaweed and bird poop along with drawing a lot more into the highlights and shadows. But... time is short. Good enough for now. But we did get hurt in the ultimate judging for painting. I keep kicking myself for not starting on the board earlier in the year. Pro Tip: always measure 3x. And, after you've measured go and fit it into place as a trial run anyway. Turns out my jeep door takes up another 4 inches when closed... Display Base The display board was based around the idea of a sea wall. We envisioned monsters coming out of the water. So, for practicality of transport i kept the wall separated and disassembled. I constructed a base for the wall with room for the giant door to move and open. Water Effects The key to the whole project was a youtube video of a guy who built a wizard's tower and made huge waves really pop. I loved it, but could i do it??? It was at that point i figured we had a cool enough idea to actually make this board. He however used resin, which he poured on plastic sheet/bags then just before fully curing he found it flexible enough to fold into wave shapes to be mounted on his board. His project was positively amazing. I do not like resin though. I figured I'd try something cheaper: Caulk, silicone type 1. It's super sticky and also miserable to work with - but only to a point. Using a tongue-depressor/popsicle stick you can smooth it out. I used about 5 units/pipes of caulk on this board. I've seen people use caulk to make molds (which is also miserable). Basically you can fill a bowl with water and dish soap, inject the caulk and then start to work it. The idea is that it's not supposed to be sticky. I never got it to work. So i just spread it on the table. Now, the caulk is unruly. It needs to be smoothed out. The trick is to work in layers. Layers here - unlike painting - take a loooong time to dry. But, you can get great effects. Over the top of the caulk I just used super heavy gel medium (or you can buy super expensive model supply wave effects if you want...). Now, there's another important point here. Ultimately i painted several coats over this caulk. This means the transparent properties of water effects that i thought i needed were not really needed. See-through transparency is important for things coming out of the water - alien arms, legs, etc. But, by and large i'd say sculpt heavy waves in air-dry clay over crumpled tin foil. This would be very inexpensive. Only a small thin layer of caulk then water effects over that. The Fear. I will say, putting the caulk down was a very nervous moment. I felt like if it didn't work we were absolutely sunk and I'd have ruined a lot of time and effort... Painting Water Here you can see I'm coming in with Kroxigor Scales and Akhellion Green (which is inexplicably a deep blue...). You could use any paint you want really. I thought about doing more of a muddy water, but i figured it wouldn't translate well in miniature. I wanted deep ocean blue. Interestingly since i had used various wave and water effects some were not dry. Woodland scenics actually goes on white. So at various points while painting you could see white streaking under the waves. I guess what i'm saying is that there is definitely a cool effect just waiting to be captured by a better painter. Anyway, i came back over the tops with white. I got a bit careless here and should have used some masking (time crunch was really really bad though at this point). Below here i had mapped out all the colors. This ended up being unnecessary as i used a lot of paint on the waves themselves. Depending on your strategy you may well want to 'underpaint' like i did here though as you could have a board where it does show. Ok, this part was the show time moment. I used 3-4 types of woodland scenics water effects. None of them were super necessary. Just get some superheavy gel medium of any brand (MIchael's, Hobby Lobby, etc). If it's clear that's better as it's easier to see what you are doing. Most of them are white until they dry. So, below here i have just the normal water effects. This stuff is only good to be poured maybe 1/8inch. It also doesn't make waves. You can pour it out on plastic to make waterfalls and such as it is flexible. Anyway, you gotta mix this with the snow flock to make the white caps on the waves. This is messy. The super heavy gel might have been better, but I ran out of most of it. This was good enough. The ratio of mixing is really up to you. If you go more heavy on the water it'll be like a slush. If you go heavy on the snow flock it'll be super detailed - but it won't stick to anything. So, I kind made a slush to spead on the wave, then made a snow heavy batch to spread on top of that to get a lot of detail and contour. This one is just going back to show the design layout. I was originally going to put all turrets out there, but somehow I could only find 3 vengeance batteries. As they are $250+ on ebay now i'm not buying more... Anyway, i would later find that statue of liberty STL and was thrilled. I will say building my wall was actually a complete disaster. I'll have to do a separate section on that. The STL was great. It solved the problems, but I'd originally planned a very different wall. Here are the experiments on the water effects. Early colors were off. Early texture experiments started to show some promise very easily with rapids/wave texture just by tapping the popsicle stick on the water effect. Here i used super heavy gel. One major problem though, which persisted all the way through was wave design - straight lines hitting shore seemed ok, but waves are actually very complex patterns. I never did get it quite right. However, with some reference photos and working in layers i think anybody could beat me here. It's totally doable. As I looked at the board more i realized that you basically look at where the wave hits and where it would bounce off to. Just keep layering. This photo shows how textured the caulk is naturally. So this is just me smoothing it out as best i could. I will say if you sat with it and kept combing it up ward for hours until it dried you could probably get some neat effects - just super tedius work though. And, why not just go over this with gel medium to smooth it? Way easier solution. It was here i felt the colors were coming in right. I felt we could do the project. In hindsight... this was only 3/4 to 1 inch tall. Meanwhile my waves on the board are 3-4 inches tall. I think my waves are a bit thin and should instead be beefy and fat. Admittedly that'd have taken another couple barrels of caulk, but it'd have looked cooler. Ah, the last photo before the caulk went down. A tense moment... Ok, thanks for reading. I think I'll stop at water effects here. I'll have to do separate entries on the other stuff. Electronics is not my strong suit and we brought in legos for the win!

Today's WarComm article just straight out called me out... "After all, if you really like sneaky Space Marines AND heavily armoured elites, why should you have to focus on just one?" Well damn.....I love Terminators, Scouts, and Phobos marines. So how does this work? "Depending on the size of your game, you’ll be able to choose a number of Detachments based on their Detachment Point cost, ranging from 1 for those with gentler rules or narrow unit focuses, to 3 for those that affect your whole army with significant boosts." So I now can take 1st Company Task Force and Vanguard Strike Force, possibly. "The new edition introduces the Upgrade tag on some Enhancements, which means they can be applied to up to three non-Character units while only counting as a single choice – though you will need to pay their points costs individually. This gives you even more ways to personalize some of your favorite units and mark them out as more elite or experienced warriors. Great for both gameplay and narrative purposes!*" Really an interesting idea. Helps with the narrative idea I have about my 1st Company Captain in Terminator Armor personal Retinue having swords instead thunder hammers. "Characters that join units will now be designated either Leader or Support, and a unit can have one of each attached to it.** Some armies could do this before with special rules – such as for Space Marine Apothecaries – and now it cleans it up for everybody. You also pick which units they join when you build your list, rather than at the start of the game, which, let’s be honest, most of us were doing anyway." Again calling me out. Characters have squads assigned to them during list building, before the game. "Finally, Detachments will also grant you one or more Force Dispositions that you’ll pick from when building your army. There’ll be five in total, and when you get to the tabletop, you’ll compare yours to your opponent’s to find out which mission you’ll both be playing. " I like this style to pick missions. But.... "There’s loads more to talk about as far as missions are concerned, so check back in with us tomorrow for a first look. Otherwise, the rules for building your army will be comfortably familiar, so you can focus more on coming up with cool thematic armies and mixing Detachments that call to your hobbyist soul" * And opening up new possibilities for conversions! ** Leaders can run around on their own if they like, but Support units must be attached to a bodyguard. Important distinction. Now I wonder if this will signal the end of my Exorcists. as they were all Phobos, and my Howling Griffons are Terminators and scouts.

So as I continue working on my Howling Griffons, I am thinking about what I want to add. I need to build and paint my 20 Terminators (2 5 man Assault Terminators and 2 5 Man Tactical Terminators), 5 Man Scout Squad #2, and 3 Dreadnoughts (Ballistus, Brutulis, and Redemptor Dreadnoughts). I need to paint the Custom Terminator Characters (Company Champion and Lieutenant), Ancient, Captain*, Finish Librarian, Chaplain, and Apothecary, and Scout squad #1. Ideas I have right now: Terminator Captain: I am not happy with the Leviathan Captain as the Captain of the 1st Company. He is too plain. Enter the Grand Master of the Deathwing, Belial. Once he is De-Deathwinged I think he would make a Great 1st Company Captain. I am not a fan of his stormbolter, so that will be changed out. Head I think I will use this head from the Space Wolves Praetor in Saturnine Armor. His Robes can be turned in to a quartered scheme. The Space Wolf head will given the Captain a nice Grizzled Veteran Knight feel. Techmarine in Terminator Armor: Finishing up my Command Section for the 1st Company minus the other Lieutenant, but I want him has Bladeguard Lt. For the Techmarine, I think I will be going with kitbashing Iron Hands Characters Caanok Var and Iron Father Feirros. I know the Iron Hands bits will go to good use as @The_Oni_of_Hindsight plays Iron Hands. Land Raiders: What is the 1st Company without Land Raiders. 3 Phobos Pattern Land Raiders Land Raider Redeemer as Commander Land Raider (Capt, Ancient, 5 Terminators) Land Raider Prometheus - Howling Griffons are known to have used them and I have kit waiting to be used. Land Raider Excelsior- Warhammer World Exclsuive I picked up while there on my honeymoon

Hello folks, sometimes I want to be creative, but I have nothing to paint or I'm not in the mood for painting. I'm not made of money. So even though I love building models, I can't justify going out and buying whatever I want. What's a creative wargamer to do? Another hobby of my back in the day was Dungeons and Dragons. I don't play much currently, I still get the itch. When I did play D&D with my friends, I was the Dungeon Master 80% of the time. So I got a knack for building worlds and settings for my players to play in. Given these two things. I have decided to make my own setting or warzone within the Warhammer 40,000 universe as a writing project. I know, not the most original idea. Thousands of people have/are doing this. But I want to be creative. Where to start? Back in the 2021 the book WarZone Octarius came out and like most Tyranid players I got it for the Crusher Stampede Army of Renown (remember those?). But I also read through the lore and fell in love with the conflict of the Octarius war. I like it because its involves xenos as it primary combatants and the Imperium is a bit of a sideshow, but the imperium has to deal with the consequences of this war. This was my jumping off point. I picked a sub-sector that was mention in the book, but had nothing written about it. I picked the Greygar Sub-Sector. So I had my playground, now I need my players. So I first pick my Space Marines project, The Loxodon Guard. If you want a deeper dive into them click here. But to make a long story short. The Loxodon Guard are an Ultima Founding Space Marine Chapter tasked to patrol and to maintain the Cordon Impenetra in the Greygar Sub-Sector. I then needed a location and antagonists. The location for my narrative is The Dengamar system. Its a backwater system, where life is hard. The reason why they are there was due to a mistake. But the people of Dengamar carve out a living in spite of this. But then the Octarius War happens a flood the refugees from systems across the Greygar Sub-Sector and Octarius head to Dengamar as these systems were being attacked by Orks and the Tyranid menace. This stresses Dengamar to the brink and a chaos led coup d'etat. Enter The Blood Greys and their Leader Gul Dumir who have been influenced by a cult know as The Bloodspeakers I have more details coming down the pipeline. But feel like to post any comment or notes that you might have. Click on the links if you want to read more about the conflict i'm brewing. This is just this start!

My sword is at the Emperor's command. I answer to no other man, living or dead. - Chapter Master Tu'Shan - Greetings fraters et sorores! Well, we've established what I said in the first post, namely that I won't be able to post very often. I just didn't realize it would be four months... So, let's pray to the Emperor that that's not a precedent for things to come. Fortunately, this tardiness does not correspond with a massive backlog of project updates. I've been pretty busy with school, so not a huge amount of hobby-time, and I've been spending most of that time painting some minis for my dad.* *Anyone heard of Tidal Blades? Tons of fun. Finished Stuff So a couple exciting additions to the force. Got my Brutalis Dreadnought, Brother Umaroth, all done, complete with lava base. I don't have pics of him on his base yet, but here are a few without. Umaroth is named for a character from the Inheritance Cycle, one of my fav fantasy book series. Also finished the Land Raider Redeemer. As yet, no name for this baddie, but man, I love this model! With those skulls, I wanted to give a sort of feeling like they're trophies mounted on the vehicles. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, definitely a lot of fun to paint. They might clash a bit with the generally darker color though. Maybe some... warpaint or something? Just to break up the blocks of white. Thoughts? WIP Anyhoo, my somewhat customized Tu'Shan is not yet painted. I wasn't too happy with the flames on his hammer, so I've actually removed those since last post. Now he's just waiting for these lads to catch up. Just waiting for it to warm up a bit before I prime them. Then they, Tu'Shan, & the new Vulkan He'Stan will all get painted. Actually did break and spray the bases with a space heater sitting nearby. Just to get a headstart, y'know. It's just cork after all... Fiddling around with the squad poses was a lot of fun. Generally I go for a balance of realistic/dramatic. Sarge's hammer arm, though - I couldn't resist. I started this in 8th ed, so I just barely managed to catch the tail end of oldmarines and their fun old poses. This just felt appropriate. K, now for something I've been wanting to try out - the Unit Focus section. This is where, every time I put up a blog post, I'll show off one of the Salamanders units I've already completed, in-universe style. At the moment, the poor chaps are a little low on lore, a shortfalling I intend to fix, by the Throne! So for the foreseeable future, there'll be a little bit at the end of each blog post with some pics and lore. First up, Sergeant Piret Amann and his Hellblasters! Unit Focus: Amann's Hellblasters, 2nd Company, 8th Squad From the writings of Meric Van Damm, Historitor Adept Extract from file entitled "Notes on the Devna reinforcement" 007M42 Sgt Amann, alas, was unavailable, as I was informed in no uncertain terms by the chapter serf stationed in that section of the Astartes decks. A setback, but one I refuse to be ashamed of. Ship's scuttlebutt tells he's most aloof - one of the most difficult Astartes in the fleet to gain an audience with. Kyra tells me he's quite unapproachable. Though no interview was possible prior to planetfall, I was able to make it down once the drop zone was secured, a journey made no less uncomfortable by the stares of the guard troopers sharing the hold with me than by the shaking of our lander during atmospheric entry. Upon landing I set up in an empty room across from the chambers the Guard chose for their temporary HQ, and sent Lebka to collect picts. The skull quickly found the Salamanders force, not difficult as the trail of destruction left by the Astartes made the direction of their advance crystal clear. Through our commune, I watched as Lebka reached the Astartes lines. Spotting a squad apparently dug in for the moment, I directed the skull downwards to begin capturing images. The squad in question turned out to be none other than Amann's Hellblasters, who were firing upon a target I could not see. The intense brightness of their firing overwhelmed Lebka's sensors, but it was able to capture a few picts which I daresay will be of use. Attached [file ref 1230009M42] [File ends] From the notes of Hina Et'Ska, Imperial Propagandist 996M41 Sergeant Piret Amann was once of a noble house. His relatives still oversee extensive property in one of Nocturne's sanctuary cities, though by now Amann has seen at least four generations of his family come and go. Due to disparities in the flow of time, Amann's journeys in the warp have slowed his ageing, though even in his own mind he's an old marine. Special permission had to be obtained from the Chaplaincy and Librarius for Amann to undergo the Rubicon Primaris. Now the fire in his eyes burns anew as he leads 8th squad to unleash hell upon their foes. Extracts from the record of Brother Piret Amann [784M41]Brother Amann took command of his depleted Devastator squad when both sergeant and second were slain in an Aeldari orbital strike. Amann led the squad to complete all mission objectives and destroy the Titan-construct ravaging the walls of Achilles hive. His position as sergeant was made official upon the campaign's conclusion. [882M41} After five years lost in the warp, Amann and his squad passed screening for corruption and all were returned to active status on Chapter records. [001M42]Sergeant Amann underwent the surgeries to become a Primaris Space Marine, emerging with new purpose. Most of his squad followed. [002M42]Sergeant Amann led his squad to reinforce the flank on Kaguk IV, directing his brothers to slaughter nearly twice their number and destroy a total of three transports and daemon engines in thrall to the Death Guard. + + + Aaand that's it. Cheers!

Hi folks, As part of the last step before considering my Aeldarii army complete, I had last year identified a few of units I’d targeted including: Wraithguards, Dark Reapers and Ynnari Reaver jetbikes. If the last two are still projects, the Wraithguards are now a reality. The models were built with axes and shields. I feel that the look is better than the double katana swords which do not really fit with the idea I’ve made myself on how a wraith construct should move itself: slow, cumbersome and hitting as a sledge hammer. The paint scheme could have been very simple, being the same as for my Wraithguard. Until I saw a so called “reversed” paint scheme on a Wraithlord: black body, red bulbhead and white details. I’ve be sold by this scheme. Et voilà: Of course there have been some misfits: I wanted a Saim-hann decal in knew pad before realizing that a white decal on a white knew pad was not the smartest idea. But I hadn’t check the decals before. Shifting then to red kneepads has not been approved by the reviewing committee (me, myself and I): my dark red has not been evaluated as bringinf enough contrast to cut the silhouette. So knee pads are still white and the decals were added on 2 tabards where they fit. Other constructs do not bear the cosmic serpent sigil. Not that critical… Some close ups: Now I have to focus on the next project. For Aeldarii and Ynnari I have added off-wish list 2 new Epic characters so far. They are primed and you will see more sooner (or latter). For the short listed units, maybe some future purchase will make them a reality. But I am lurking on Reapers for 6 years now and I have not make anything yet to move toward contractualization. Just to say the grade of priority it has. See you.

Among the Solbond Gardhird, few figures inspire the same mixture of awe and unease as the Arkanist Evaluator Karvyr. He is old — truly old — an Ironkin whose core‑logic predates even the earliest records of the Shattered Star Kindred. Karvyr wandered the void long before Trokk the Denier forged his oath, charting forgotten systems, mapping derelict vault‑holds, and delving into data‑ruins so ancient their origins blur into myth. His title, Echo‑Delvr, comes from his uncanny ability to extract meaning from the faintest remnants of lost civilizations: fading tomes, fractured vox‑ghosts, corrupted rune‑strings, and memory‑echoes buried beneath centuries of cosmic dust. When the Shattered Star Kindred fell, Karvyr was light‑years away, deep within a dead system whose name no Kin now remembers. By the time he returned, the Kindred he once advised had been reduced to ash and scattered data‑shards. Rather than retreat into isolation, Karvyr bound himself to Trokk’s cause with a solemnity that surprised even the Iron‑Master Kharvund. He carries within him fragments of knowledge the Gardhird cannot replicate; the star‑maps older than recorded Kin history, vault‑schematics from forgotten holds, and cryptic warnings left by civilizations long since extinguished. Karvyr moves through the Gardhird like a wandering shade, his voice a low harmonic murmur as he interprets the echoes only he can hear. For some, he is a relic. For others, a prophet. But to Trokk, he is something far more valuable: a guide through the ruins of the past, and a reminder that even in the cold silence of the void, the Kin are never truly alone. **Pictures forthcoming....

Unlike most Steeljack Elders, who earn their mantle after centuries of service, Skeldr Járnvardr rose to the rank with unprecedented speed. Forged in the crucible of constant conflict after the fall of the Shattered Star Kindred, Skeldr is a product of war’s immediacy rather than its long memory. His frame is newer, sleeker, and tuned for rapid engagement- a Steeljack built not to endure ages, but to dominate the present. Where older Elders move with ponderous inevitability, Skeldr strikes like a kinetic storm. His actuators hum with barely contained force, and his combat‑logic cycles run hot, pushing the limits of Ironkin reflex architecture. Enemies often mistake him for a lesser construct due to his youth, a mistake that ends in shattered armor and broken lines. Skeldr’s signature fighting style blends precision and velocity, turning his heavy frame into a blur of controlled violence. Yet beneath the speed and fury lies a core of ironclad purpose. Skeldr fights not to uphold ancient tradition, but to build one and to carve a new saga for a Kindred that refuses to die. Among the Solbond Gardhird, he is seen as the future made manifest: a warrior who proves that even in the shadow of tragedy, the Kin can forge something stronger than what was lost. Elder Skeldr Járnvardr is not a relic. He is a rising star of steel and oathfire, and his legend is only beginning. **Picture forthcoming...

I know I haven't been posting like I used to, as my mental health hasn't been all that awesome lately. A bunch of stuff I expected to occur in life went the opposite way. So I built a little (finished my ODST Tempestus Aquilons), painted a little and withdrew into myself and haven't played a game of 40k or Kill Team in a while. Recently, I've decided that I'm going to build the army I always wanted for years, but could never afford. Plus I listened to others who said it was dumb, or not competitive, or various other reasons not to build it. I fell in love with the War of the Webway in the Horus Heresy novel Master of Mankind. It had Custodes, Fallen Knight Houses, Mechanicus, Titan Legions, the Emperor all fighting in the most bizarre locations possible against insurmountable odds. I absolutely loved it. I've never played Horus Heresy and no one in my area plays either... But. I thought it would an awesome 40k army. So that's what I'm building. Right now, I have absolutely no idea how to build that, but I did preorder the Legio Custodes Battle Group. 12 Custodian Guard, 1 Callidus Grav-tank, 1 Dreadnought, and 1 Shield-Captain, all for 255 bucks. It sits around 900 points in 40k terms. The Internet says I need Sisters of Silence, Assassins, an Ordos Xenos Inquisitor and other useful stuff. I want to wedge in a Knight. Is this a good idea? Probably not. I'm terrible at picking out color schemes. And will want to create an army that looks like it could have been in the War of the Webway, but is playable in 40k. I've spent too much time researching whether this unit fought on Terra and if they survived into the current timeline... (Thinking that I should maybe have a unit seconded to a Titan Legion, then I know that I'll never be able to duplicate the Legion Heraldry and then move on). It's all a little obsessive. And probably not the best for me. So I'm asking for help. Any suggestions on how to reasonably build this fever dream? Colors, units, allies, anything you can fill in takes one more piece of anxiety away.

So Update time Belial is in hand, so New Captain to replace Levithan Captain Howling Griffons Dice are supposed to be here today Ordered both Iron Hands Characters Ordered Land Raider For my local Gaming Groups upcoming narrative campaign, I need to focus on building/ painting my 1k list so the list I am leaning towards to Running a Terminator LT and a Terminator Apothecary as my HQs. Starting highlighting the colors Starting to block out colors for LT

Hi folks, DISCLAIMER: No link to be found with my recent paint jobs on inquisition and inquisition-like organizations. For them ignorance is power. To be applied to all and any of the other ones except the wise =][= itself. This is more related to the capacity you (I) have to control yourself (myself). Specifically, as a matter of compulsory purchases. I have faced this dilemma recently as I have been very tempted to buy the Aeldari Corsair box. A good bargain was offered by a reseller and the box was at 160€ more or less. A real opportunity. I almost hit the purchase button but at the last minute I've refrained. Because of a single question that came to my mind: do I need this? I already have difficulties to align a Aeldari force of 1500 pts out of my 4000 pts gathered collection for a single game, do I need extra 700/800 pts? Of course the miniatures are gorgeous and can technically fill tactical roles that are missing. But is a tactical role that does never hit the table really missing? Of course not. I therefore scanned the content of the box and I have asked myself what might be the content of it that I would really commit in the medium range? The answer that came was a pair of Starfangs, Yriel and maybe one or two units of Skyreavers - most of the box in fact. Not this one... But will these need to be bought now (and should it include also Karseth and one more Voidscarred unit)? I had to conclude that it was a big No. At short term only Yriel could be in fact on the rooster list, but more for a painting project than for a gaming purpose. I therefore gave up the idea of the box, knowing that the units I have in mind will still be available with a decent discount on a stand alone basis later (To understand better that statement it has to be considered that, for miniature collection, Medium range scales for me in a 2 to 4 years row. It would even not be surprising if I might decide myself at dawn of 12th Ed probably...). This is the second time it happens to me this year. A few weeks earlier it was with the Battle-pilgrims and Vulturax automata. The price reduction was so appealing that it made me feel like it was not that important paying a little bit more than a bare Vulturax model if I had also 16 footsloggers and a Marshal. But I do not play HH (yet) with AdMech and all models that could have been easily proxied from this box are either fully sourced in my 40k army (I already have 3 Marshals) or are not that needed atm as I still have backlog to paint (why would I store for months a Vulturax as a potential Fusilave proxy if I am going to build it this summer? Why would I proxy Skitarii Vanguard with Battle Pilgrims as I never field all the Vanguards and Secutarii I have?). Once again I had deliberately occulted the fact that the bargain at online reseller will still be there in a few months for the Vulturax. No need to hurry. Even if this bargain will probably be lower in a few weeks... ... Neither that one ... But reaching this awareness has not been that of an easy task; the way it stepped was more likely related to asking myself: “You have to choose between buying models for ToW and finishing these 2 army of yours you game with monthly, or keep on buying in all directions stuff you do not need”. Compulsory purchases used to be my way of doing during 15 years (this is how I have started Aeldarii when they were still called Eldars). Then I had a long hiatus of 10 years with limited purchases. Over the past 4 years I have managed canalizing my bad habbits. It is certainly not now that I should fall back in that bad practices again... I want here to thank Saint Wallet and Holy Amex for reminding me the basics of proper cash flow management… The result has therefore been unexpected: I went back building up a list of purchase, rating priority orders and even looking for alt sources. SOmething I did not do for 10+4 years. And even before it was done without real purpose or backbone. Hunting bargains through Ebay (sometimes), Resellers (often), and (for ToW) 3rd party models is now part of the process. These sources clearly compete with official GW channel and sometimes even beat them in quality and often prices (com’on!: 100€ for a unit of 16 slayers (inc. command group)? Being genuine models of Warhammers’ Mecca is certainly not a sufficient enough reason for justifying this price. And what to say of a 5 men strong unit sold 50€ - 10€ for 5 g of plastic??? It is not that I am not greedy but...). And if I have a list, what is written on it for 40k? - Yriel - Dark Reapers And later: - Dark Eldar Reavers ... But these, maybe. Nothing more... Until release of the new AdMech Hastarii models and IK Destrier. And even there, it will this time depend on the rules. This has been a serious reduction, hasn't it?. Will I hold the bar? What is remarkable though is that I did not set any date in front of these entries. So it remains a relatively opened wish list that may evolve in the next months; I haven't bought anything for a while ('xcepted 2 MTO pieces on scenery in December that have been delivered last week) and I am still working only with models and kits from on my backlog. But I feel like I might commit these purchases rather sooner than later... See you. Future will tell

Hi folks, Now that I have explored the bottoms of my cardboxes, I am pretty sure all the proxy-AM models I had built from GSC sprues were covered by my previous photocall. Nothing more hidden in any place. These are therefore the basis I will use as a starting point. Second step has been a deep and careful reading of the Astra Militarum DS, mostly for Command Squads and Battleline units. Each of the three flavours has different options and DS structure, leading to different tooling up made possible. And I have to fit this with the miniatures I already have. The easy part is the HW (or is it that easy?); indeed as the option disappeared from all Command Squad, the only way out is building a new heavy weapon squad. I need a minimum of 2 additional HB teams or simplify these to a single man operated high-rate machine gun as a proxy for DKoK twin linked heavy stubber. I already own 3 HW teams (3 mortars, 3 autocannons and 3 ML), usually fielded as Cadians. Shall I add a fourth one it will therefore be Catachan. While I do like the profile of the DKoK twin-linked stubber, I do rather the scout rule of the Catachan. But Catachan are IMHO somewhere in between of a range complete rehaul and phasing out. Who knows what will happen to these lads in the future, being among the oldest miniatures of the AM range? In case of redesign their rules are also likely to change… This might be an invitation for playing it easy and safe. But on the other hand will I really field 4 HE teams in a single game? Probably not, so getting another one as a spare and as alternate models for changing the type of guns I field can still be acceptable. I’ve turned in my head the pro and cons and ended up with keeping the HW team idea (either as Catachan or as safety wheel unit). It will consume 4 GSC bodies, some bitz left from old Scouts (a HB) and a GSC stubber which gun cannon will have to be shortened. I guess it will be OK. Yet another reason behind this decision is my lack of bitz material for designing a spotter in case of DKoK HW team: I have left one Skitarii radio like backpack only, and If I go toward 2 Command Squads, I might need it there. What's better? The next case is linked with the Sniper rifles. Again the units able to field these are now limited to the DKoK Longlas in Battleline and the Sniper Option in Catachan Command squad. I did not consider the Legendary Tanith 1st and Only Commend Squad in my short list. Once again the sword of Damocles above the Catachan whatever it is real or a fruit of my imagination) led my to discard this option. I will therefore build 20 Linemen as proxy DKoK. I have enough bitz inc. helmeted Skitarii heads. But I have no Medipack left (well, again I have one but I do rather keep it for a Command Squad). Not him Command squads are next; here all options are opened. The Catachan one is also discarded, although fielding a Heavy Flamer and a Flamer on an infiltrating unit was a pleasant idea. But I pass. I have only one standard bearer and no parts left to do a second one. So, in case of doing 2 of a kind, at least one shall be Cadian, so that the standard is swapped with a special weapon. Radio and medic are available either as already converted minis or as new kit bashed as I have appropriate bitz (see above). A second Command Squad could be Cadian (again) or DKoK proxy. If I field 2 Battleline DKoK units, a logical decision shall be a DKoK Command Squad, OK? But I will need to think about the way of doing a good Commissar proxy. Which is not that obvious for me atm. I will have to give it a though or two. Unless a paint job is enough to get a visual and distinctive identification? The one with hate manangement issues (and bitz managment issues too BTW) And finally, with the rest of the bodies have unclipped for the Neophyte sprues, I will have to make another decision: building a Cadian Battleline (with hooded heads) unit OR building GSC equipped model so that my other units can be alternatively fielded as a GSC force If I decide to do so (just by swapping some linemen with appropriate special weapons, mining tools and icon bearers…). It may also influence a revision of the statement about HW team: see, if I do HB used as proxies for Heavy stubbers, they will come on small bases and will in the same time fill the spot for swapping as stubber operators in GSC or as proxies for DKoK (only adding a spotter). It is an interesting option too. As I still have some unsolved questions, I guess I will start with the easy part in first phase: 2 battle line squadrons. Should we be part of the alt plan? See you when kitbash will have progressed...

Have you ever wanted a unit to work in your army but never could? Like a unit or character that you love in the lore, but because the game, aren't able to make it work. I have this feeling about World Eaters Terminators. I love terminators, no doubt about it. When my brother bought box of 2nd edition loyalist terminators, they brought fear into my then Dark Eldar force. That thick 2+ save was a menace, until i got some Incubi. - When I started my World Eaters collection, I of course wanted Terminators too. They were suppose to be the elite of the elite. Body guards of the Chaos Lords. So i got these guys. If you notice there weapons are all over the place, you got a pair of combi-bolters, combi-flamers, combi-melta, a power fist, a chainfist and a reaper autocannon. A very jack of all trades with both anti-infantry and anti-tank weapons. While I did enjoy them, I would buy 3 more to make 8 (the holy number of Khorne), the mixed role weaponry made me don't want to use them. Then the meta would shift, into Terminator suicide unit (Terminicide units). Little 3 man anti-tank buster units that you deep strike in behind tanks, hopefully pop the target and then died from the counter attack. This seem like a joke to me. The uber elite terminators being used in such a expendable manner. I would then use Raptors in this Anti-tank role because that would make more sense the lore that a World Eater force might use Raptors in this way. So my Terminators got shelved and when terminators moved to 40mm base, i would then sell them. Then something would happen, Forge World released the Red Butcher Terminators in like 2014. I wanted them, but of course it was Forge World and therefore, super expensive. So I went to eBay, and found someone who was selling the bodies but not the arms or the bases. During the my Raptor crazed, I had a large amount of Lightning Claws laying around. I got 10 of them and I gave them pair of Lighting Claws. Soon after power weapons got changed to accursed weapons and lightning claws build got nerfed. When the World Eater Codex was announce, everyone was hoping for Red Butchers. Then the Eightbound were released, everyone scratched there heads. The Eightbound and the Exalted Eightbound have taken the spot that the Terminators used to have, or at least what we wanted Red Butchers to have, as a heavy assault unit. Now Terminators are in this strange spot now rules wise. They are not the best unit in melee, and they do have some shooting, but its not great shooting. These terminators are also showing there age, The new berzerkers are taller than these fellows and I just don't use them. So I'm thinking about selling them, with or without their arms. I haven't made up my mind. Thanks for reading my rantish ramble. More World Eaters are on the way

Before there was the Ashen Sentinels, there was the Legion of Taurus. Veteran Fraters of the B&C may remember my Chaos Space Marine army, which I worked on from 2007 to 2014. Like with these Ashen Sentinels, I developed a detailed background, and played out their story over the course of several campaigns. After a decade languishing in a couple of classic GW miniature cases under the bed, I’ve made the slightly difficult decision to sell this army This was a real passion project for me, almost every miniature was converted to some extent, and it’s where I really started to push myself when it came to painting- I learnt a lot doing this army, which laid a foundation for the standard I aim for when I paint today. I’ve been intending to buy a display cabinet and get these out on show, I’ve made the tough decision to sell them for a very good reason: our son is setting up his own business (making hot desserts), and the money from selling the Legion of Taurus will go towards helping him get set up So it is the end of an era with this army - but oddly not entirely for the Legion of Taurus, as I’ve already painted a Kill Team using the newer miniatures, and plan to expand that to a full army. I’m hoping this army will go to a good home, someone who will appreciate the time and effort put in to it, and who will enjoy having a classic styled Chaos Space Marine army. Anyone who is curious about buying this army, it’s for sale here As for the Ashen Sentinels - well, I’m still painting those; and soon I’ll be revealing a fairly big project that will add a nice centre piece to that army. More will be revealed in due course..!

So my favorite models are Adepta Sororitas model, followed by Scouts, and Terminators. With all the rumors about 11th Edition, my local gaming group discussing doing a league and well we have pretty much decided to wait until 11th ed drops to allow us to figure out our starting 1,000 pt armies. I was leaning into my Sisters but knowing Space Marines will be one of the first codexes released for 11th, I am thinking of playing Space Marines. So armed with Crux Terminatus box, all the set characters, scouts, and Crucible of Champions, I have set to building. I built the following models from Dawn of War: Onslaught Chaplain, Blade Guard Ancient, and Blade Guard Veterans Then I resumed painting my scouts The armor is too Grey and I need to darken it a lot more. I decided to give Sigmar VI Insurgency Force camo a shot on the camo cloak Close enough Up next was pulling the Crux Terminatus and Terminator characters Repurposing Captain, Chaplain, and Librarian Need to repaint his shoulder pad from decal removal Then built the Ancient Next was to build some Crucible of Champions LT. Company Champion (Sadly no Storm shield rules) Apothecry More pics of Apothecary plus started painting I have plans for a Techmarine as well but I need to get the kits for that one.

Hi Folks, It has been a while since I have last worked on my custom Astra Militarum Regiment. As it is based on kit bashed GSC models, it might lead to some confusion with GSC. But I do not play GSC (yet), even if through purchases (for example patrol boxes) I might harvest some sheer GSC models too. And as such it might lead me sooner or later to add enough specific GSC models to align a swiss-knife army. But this is not today’s topic. Before diving into the scheduling, a small resumé can be required. Where does it comes from? It is a long-term commitment. It started when W40k still had its Allies matrix in 8th Ed. My will was to complete my SW force with an armored fist detachment in order to boost my Tank payload with stuff punchier than Predators and cheaper than Land Raiders. Leman Russes were a perfect fit. This drove my early customization and kit bashes works during the Lock down in order to “space-marinize” them, especially including heavy weapons variants and armor panels for sponsons. As you can see, even if the released edition at the time was not 8th and neither 9th anymore, I had some lag… I then started adding some other kit bashes in the form of stormtroopers based on SM scouts and heavy weapon teams. In the meantime, I had accumulated a lot of sprues of GSC Neophyte hybrid. I have started kitbashing them as battle line units and command squads. Yet these remained in standby for so long that a new codex version has been released in-between. And the built models are not aligned with the rules anymore: heavy weapon team in command squads, special weapons used… are a few stuff to be corrected. For that I have more sprues available. This is therefore paving the way for the work to be done with some priorities: Removing the heavy weapon teams I had built for my 2 command squad and adding another kitbashed models to field a complete new unit of 3 teams. Substituting the removed models by new ones as per the current rules to get a legit command squad (2oo2) Dispatching the kitbashed models by “types” of defining paint schemes variations for eased unit identification: I have swapped heads using hooded or helmeted Skitarii heads but these are distributed in uneven amounts between units. Head can be a visual trick to bound the unit to Cadian/DKoK/Catachan rules for example. I could also do this by color scheme or just by special weapon selection as these may differ from one datasheet to another. Yet I did not do this for my HW teams where crew are mixed. It is more likely that paint scheme will be the way, using color code on pauldrons for example. or a combination of selected heads and paulton colors... So what is the next step? Well: mugshots. It is indeed needed getting a more exhaustive view of the current model distribution in order to draw a comparison with the current state of the rules as per codex. It will then lead to a design of the tasks to be done. This is the overview of the models and the usual suspects built and primed but never painted. These lads were used for building 2 different command squads and now need to be redistributed: One HB weapon team. I will probably extent the barrel and use the gunner as a prowy DKoK heavy machine gun. GSC stubbers or anotehr Scout HB I have will do the job for adding 2 extra gunners. Adding bitz from the Skitarii sprue will allow building the radio operator/spotter. Radio operator, standard bearer and medic. These will easily find a role in any redesigned command squad. 2 snipers and one GL. Interestingly the snipers are (by coincidence) with helmets. So I still might build DkOK proxies all with helmets. I hadn't that in mind... Officers or Sergeants: they will fit anyplace Interestingly I was convinced I had also a 10 men strong Infantery platoon built. But apparently not... I have enough sprues to do something like 40 troopers. THis is going to be a hell of a ride (and I have also sourced 2 Jotunn Ogryns that will do perfect bodyguards in ther Command groups). This is a plan. See you once the DS from the codex will have been digested so that I can build a first draw of a list in order to do detailled scheduling.

Hi folks, A small insight on my plodding along vow for 12 MoH 2026. among the uncontrolled growths of this project it is worth mentionning the addition of a set of second hand Ryza pattern ruins. These I believe were initially released in Moon Base Klaissus (or is it Kassius?) . They have been then sold as a separate boxed set (latter reworled and lossing some parts such as the barricade with briken door and the sas entry) and finally re-released through the Hachette suscription. As far as I am concerned, I believe that the one I bought on the second hand market/flee market from the attic was from the last batch (due to the burgundy colour of the sprues). Being second hand, some parts were assemblied, some were partly painted, some were iddle parts with missing counterpart... Indeed, the wall panels are assemblied by a pair of groove and counter groove (or opposable slits?) and I ended up with two large panels that were of the same kind. A good clue that the batch was heterogenenous. Other clues were some accessories from Battle for Maccrage set included, wall panels very similar to Ryza pattern ruins but released in other set of similary designed / getting their inspiration from the intial set (with a climax with Fronteris battle zone). But the bargain was attractive. As I recently bought a hand saw for PVC tube cutting, I was tooled up to hack and saw these ruins. Note that, due to the sheer thickness of the molded pannels, cutting with any unadapted toold could have been dangerous. I werefore cut were the slits were located and ended with the "end-of-pipe" buttress and the half ruin panel. Twice. Then superglue to build back the stuff and putty work to restructure the top of the ruin for compensation of the missing part (that should have been on the part of the ruin that never came...) Painting has been quite swift and rapid. I have already painted many kits of this type with my Fornteris STC bunkers, Ruins and Mekboy workshop. Only thing is taht I have changed a little bit the colour selection to get these ruines in the blueish plascrete tone I appreciate for my Sector Imperialis buildings. Recipe has even been simplified this time: I went Mechanicus Standard grey washed with Agrax earthsahde instead of sky grey washed with Basilicanum grey. Then the usual steps of dry brushing with the Fang, Russ Grey and Ulthuan grey. Plues detailling of a few metallic details and limited weathering. The modified kit ended-up like that: For sake of bitz managment and for getting a possible platform, I also used all my left broken floor sections left from the Fronteris kits. This has been a fast paint job, the longuest step being waiting for the putty to polymerize. ANd it leaves enough eleme,nts to get 4 ruined blocks that will fit with the new scenery shadow patterns proposed for 11th Ed... Next job will be different: some special characters for Aeldarii. See you

Hi Folks, After cutting in two an armoured container for my 12 MoH plodding along pledge, I stroke again. Lastentry was a kind of first time for me using med gauze as cammo net: Two out of One – something for my plodding along - Bouargh´s miniatures´ closet clean-up - The Bolter and Chainsword I've repeated the experiment but this time multiplying small stuffs into bigger deposits. The first test was with crates, that were simulated by styfoam block with a certain benefit. As previously, adding just a few genuine scenery elements strengthen the illusion. The third attempt was with drums. This time I even tried (not to forget) taking pic of the work in progress. The main DIY material was a PVC tube, with the almost ideal diameter of 15 mm. Cut in small parts it give an almost perfect 3D shadow shape of a drum. It is important not to forget painting (at minimal effort) the parts that will be underneath the cover as it might leave some transparency. But no need for nothing clean and detailled And as it is a dump, no need for being too clean and precise. on the table top, it is general outlook that matters, details not so much. You then apply the paint and PVA glue soaked gauze and you get that final effect (still under drying process when I shot the pic). One in one the final result is quite interesting, giving options for some 3 medium sized scenery elements out of a limited amount of genuine material: 1 container, 6 drums and 4 5 crates. Shouldn't I have had left over drums and crates from previous sprues, it means that this result is almost achievable with a single Armoured Container sprue. Plus all bits you might have here or there. Not that bad... (and if you work more precisely than I did, you could use halved genuine drums and reach the same result by proper positionning of the latter and of the gauze. And in that case a single sprue would be enough. as far as crates, 2 used ones are redundant and could have been saved) Time to shift to the next project: rescue operation of mistreated 2nd hand Ryza pattern set of ruins, including uneven wall panels that cannot be assemblied being groove and groove and not groove and tongue (it is what happens with stuff from the attic, sometimes it has losts parts and you need to work with the material you have for doing something out of these...) See you.

"Captain, incoming encrytped transmission from Mancora," said the Long Range Vox Operator toward the ships command dais. Captain Jeanne DeClisson was standing in her command dais on the bridge of the Howling Griffons Strike Cruiser Firefell, reviewing all the incoming reports. She stepped down and walked over to the Long Range Vox Operator, Hudsen, and looked at his screen. + + +TRANSMITTED: >>CLASSIFED<< + + + + + +RECEIVED: Strike Crusier Firefell + + + + + +DESTINATION: Ultima Segmentum + + + + + +DATE: M42 + + + + + +TELEPATHIC DUCT: Astropath >>CLASSIFIED<< + + + + + +REF: GD/90840958940324323432/OV + + + + + +AUTHOR: >>CLASSIFIED<< + + + + + +SUBJECT: >>CLASSFIED<< + + + + + +THOUGHT: Let the foe blunt their blades against our resolve. They will be ash and memories soon enough. -Macharian Duologues Chapter 61 + + + >>RESTRICTED ACCESS<< >>PROVIDE IDENITY<< >>CLEARANCE LEVEL 6 OR HIGHER<< Placing her signet ring in the decoder, the message decrypted. >>CLEARANCE LEVEL 8 ENTERED<< >>ACCESS APPROVED << >>PROCESSING<< >>ATTACHED SECTOR DATA DOWNLOAD<< >>PROCESSING<< >>DOWNLOAD COMPLETE<< She saw the information and turned to her aide Jensen and said "Inform the Ships War Council and prep the War Room. Riley, put me in contact with the 1st Company Captain." "Yes ma'am, " they both responded immediately. Riley and Jensen began taking care of the task she had assigned to them. Orders given and immediately followed. Captain Jeanne DeClisson thought of her younger days, leading up to her becoming an Inductee of the Howling Griffons Fleet. As a young married woman of nobility on Mancora, her husband was captured and beheaded by a rival kingdom. Instead of morning her deceased husband, Jeanne DeClisson went to war, against the rival king that had killed her husband. She raised a small fleet, had a few soldiers, sailors, and mercenaries she employed. She became a master of naval warfare. Raiding, pillaging, burning and sinking the rivals ships. The spoils of war going to the men she commanded. Often she would leave few witnesses to tell the story of her vengeance. She was a Lioness among Wolves. The allies to the King that killed her husband feared her reprisal so they soon stopped shipping supplies, food, fuel, anything that the King needed. The Howling Griffons took notice. A Noblewoman seeking revenge for her wrongfully executed husband. Under orders from the Chapter Master, the Librarius of the Howling Griffons orchestrated a private parlay between just the the King and Jeanne DeClisson. The rules were simple, come alone, unarmed to the Flower Fields and broker a deal to end the war. Upon arriving to the parlay alone, Jeanne DeClisson soon saw that the King did not come alone but with his full bodyguard. The King pulled a pistol to kill Jeanne DeClisson. Seeing the violation of the rules of parlay, five Howling Griffons Scouts appeared from nowhere, combat blades drawn. With a slight motion from the Scout with the bearded face the Kings bodyguard were immediately executed by the four other the scouts before the bodyguard could react. "I am a Scout Sgt of the Howling Griffons Chapter. The Chapter requested this parlay. I am the Representative of the Chapter on this parlay. You shall refer to me as My Lord," said the Scout Sgt. "You have violated the rules of the parlay. As such your title, your land, your wealth, and your life are now forfeit. Because of this and all the other crimes, including the murder and execution of innocent people, your family name, crest and castle will be removed from the history of Mancora," the Scout Sgt said as he pointed at the now former King. The former King began sobbing and begged for his life, dropping his pistol and falling to his knees. The Scout Sgt picked up the King's pistol and said "Silence!" The Scout Sgt turned to Jeanne DeClisson said, "You are to end your war, immediately, Lady Jeanne DeClisson. This is non negotiable. Do you accept this condition?" "Yes, my lord," she said as she looked towards the ground not making eye contact with Scout Sgt. "Good. Now that is done, you have 2 options for your future. One, remarry and become a wife of nobleman, raise a family, forget everything you have done, and try to live a peaceful life," the Scout Sgt said looking at her. "Or option two. You take this pistol, complete your oath of revenge by killing him, and then begin serving the Howling Griffons as Crewman on one our Strike Cruisers," the Scout Sgt said as he offered her the King's pistol. Without hesitation she grabbed the pistol and shot the former King in the head. She went to hand the Scout Sgt back the pistol. "It is yours, now. Remember how you earned it, as you were Lioness among wolves." he said to her. "Now you begin your next life evolution, Lady DeClisson. You will serve the Howling Griffons Chapter," a voice said in her head as figure in blue armor and yellow robe with a large staff walked towards her. "Ma'am, the 1st Company Captain, is on the vox for you," stated Riley. "My Lord De Sescas, we have received new mission orders, from Mancora," she transmitted into her vox.

So once again I used the new FLGS Learn to Play/Combat Patrol day to teach another vic… player how to play via Combat Patrol. They took Strike Force Octavius so instead of using my newly completed Medusan Redoubt I used the Vanghast Swarm to go classic mode. Medusan Redoubt (IF edition) I split the termaguants up, had the barbguants and a termaguant unit hold home while the rest readied to surge forward. Opponent placed the terminators with the captain in reserve with the infernus and librarian near their home objective. I got first turn and surged forward, they did overwatch on my prime, only managing to do a few wounds. After some fire from the barb and termaguants killing two infernus, the prime and leapers (who had started at a forward position) pounced and wiped the squad out. The librarian came around the corner and after lack luster shooting, charged the prime and killed it. Figured I play a little so I backed the leapers to another objective as the psychophage came forward. The phlegm did nothing and I failed to make the short charge to the librarian. The librarian moved forward towards the forward termagaunts, this time the phlegm did a minor wound on the librarian who then killed a few guants via his storm bolter and caused a wound on the psychophage with a mind bullet. First strike melee Fast food? The captain and his terminators arrived, dropping in my back line. They fired and killed a few more of the guants the librarian shot at. They them charged in to squad guarding my home objective. The librarian tried to charge the giants he was targeting, but the casualties opened up the charge distance and he failed to get the extra distance. The captain and terminators of course murdered the guants, which I Teeming Broods a near full (9) unit into reserve. They arrived just off my opponent’s home objective. I focused fire on the terminators, after all the fire only wounding 1, no kills. The newly arrived guants managed to charge into librarian, spanning over his home objective, the psychophage almost failed to charge the librarian from near point blank range. It feed well, eating the librarian whole. My opponent was so far on VP at his point we were going to call it after the turn, which they had their final unit split fire to try and kill as much as possible and then was in position to charge the psychophage. Unfortunately they failed both charge rolls and game was called. Beating on the little guys. My opponent at least had fun and learn a few things. They were looking at starting orks, so I guess I better get to work on the ork CP as my opponent the prior week also is starting orks. Hopefully I’ll be able to test out the Medusan Redoubt this week. The berserkers for the Votann should be arriving this week, but I want to fix the Inceptors for my UM and finish Mordekai’s Judgement. Once that is done then I’ll get to work on the berserkers.

So continuing with the @Grotsmasha's Kill Team Campaign Challenge for April is a heavy. as the Celestian Insidiants do not have a "heavy" I am going with the Mortisanctus

Now with more scout action...... Chaplain Lieutenant Ancient

Firstly, mods, please deal with this in any way you deem appropriate. The passage below is loaded with my thoughts on the current situation and I wish not to disrespect my fellow Fraters. I wrote this late night in a moment of frustration, of anger, at things going on the the world at this time. For context, for those who have not followed my stories, the sound of a grenade launcher cocking comes from his Corporal, Łaska. ===== "Who the Hell do you think you are to come here, to come to the hall of the people and tell me I do not act in our people's best interests?" "I don't speak for your people. I speak for them," Michal looked to his right at the poor, chained bastards who had been picked up for loitering, sheltering with no home, veterans who had been kicked to the curb after their service. He cocked his pistol. "These are your people. You serve only those who speak in your ears loudly enough to hear. Now, look at them. Can you hear me?" "Guards, get this man out of here. I've had enough of this." The sound of the 280th's rifle bolts being cocked stopped the guards mid-step. "I think it's time for you to reconsider," Michal didn't look at him as he spoke. "No. I was chosen by the people. This is mutiny! I have authority here. And what? Who are you to come to my chamber with this? Leave. Now." "It's not me you have to worry about." Behind him came the sound of a rotary launcher being racked and readied.

Got the bits for the Nightbringer, but decided I wanted to up my game a little bit. So instead of just the Purple Sun floating with the puzzle/blackstone bits, I will take one of the Convergence of Dominion steles and use it as a base. Canted at an angle, I think it will sell the whole "C'tan that broke free" that my Necron stuff is going for. Plus, found some old FW scarabs that should make good basing material as well. Both of those are going to be shipped to me in the next couple of weeks and then the Nightbringer will come into being, as while I have the puzzle bits and Purple Sun I don't want to start building until I can fiddle with the basing bits and make sure everything works out properly. That's really the only thing I'm working on at the moment, as I just finished painting my Victrix Guard and have built all my Word Bearers but haven't started painting them yet- waiting on finishing up my Votann before I start the CSM. Thanks for looking!

Thunderkyn “The Sturm‑Bon” The Sturm‑Bon are the Gardhird’s storm‑callers, a Thunderkyn battery whose fire discipline is as precise as a lightning strike. Their name comes from the thunderous recoil of their weapons, a rolling boom that echoes across the battlefield like a brewing tempest. When the Sturm‑Bon deploy, the air crackles with charged particulates and the enemy quickly learns that cover is a suggestion, not a shield. They are the storm made manifest- sudden, overwhelming, and impossible to ignore. Steeljacks squad “Sondur‑Oath Wardens” Armed with volkanite beams that sear through armor and memory alike, the Sondur‑Oath Wardens serve as the Gardhird’s executioners of ancient vows. Their volkanite fire leaves glowing scars across the battlefield, each one a reminder of the oaths sworn after the Shattered Star’s fall. They advance with measured, relentless purpose, burning through anything that threatens the Kin. To face the Wardens is to feel the heat of a promise kept. Steeljack squad “Sondur-Oath Linebreakers” Where the Wardens burn, the Sondur‑Oath Linebreakers shatter. Built for brutal close‑quarters combat, these Steeljacks crash into enemy formations with the force of a collapsing vault‑door. Their plasma swords and auroch-pattern bolters are inscribed with the same oath‑runes as their volkanite‑armed kin, but their interpretation of that oath is far more direct. They do not hold the line; they end it. When the Linebreakers charge, the enemy’s will fractures long before their armor does. Einhyr “The Sol‑Hammer” The Sol‑Hammer are the Gardhird’s spearpoint, a squad of Einhyr Hearthguard who strike with the focused brilliance of a rising star. Their armor glows with radiant rune‑etchings, and their assault drops are timed to perfection with a sudden flare of light, a thunderous impact, and then silence as the enemy line buckles. To the Solbond Gardhird, the Sól‑Hammer are more than elite warriors; they are the incandescent heart of the oath‑march, the hammerblow that turns resolve into victory.

So this is the start of my narrative, I did a brief summary for the first post on the Dengamar Strife. Here's what I have written: If you want to know more about Gul Dumir and the forces of the Bloody Greys, Please Click Here More is on the way

Well, the rewrite is going well. It has given me the opportunity to revisit characters who need a little more polish and to drop those who are unnecessary. It has also given me the opportunity to add in characters I had in mind but couldn't quite work in. For those following the story, it's gone way off WH40K as to be almost unrecognisable. It was never the intention, but it feels like the right move. Certainly the bones are there, but everything built off it is different. I am looking forward to introducing a new character, one who embodies the "they bury their own" phrase. His is the squad's Padre, Jozef. I've worked hard on him, as I don't want a priest to alienate readers, so he is a dependable man first, padre second. I was inspired by the love and care of the FDNY toward their late Father Mychal Judge who was ministering to the people at the front line. I remember that day, as do all who were around then. and the image of him being carried out of the tower by his colleagues is one that will stay with me. I hope my Jozef is worthy of being a small and humble tribute to him.

Major Charles Emerson Winchester III M.A.S.H 4077TH Terra 1952.M2 Spent more time working on my Crucible of Champions Apothecary in Terminator Armor. One of the images I found of a Howling Griffons Apothecary, off the 40k Wiki page, had him in more of Grey than White armor. I really like the non white armor. So with this in mind I am going to replicate this on my Terminator Apothecary. All Paints are Army Painter Warpaints Primed Airbrush Matte black Zenithal Air Brush Matte White Armor is Fanatic Uniform Grey White is Fanatic Matte White Black is Fanatic Matte Black Skin is Moonstone Skin Metallic is John Blanche Masterclass: Heavy Metal Yellow is John Blanche Masterclass: Moonbeam Yellow Purity Seals are Fanatic Skeleton Bone More pics

Hi Folks, It has been a while that I have been thinking about it and the recent announcement of release for Yriel resumed this idea under the form of a small self-standing project: gathering the key Dramatis Personnae from the Ynnari narrative arc as a homogeneous collection of models. My Ynnari force is led by the Yvraine (IR$ tax) and I field the Yncarne as often as possible. But I’ve stopped myself there for a while. Now that Yriel has been released, I guess I might gather the 3 other key characters of the story line: Eldrad Ulthran, the Visarch and Yriel. The two firsts are just bellow in all their Ynnarian glory. And Yriel has just arrived in its box. My idea was to keep a link with Ynnari through colour scheme, while avoiding, if possible, over loading with red. And keeping a link with each character original background, i.e. Eldrad should remain identified to Ulthwee colour scheme. So, starting with Eldrad, some red robes (or part of his robes) were estimated to be enough. Rest of the model would stay linked to the Ulthwee traditional colors, black and bone. The model has been built with the holstered blade and spell casting hand gripping the streams of fate… For the Visarch, there are more options opened as I do not feel bound to any standard colour scheme (personal feeling). I have decided to move toward dark armor, like for an Incubi he used to be; with engravings stressed out with red. The cape is also going to be red or partly red. The helmet has been for a while a point of hesitation: Gold? Dark? Red? Whitish? Once again, I have decided to keep it linked with the Incubi, his previous affiliation, and go for a clear whitish helmet. This is the resulting pair of new models: Eldrad sticked to the plan. Even if it has since fallen from the table and the staff is broken. So glueing repairs needed tonight. I still hesitate adding some decals on the robes though. The Yncarne has also been kept close to the plan. even if I have been a little bit lazy with engraving and embossments taht do not sort out that clear in red. I have tried forcing the contrats on the pic by post processing but it is not that better in fact. Yet, on the table, the Visarch looks better than on the pic. Next step will be Yriel, the Pirate prince, who will follow a similar painting color design as for Eldrad: keep it deeply linked with his raiding party colors while adding only a spark of red to underline the association with the Ynnari. How? Future will tell. Further developments will be then possible, may be adding Lelith Esperax as a secondary character (even if she gets her own agenda) and Jain Zarr (but she will need a banshee bodyguard, so more money seen the current cost of boxed sets) … You will note that I stay deliberately One sided in this story: no antagonist, only characters joining (even if temporarily) the new born god side are considered… So no Drazhar planned. Yet none of these secondary characters is currently on my purchase wish list. See you soon with Yriel.

Well calling these Characters done.. Terminator Chaplain Rais Gilles Terminator Lieutenant Marbot Marcellin Terminator Apothecary Sharl Winchester Ancient is getting closer

"Hate your enemy. There is no room for compassion in the prosecution of the enemy's destruction. Strive with every iota of your will and strength to see him destroyed. Slay him and cast down his works without mercy. Only when every corrupt work is destroyed and the ashes of his body float on the wind, only then can there be compassion. Hate the enemy who yet lives. Reserve your pity for the dead." - Chaplain Ur'Venn, attached to the Salamanders 4th Company, Purging of Clovis' World - + + + Sergeant Torek inserted a fresh prometheum canister into his pyreblaster with a practiced motion. The fuel indicator dial switched to full and he lowered the weapon to check his tactical display. An enemy convoy was approaching fast, intent on disrupting the Imperial supply drop. The Salamanders needed those supplies. Weapons, ammunition, fuel and tools, all would be needed to finish the campaign and cleanse the forge city of taint. His warriors voxed in, one after another, a litany of names sounding in his ears as the squad confirmed readiness. “Forgefather,” he said, the word an acknowledgement and a question all in one. Vulcan He'stan rested the butt of his spear on the cracked red earth. The relic weapon, crafted by Vulkan’s own hand, exuded a presence all its own. Though he wore his helm, the Forgefather’s eyes seemed to bore into each of Torek’s squad in turn before turning his gaze on the distant enemy. “Brothers. Too long have these blood mad Chaos scum ravaged this city. Too long have they profaned the shrines of the Mechanicus on this world. Ready yourselves, Sons of Vulkan! Destroy them, that we may destroy their brethren utterly!” The Seeker of the Nine raised his great spear and pointed it at the for. “For Vulkan and the Emperor!” “For Vulkan and the Emperor!” Torek bellowed with the rest, and the Salamanders began their advance. + + + The Salamanders saw action against World Eaters the other day. I like a nice casual game any day, and met up with a fella at the flgs to close out the month of March with a bang. It's been a while since I could play regularly, what with school and all, so it was so fun to get in a game at last. Here's a battle report, along with some 1-draft bits of fiction inspired by in-game moments (who doesn't like a bit of narrative?). The lists: I ran my usual. I describe this as a balanced-side-of-casual list. It doesn't do so well against the more competitive players in my area, but has been racking up a lot a victories against casual companions. For my Salamanders I prefer to field an army that'll win a decent number of games, but specific unit choices are generally limited by collection size, what grabs my eye, and which units I had the most fun building/painting or just want to show off My opponent ran a cool Berzerker-heavy list with tons of melee (Blood for the Blood God!) and some big 'ol melee monsters. I'd never faced a Maulerfiend before. It's a cool model and pretty scary fighter! List's from memory so hopefully right... The mission was Supply Drop. Objectives were gonna disappear, first the one on my left at the top of BR4, then the center objective in BR5. I got lucky as I deployed mostly on the right. I had first turn. We were both really cautious in BR1, mostly moving up only a little. My Vindi blew up the spawn, who'd moved out in their scout move, and my Repulsor took a pot shot at some Eightbound, managing to kill 2. The remaining 1 moved to control the bottom objective (my left flank) though he was, alas, never to score on that one. End of BR1 + + + A scream of bending metal reverberated through the hold as the transport halted abruptly. Sergeant Amfell was slammed against his restraints, snarling as he activated his commbead. “Eksor, what was that?” he hissed. Already the Land Raider’s hull was booming with the sound of impacts. The vehicle's pilot replied. “They've charged us! The cursed fools! Mountainfire is disabled and Brother Umaroth is not showing on my tactical display.” “What's on us now?” Around him, Amfell's squad was preparing to disembark, readying chainswords and heavy bolt pistols. Eksor sounded incredulous. “The cursed Daemon. Maulerfiend. There's a Helbrute out there too. Targeting now.” The smell of cordite and blazing prometheum filtered in through a gap somewhere in the hull as the Land Raider's flamestorm cannons discharged. “We're disembarking,” Amfell said, exchanging a look with Chaplain Ur’Venn. “Good luck, brother.” The pilot’s voice sounded strained now, Amfell wondered if he'd been wounded in the initial clash. Exit ports thumped open on the transport’s side and rear, revealing a cratered street, the Helbrute’s burning corpse, and a mob of screaming heretic Astartes charging toward them. The Chaplain led the way, chanting a litany of purgation, and Amfell followed, howling his challenge to the traitors ahead. + + + BR2-3 saw some more action. Adrax & his Bladeguard took the bottom objective and slew the lone Eightbound while across the field, my Vindicator took out another unit of the same. In the center, my Land Raider kept its load of marines & set up on the center objective. But in a massive flank attack, the Lord "Avocado" & his minions landed in my rear and took out the Repulsor, who's wreck claimed an Infernus Marine. RIP brother. And at the same time, the Maulerfiend made for the center, the Helbrute barely pushing through the Land Raider's overwatch attack to join in the melee. Berserkers in the Backfield! World Eaters strike! Vulkan & co. managed to drive off the Maulerfiend while my Assault Intercessors took care of the rest, but wave of Eightbound and a Rhino kept melee going for a while. Meanwhile Khârn led his band to the center to take on the rest of my army, finally falling to the flames in the final turn of the game, BR5. At that point it was just him, a couple Eightbound, and a Rhino. I removed most of what remained in shooting and then sent the Vindi in to tank shock. Because bulldozer tank. The Imperial Forces consolidate their gains (BR4) World Eaters perform a final charge A hasty shot of Khârn battling the Salamanders Commanders Kind of a bummer this one turned out so blurry. I kind of just slipped my phone down into a gap to capture a quick shot. Must've messed up the focus a bit. Still, a very cinematic moment in-game. 3 wounded heroes, their bodyguards slain, meet in battle in the eye of the storm. Khârn rose again to take down Adrax in epic slaughter, the Spear of Vulkan still embedded in his side... then I treacherously crisped him with a nearby blob of pyreblaster-wielders. Sorry Khorne... Final score 50-21. It was a super fun game and a great victory. I did feel a little bad though - he never scored on primary. It's just that what the Vindicator looks at, dies, and overall I think my go-to list is just really well attuned to World Eaters. Nevertheless, we both had a good time chatting Warhammer, throwing dice, and discussing some of the other games we're getting into of late. Very nice way to close out March & get some gaming in before school starts again. And so I leave you with a last piece, inspired by the moment Kareldek's Inceptors dropped into the rear and blew away a pack of Jakhals. Zharni crouched beneath the ruined shell of a building. Beyond its cracked and pockmarked walls, bolters boomed and engines rumbled. Around him, Zharni's compatriots lurked. There, Tek, clutching his rough-hewn blade. There, Olg, pacing and showing bloody teeth to anyone who looked his way. There, Anja, peering through the haze as though to see the blood being spilled scant dozens of meters away. The rest occupied themselves similarly, each engrossed in their own little rituals, staring at nothing and twitching at every sound. They could not join this fight. The red Giants said to hold this building, and this building they must hold. When a Red One told you to do something you did it, or your blood would paint his axe before you could cry “Blood for the Blood God.” “Shut up, Zharni,” one of the others grunted. He hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud. Zharni made an effort to calm himself. It was hard. The fighting was so close he could hear it, and he swore he could smell fresh blood in the air. But yes! The sounds of battle were getting closer. Perhaps Zharni would be able to fight today after all. He could hear the sound of blade on armor, the sound of fist on flesh. He could hear the screams of the enemy, and the warcry of the red Giants. “Blood for the Blood God.” “Shut up, Zharni.” He ignored the comment. He listened to the battle. He could hear the buzzing of chainblades, the roar of powerful beasts. He could hear- what was that? Zharni looked up as a keening noise cut through the battlefield clamor. Bulky shapes dropped from the sky spitting fire. Around him, Zharni's companions burst apart in sprays of gore, painting the rubble a beautiful, beautiful crimson. His eyes widened as the falling shapes landed with earth-shattering force, resolving into green-armored figures like the red warriors who commanded Zharni and brought him the blood. But something was off about them. These warriors bore none of the trappings of the Red Ones. Their armor was smooth, its plate unadorned save for numerals and markings like twisting flames. Zharni screamed his hate and charged toward the imposters, whipping the blades attached to his arms through the air in his eagerness to take their skulls. Their firing continued unabated. He felt his midsection come apart and he arced through the air as if in slow motion, slamming to the ground with a dizzying shock. At the edge of vision, the green-armored figures bounded away on plumes of flame, spitting death at a new target. Zharni was denied his prey. Yet he smiled. For Zharni could still hear the sounds of battle. He could hear the screams of the wounded, the moans of the dying. He could hear the boom of bolter and the whistle of spinning blade. He could hear the patter of his own blood falling to the earth beneath him, a sweet music, a worthy sacrifice. And above it all, Zharni began to perceive a new sound, the laughter of a thirsting god.

Solbond Gardhird versus Salamanders Mission - Warp-Nexus Destruction Battle Tied, 50-50 (Votann were Defender, went 1st). Complete Central Positions Agenda x 5, completed Prospecting Agenda x3. Gain 4 Blackstone from Central Positions. Gain the following Resources - 70 Raw Minerals from battle (40 from battle, 10 from Mining Outpost, 20 from Prospecting), 270 Biomatter (from Pioneer Fleet asset, 27 Yield Points x10). Gain 2RP from mission. Spend 1RP for Increase Supply Limit (up to 2000), add 1 Hekaton Land Fortress (Sol-Baund Citadel) No Battle Scars suffered Units upgraded Echo-Delvr Karvyr gains Viel of Ancients arificer relic (Bearer gains a 4+ Invuln save) Skeldr Jarnvardr gains Stealthy Arrival trait (if this unit Deepstrikes it gains Stealth until the next turn and cannot be Overwatched) Oath-Runner One gains Advanced Suspensors (This unit's ranged weapons gain Assault) Oath-Runner Two gains Advanced Suspensors (This unit's ranged weapons gain Assault) The Sturm-bon gain Warrior Pride (Each time this unit is selected to shoot or fight, may re-roll one to Hit roll and one to Wound roll. Overall- Victory - Tie Resources - 280 Biomatter, 90 Raw Minerals, 20 Galactic Intel, 20 Energy Sources RP - gain 2, spend 1. Total is 1 Supply limit - 2000 (using 1990) Crusade points - Goes from 7 to 12 Battle Report Mission - Warp-Nexus Destruction (9th ed modified) 1500pts. Mission was fairly simple scoring-wise: 5VP for 1 objective, 5VP for 2 objectives, 5VP for 3 objectives. Then at the end of the game there was a 20VP bonus for whomever held more objectives at the end of the battle. ** Some notes - We were doing some Crusade custom mission rules, which included the following: Infiltrating Attackers (see Deployment), Counter-Offensive and Heroic Intervention Strats cost 1 less CP (which means Heroic is free), -1 Movement and -2 Charge rolls for all units, and all ranged weapons have their range halved. There was also some shenanigans with a warp interference table, but they didn't really effect anything in this game. Enemy Force - Forgefather's Seekers Detachment. 10man Infernus squad w/Vulkan, 10man Intercessor squad w/LT, 6man Bladeguard w/Agrax and LT, 3man Aggressor squad w/flamers, 2x 5man Infernus squads, 5man Heavy Intercessor squad, 5man Terminator squad, Gladiator Lancer Reserves - Votann had Hearthguard and Melee Steeljacks/Elder in Deepstrike. Sallies had Termies and Bladeguard in Deepstrike. Deployment - Kinda weird. Look at the first pic to get an idea. Four objectives, three in the top portion of the map and one in the middle of the board. Defender deployment is a 12" stripe starting at the middle of the board and going up. Attacker deployment starts 12" away from the center of the board going down. Two stripes of No Man's Land, one on the upper edge of the board and one in-between the two army's deployments. Attacker gets 2 infantry units to Infiltrate (plus Sallies had another get Infiltrate from Crusade upgrade), so there was a squad on each of the top three objectives. Bad pics but the 2 5man Infernus squads, the Heavy Intercessors, and the Lancer are all in the lower deployment zone. Round 1 Votann turn 1 - Votann push up, with the Kapricus and Sagitaurs moving to put pressure on the infiltration infantry. Right Sagitaur drops off Trokk and his Warriors onto the right objective. Shooting from the Kapricus/right Sagitaur/Trokk's crew kill off the Aggressor squad and do a little damage to Vulkan's Infernus squad on the top-center objective. Really, really good shooting from the Pioneers on the left pick up six of the Intercessors on the left objective and the Sagitaur over there pops another two. A charge from the two-man squad of Kapricus smashes another of Vulkan's Infernus marines. The return attacks wipe out one Kapricus but the other holds on. Salamanders turn 1 - Sallies are deathly afraid of the Volkanite Steeljacks' overwatch so move cautiously around them and the Heavy Intercessors only do 2 Wounds to the Steeljacks in shooting. Mass flamers kill off the second Kapricus that had been in melee. Pioneers go into Reserves at the end of the turn. Round 2 Votann turn 2 - Left Sagitaur drops off its basic ion blaster Warriors onto the left objective, lone Kapricus gets close to Vulkan and the top-center objective. Sagitaur/Warrior/Arkanyst fire kill off the Intercessor squad and LT on the left objective, while more fire from the Kapricus and right Sagitaur hurt Vulkan's boys. Shooty Steeljacks/Thunderkyn in the middle of the board wipe out the Heavy Intercessors. A sacrificial melee charge from the Kapricus tank shocks a few mortal wounds off of Vulkan's squad but it dies in melee. Salamanders turn 2 - Both 5man Infernus squads keep moving up, staying out of Steeljack Overwatch range. Lancer moves up and torches the right Sagitaur. Terminators and Bladeguard drop down, Termies near the middle of the board right in-between three objectives, Bladeguard drop near the right objective to pressure Trokk. Melee Steeljacks Rapid Ingress to back up Trokk. Aside from the Lancer, Sallie shooting isn't effective. Bladeguard fail their charge, as do the termies. Round 3 Votann turn 3 - Hearthguard drop down (off pic) near the Infernus squad on the left of the board. Melee Steeljacks move up to engage the Bladeguard, Thunderkyn move out to shoot at termies. Shooting goes bad for Votann, as the Sagitaur + Thunderkyn take out only one termie and the Hearthguard only kill one Infernus Marine. Melee goes better, as the Steeljacks blender the Bladeguard and bring them down to just two regular Bladeguard plus the characters while only losing one in return. Salamanders turn 3 - Lancer and right Infernus squad move up to put more pressure on the right objective, termies move on to the left objective. Shooting pretty much wipes out Trokk's squad and take three of the regular Warriors on the left objective out. Melee helps out the Votann, as the Steeljacks kill the remaining Bladeguard and the LT, losing another two Steeljacks to Adrax. Round 4 Votann turn 4 - Hearthguard move up to kill the Infernus squad, while the Arkanyst gets dropped off to attempt to try the Prospecting Agenda. Thunderkyn move to get closer to termies, as does the Sagitaur. Shooting from Sagitaur/Thunderkyn/Warriors drops two of the termies. Melee takes out Adrax, but can't quite tie up the Lancer. Salamanders turn 4 - Big turn for Sallies. Vulkan and his remaining two Infernus torch the Thunderkyn, the Lancer blasts through the regular Steeljacks, and the right Infernus squad takes Trokk down to 1 Wound. Charge from the Termies does not manage to kill off the two remaining Warriors on the left objective (hooray for Fortify and 6+ saves!) Round 5 (sorry pic is sideways, can't fix it now...) Votann turn 5 - Sagitaur moves to the top-center objective to try to kill off Vulkan, Trokk dies to Overwatch from flamers. Warriors manage to kill off one of the final two termies, but can't finish off the last, lose another member. Sagitaur fails to kill any Infernus in the top-center, Steeljack Elder fails a charge into the Infernus on the right. Salamanders turn 5 - Termies kill off the last Warrior on the left, taking all three top objectives and the tie. Thoughts Whew, what a swing! Throughout the game I was consistently getting 10/15VP per turn for holding 2/3 objectives while the Sallies only were getting one. However, the last turn was massive in that my opponent managed to get 15VP from holding 3 and the 20VP from holding more. If only my final Warrior had passed his save.... Still, a very good game and one that was surprisingly even in score but not in feeling. A couple of the mission rules really, really changed how the game played. The halving range of all weapons hurt my opponent way more than it hurt me, as his super-themed list leaned into flamers so much that he only got a couple of shots off with any of his Infernus squads. It did effect my Thunderkyn though, making their conversion beamers lose out on the Conversion rule and thus missing some utility. The -1 to move everything really hurt me- 4" move on all my infantry was rough and made me pretty static. As the defender it wasn't nearly as bad, but still a bit of a hard thing to deal with. On the good side, my opponent's previous playing against/having Votann helped out, as he was so worried about the Volkanite Steeljack's Overwatch that he pretty much left the middle objective alone the entire game, allowing my Memnyr Strategist to just sit on the objective and get Central Position Agenda points. The bad side was that he also knew how fragile the Kapricus were and blasted them off the board quickly. Overall this match played out fairly well for me, as I got a lot of upgrades that will help (Sagitaurs both getting Assault means running and gunning/dropping), while not really losing out on anything that hurt too bad. Plus, no Battle Scars, which means I can finally save a single RP! So, as I said in my last game report, the next update will take a while. Currently there is one FLGS that is replacing their flooring (much needed!) and the second is expanding and doing some construction/painting/redoing stuff to get ready. So this next week will be a pause while we wait for our stores to open back up. That means I'll probably be painting, as I have my Pioneers and all four Kapricus vowed for the 12MoH as well as a mini-diorama and hopefully some Killteam Sanctifiers coming in to build (plus maybe another Grimnyr and my Nightbringer conversion...). I am also going to try to work up some sort of story/fluff for the last few reports/time period, as I've fallen down on that end. Anyway, thanks for looking and see you soon!

So, here's chapter two. Firstly, my apologies for the formatting. Apache Office and this forum really don't like playing ball together and it seems to remove all the line breaks, etc. Constructive criticism is as always most welcome. ===== The carrier left the district roads behind before dawn and kept going until the sky paled from black to iron grey. I must have slept in snatches, because I remember the engine note changing more than I remember the ground we crossed. Sometimes I woke to the track noise hammering up through the floor and the red compartment light swaying across faces I did not know. Sometimes I woke with my hand already at my chest, fingers over Ida’s tags through the cloth, as if I had been checking in my sleep that she had not been taken from me a second time. Nobody said much. When they did, it was low and brief, the sort of speech meant to get something done rather than fill the dark. Once, Łaska moved along the bench and cuffed a man lightly on the shoulder for letting his rifle butt knock against the hull. He grunted an apology and shifted it in closer. She said nothing more. That seemed to be enough. By the time the carrier slowed, the sun had edged its way up behind the dunes and turned the desert the colour of old bone. I heard the driver shout to someone up front. A moment later the hull slewed, corrected, and rolled down what felt like a packed-earth ramp. The engine dropped to a rough idle. The ramp came down with a metallic groan. Heat pushed in at once. Not the clean morning cold of the transit yard, but dry, used heat, already carrying the promise of a bad day. I rose with the others and slung my bag over one shoulder. My legs felt wooden. For a second I stayed where I was, waiting for someone to tell me what came next. Nobody did. Men were already moving past me and down the ramp, taking kit, hauling crates, stepping into the sun as though the place outside had been waiting for them all along. Łaska went first. Czajka followed without looking back. That was enough. I hit the deck after them. The position sat in a fold of the land where the dunes thinned and the stone began to show through. It was no parade-ground camp. There were no neat rows, no bright pennants, no polished command signs hammered into the ground. A low wall of poured rockcrete and stacked scrap marked the perimeter on three sides. Beyond it, the desert ran away in wavering bands towards a broken ridge. Inside stood a scatter of prefabricated huts, a motor shelter stitched together from corrugated plates, two fuel bowsers, a water tank squatting on a steel frame, and a cook fire under a canvas awning darkened with old smoke. Netting had been thrown over the vehicles and weighted down with stones. Ammunition boxes served as stools. A washing line had been rigged between two bent poles, and fatigues hung from it stiff with dust. Nothing matched. Everything worked. A man I had not seen before took the crate from the trooper in front of me without breaking stride and called for it to go to stores. Someone else was already checking the fuel levels on the carrier with a dip rod and a slate. Another pair had the engine deck open and were arguing over a fan belt in voices too low to follow. Nobody stood around welcoming the sunrise. Czajka stopped beside the ramp and jerked his head at me. “Bag down by the hut with the blue stripe. Then wait.” That was all. I did as I was told and set the bag where he’d said. The hut was little more than a box of patched wall panels bolted together, but it had been swept out recently. There were bunks inside, shelves cut from packing timber, and footlockers with names and numbers chalked on their lids. Some of the names had been rubbed out and written over. One locker still had its old name half-visible under the new one, the chalk not quite scrubbed clean enough to forget. When I came back out, Czajka was gone. For a moment I stood alone in the middle of the compound with my rifle in one hand and no idea who I was meant to report to. Around me, the place carried on as if I had been there for years and was simply slow that morning. I felt the old instinct rise in me — keep still, keep quiet, don’t draw eyes — but there was nowhere to hide in that yard, and not much point trying. “Here.” The voice came from my left. Gruff, not loud. I turned. He stood by the motor shelter with one boot up on a crate, signing something on a slate held flat against his thigh. He was broader through the chest than most of the men around him, his face weathered into lines the desert had made permanent, his jaw thick, sleeves rolled to the elbow. He had a manner I recognised from foremen and old squad leaders in the mine convoys, men who did not need to prove they were in charge because everyone else had already agreed to it. A laspistol sat low on his belt. A knife handle showed at the small of his back. When he looked at me, his left eyebrow lifted a fraction, not in surprise, but as though I were an item on a list he was checking against what had been delivered. “This him?” he asked. Czajka appeared from somewhere behind me, as if he had never moved far at all. “That’s him.” The sergeant looked me over once. Boots, rifle, posture, face. He eyed me, his gaze thorough. “You know how to clean that thing?” I looked down at the rifle in my hand. “Yes.” “Good.” He jerked the slate at me. “Then you know enough to stop holding it like a bloody shovel.” I shifted my grip. He watched me do it and gave no sign whether I had improved the matter. “Name?” I told him. “Mine before labour conversion, weren’t you?” It was not really a question. I nodded once. He lowered his boot from the crate and tucked the slate under his arm. “I’m Rakoczy. Sergeant. You answer to me. If Łaska tells you something, you listen as though I said it myself. If Czajka tells you something, use your ears before your tongue. You understand?” “Yes, Sergeant.” He lifted that left eyebrow again, only slightly. “That ‘yes, Sergeant’ wants sanding down. You’re not on a square in Prawa Prime. We do the job right and we do it quick. Save the polish for someone who likes hearing it.” “Understood, sir.” “Better.” He passed the slate to a waiting trooper, scratched at the stubble along his jaw, and looked past me towards the hut where I had dumped my bag. “You’ve got third bunk, left side. Locker underneath. Don’t leave kit lying about or it’ll grow legs. Water ration’s posted by the tank. Don’t wash anything but yourself till told otherwise. We’ve got enough fuel for the carriers and not much more. You can eat when the noon pot’s up. Until then, you make yourself useful.” He said it as if usefulness were the only test that mattered. A man with grease black to both wrists came jogging in from the perimeter wall and muttered something about a cracked road wheel on the second carrier. Rakoczy swore under his breath, left-handedly snatched the slate back from the trooper who had taken it, scrawled a note, and shoved it at him. “Tell Wrona he gets one chance to prove he isn’t blind. If he can’t, I’ll have him cleaning sump trays till winter.” The trooper grinned and went. Rakoczy looked at me again as if remembering I had not vanished. “You can strip an engine?” “No.” “Can you dig?” “Sir..” “Can you keep watch without falling asleep on your feet?” “Yes sir..” “Can you keep your mouth shut?” There was no change in his tone. That made the question feel heavier than the rest. “Sir.” He studied me a second longer. Then he nodded once, apparently satisfied enough for the moment. “Good. Take that bag of lime over to the far side of the wall and give it to Łaska. And don’t spill it.” I looked around until I found the sack leaning against a fuel drum. It was heavier than it looked. I hefted it under one arm and headed for the far side of the perimeter. The wall dipped lower there, following the line of the ground. Beyond it the land fell away slightly into a hard pan of stone and packed sand. At first I thought the posts set out there were range markers or a survey line. Then I got closer. They were grave markers. Not grand. No carved angels, no polished stone, no names cut deep enough to last a century. Just iron rods driven into the ground with scrap metal tags wired to them, some stamped, some scratched by hand. A few had helmets resting upside down at the base. One had a strip of cloth tied beneath the tag, bleached almost white by the sun. Someone had lined the graves carefully, each spaced the same as the next, the ground raked and tamped around them to keep the drift from covering them too quickly. Łaska was kneeling beside the newest one with a tin of black paint and a stencil plate. A flat spade lay across the ground beside her. She did not look up when I approached. “Sergeant sent this,” I said. “I can see that.” Her voice was as level as the horizon. She took the sack from me with both hands, set it down beside the open tin, and only then looked up. Close to, she looked older than I had first thought and harder than that still. Not old. Just worn into sharpness by use. There was nothing ornamental about her. Even at rest she seemed arranged for work. She glanced at the graves, then at me. “You know what this is?” “Lime, sir.” That earned me the faintest twitch at one corner of her mouth. It was not quite amusement. "Brilliant. We should put you in intelligence. And don't you 'sir' me.” She dragged the sack closer and hooked a thumb towards the line of markers. “This is where our dead go. Ground’s hard. Lime helps.” I looked back at the markers. There were more than I had thought at first glance. Eight. No, ten. One at the far end had sunk slightly to one side where the earth had shifted beneath it. Someone had propped a flat stone under the leaning post to set it right again. Łaska saw me looking. “Don’t walk between them,” she said. “You go round.” I nodded. She set the stencil plate over the fresh tag and dipped the brush. “You got a name?” I told her. She painted in silence for a few strokes, black letters appearing clean against the metal. Then she asked, “Can you dig straight?” “Yes.” “We’ll see.” There was no contempt in it. Just fact. I stood a moment longer, unsure whether I was dismissed. She noticed, because of course she did. “If you’re waiting for a sermon, you’ll die thirsty. Go find a shovel.” I went. Two men were already at the tool rack by the water tank, one sorting picks, the other mending a split handle with wire and resin. Neither looked especially pleased to see me, but neither objected when I took a shovel. By the time I returned, Łaska had finished lettering the tag and was driving the post in with the back of the spade. The sound rang out thin and hard in the open air. Rakoczy arrived while I was still three paces away. He came without hurry, carrying a canteen in one hand and a folded cloth in the other. He looked from me to the shovel, from the shovel to the ground, and grunted. “That’ll do. Not there.” He pointed with the canteen to a patch of hardpan a little way down from the last marked grave. “There. Two foot wide. Four deep if the ground lets you. If it doesn’t, you keep arguing with it till it does.” I set the blade to the earth. The first strike bounced more than it bit. The second found a seam between stone and compacted sand and shaved a curl of pale dust loose. By the fourth, the muscles in my shoulders had begun to wake. The ground was ugly work, the sort that punished the hands more than the back. I kept at it. Nobody offered encouragement. Nobody told me to pace myself. A man either dug or he did not. Around me, the compound breathed on. Engines coughed. Someone shouted for a missing socket wrench. Tin cups knocked together near the cook fire. The smell of onions and something salted drifted over on the hot air. Above it all lay the dry hiss of the wind moving over the rock and the muted, regular thunk of Łaska setting the fresh marker in place behind me. After a while a shadow fell across the pit. I looked up. Rakoczy stood over me, canteen dangling from two fingers. “Deep enough?” “Not yet.” “Good answer.” He tossed the canteen down. I caught it one-handed and drank. The water was warm, metallic, and better than anything I had tasted in days. He waited while I handed it back. “Czajka says you kept your wife’s tags.” My grip tightened on the shovel shaft without my permission. Rakoczy saw it. He saw most things. “Yes.” He gave a slow nod. “Then don’t lose them.” That was all. No sympathy. No talk of grief. He turned and walked back towards the motor shelter before I could think of any answer. When I climbed out at last, palms burning through the thin fabric of my gloves, Łaska stepped over to the pit, looked down into it, and judged it with the same expression she might have used on a repaired wheel hub. “It’ll do.” I had the absurd urge to feel relieved. She passed me the shovel and nodded towards the line of markers. “Put that back. Then get cleaned up. Noon pot in ten.” I took the shovel to the rack and found a tap behind the water tank where men were already washing dust from their hands and faces in turn, no one using more than a trickle. I splashed water over my wrists and the back of my neck and watched the mud run off brown. Beside me, the man who had mocked my boots in the carrier glanced over. “Fresh one,” he said again. Before I could answer, another voice came from behind us. “And you’re still thick as axle grease.” A few men nearby snorted. The trooper at the tap grinned despite himself and moved off with his hands still dripping. Łaska stepped in beside me, scrubbed her fingers with a strip of rag, and gave me a look in the reflection off the tank’s dented side. “Eat while it’s hot,” she said. “You’ll work better.” That was the nearest thing to kindness I had heard all morning. I was not entirely sure it counted. The noon meal was stew ladled from a blackened pot into tin bowls dented from long use. Men sat where there was room on crates, and spare track links, and the carrier hull, and the ground. Rakoczy ate standing up with his left hand, reading from a slate between mouthfuls and asking for a fuel count without once looking up. Czajka was there but no longer near me. He sat with two others under the shade netting, speaking in low tones over a map weighted at the corners with bolts. Whatever part he had played in bringing me in, it was finished for now. I had been handed over. Nobody asked me to tell my story. Nobody asked how Ida died. Nobody asked whether I missed the mine or whether I was grateful for the transfer. They made room on a crate, passed me a bowl, and went on talking around me about bearings, routes, a broken condensator at one of the pump stations, and whether the wind would strip the netting before nightfall. It should have felt cold. It did not. Cold was the orderly saying Subject 07-B into his terminal while my wife lay under a sheet. Cold was a slip of paper shoved under the door telling me I belonged now to labour conversion. Cold was the pump station, where a man could sit two watches and not hear his own name once. This was something else. Hard, yes. Dry, yes. Unwelcoming in all the ordinary ways men can be when they have no time to waste. But not empty. Not indifferent. The place had shape to it. Standards. Memory. A line of graves beyond the wall that somebody repainted and kept straight. After the meal I carried my bowl to the wash barrel and found myself looking again towards the far side of the perimeter. The markers stood there in the white heat, black names drying on metal, each one held upright against the wind. No one had needed to explain what kind of unit this was. I was still staring when Rakoczy’s voice sounded from behind me. “You planning to stand there till dark?” I turned. “No, sir.” “Good. Then pick up that ammo crate and take it to stores. After that, Wrona wants hands on the second carrier.” I bent for the crate. As I lifted it, the tags beneath my tunic knocked lightly once against my chest. For the first time since boarding, I had the sense that the place was beginning to take my measure, and that I was doing the same to it. Not trust. Not yet. But something with the same bones. Rakoczy had gone back to his slate. Łaska was already at the vehicle line. Czajka did not look over. The day carried on around me, hard and ordinary. I picked up the crate and went where I was told.

Solbond Gardhird versus Necrons Mission - Retrieval (Nachmund modified) Votann win the battle, 9-6 (Votann were Attacker, went 1st). Complete Search Drop Site Agenda x 3, did not complete Prospecting Agenda. Gain 2 SAp, 1 for Victory, 1 for 3 Search Drop Site actions. Gain the following Resources - 40 Biomatter from battle Spend 1RP for Red-Handed Harvest, (5+ on 4 unit kills- 6,6,6,4) gain 30 Energy Sources Spend 1RP for Increase Supply Limit (up to 1600) - Units incoming - Arkanyst Evaluator Echo-Delvr Karvyr Hearthkyn Warrior Squad Star-Wards Sondur-Oath Wardens suffers a Battle Scar, removed for 1 RP Farstryde Riders suffers a Battle Scar, Scorned - Cannot Fall Back Units upgraded Sondur-Oath Wardens (Marked for Greatness) gain Raiders (Re-roll to Hit rolls of 1 if target is on an objective) The Sturm-bon (Victory bonus 5XP) gain Adaptive Camouflage (Unit gains Stealth and if placed in Reserves counts the round as one higher for when and where it can deploy.) Seykyr' Hird gain Footsloggers (Add 1" to Movement.) Overall- Victory - Votann Resources - 60 Biomatter, 20 Raw Minerals, 80 Galactic Intel, 30 Energy Sources RP - gain 1, spend 3. Total is 0 (2 + 1 - 3) Supply limit - 1600 (using 1540) Crusade points - Goes from 2 to 4 (2 + 3 -1) Battle Report Mission - Retrieval (Nachmund, modified) Scoring - Beginning in the 2nd round, can search one of the six objectives for a courier. On a 6+ the courier is located (+1 if Defender, +1 for each other objective searched). Gain 1VP for searching an objective, gain 1VP for finding the courier, gain 3VP during the command phase if you control the objective with the courier (player going 2nd scores this at the end of the battle instead of command phase on the 5th round) Agendas - Prospecting, Search Drop Site Enemy Army - 2x Plasmancers (one is a Crucible Champion that gives his unit a 5+FNP), 2 10man Immortal Bricks (one tesla, one gauss), 2 3man Skorpekh squads, 1 3man Ophidian squad, 1 6man Wraith squad, 1 3man Lohkust Destroyer squad, 2 1man Heavy Destroyer squad, 1 5man Flayed Ones squad Deployment - Kinda weird, all six objectives are in the Attacker's deployment (full half of the board), while the Defender has a deployment 12" away from the middle of the board Round 1 Votann turn 1 - Good deployment for Votann as the Attacker. Both Hearthkyn squads jump out to try to sticky their objectives (bad idea?). Hearthkyn squad on the upper left objective jumps out and Searches Drop Site. Minor shooting from Sagituars and Steeljacks kill 4 of the 6 Wraiths, but nothing goes down entirely. Necrons turn 1 - Wraiths and a Skorpekh squad charge the Steeljacks in the center, the melee lasts for 3 rounds before the Steeljacks die (Wraiths die this turn but Skorpekh eventually wear down the Steeljacks). Heavy Destroyers nail both Sagitaurs, leaving them on 1 Wound each. Skorpekh charge the left Sagitaur, Ophidians/Flayed Ones charge Trokk's squad and his wounded Sagitaur. Left Sagitaur and Trokk and his squad die but the right Sagitaur lives, Left Skorpekh squad ties up the Hearthkyn squad on the upper left objective. Round 2 Votann turn 2 - Einhyr Hearthguard teleport behind the Pioneers on the bottom right objective. Kapricus on the bottom left object does mission action, while Thunderkyn squad does Search Drop Site on the lower middle objective (no real good shots for them). Hearthguard blast the Ophidians off the table and make a 12" charge to get tangled into the Flayed Ones but fail to kill them off. Necrons turn 2 - Shooting/Plasmancer mortal spam from the gauss Immortal squad kills off both the Sagitaur and severely wounds the Pioneers, a Heavy Destroy finishes off the Pioneers. Melee continues, with the left Skorpekh killing the last of the Hearthkyn and the right side Skorpekh/Flayed ones battering at the Hearthguard but failing to kill them. Hearthguard again fail to kill the Flayed Ones (second melee turn in a row that the Flayed Ones live with one model!). Round 3 Votann turn 3 - Melee Steeljacks Deepstrike near the lower middle objective, trying to reinforce the Votann line.Thunderkyn mission action and find the courier on the lower middle objective (all other objectives are then removed, but due to models on them some take longer to physically remove). Kapricus moves over closer to lower middle. Hearthguard finally kill the Flayed Ones. Necrons turn 3 - Shooting/melee finally knocks out the Steeljacks in the center of the board. Hearthguard get taken down by all the various Necrons now swarming them. A Reserve unit of Immortals shows up near what was the former lower right objective to shoot at the melee Steeljacks. Round 4 Votann turn 4 - Kapricus Searches Drop Site on the last objective, Steeljacks shoot/stretch out to melee the Immortals to their right. Return melee from the Immortals does little. Necrons turn 4 - Shooting from Heavy Destroyer/gauss Immortal squad kill off the Kapricus, charges from both Skorpekh squads into the Steeljacks leaves only the Theyn and Elder left (pic). Round 5 Votann turn 5 - Steeljack Theyn/Elder manage to kill off all the Immortals and bring the Plasmancer down to one wound. Necrons turn 5 - Twin Plasmancer Mortal Wound spam kills off the Theyn and the Elder is alone to face the wrath of six Skorpekh Destroyers. Votann are tabled, but due to both doing the mission actions, finding the courier, and holding on to it for two rounds beat out the Necrons who only held on to the objective for two of their Command/End phases. Thoughts Super fun battle that I barely squeaked out a win from. I did have a few mistakes that I think cost me, the first being that I disembarked both Hearthkyn squads at the beginning of the battle. It didn't do anything to have Trokk's squad out as they couldn't mission action until turn 2 and their shooting didn't do enough to warrant them being able to be charged by Flayed Ones/Ophidians and taken off the board pretty much instantly. Second mistake was charging in the Hearthguard, because they aren't great in melee due to their low volume of attacks (even with the Sustained 1 upgrade they have) and so the power of their shooting was wasted. Third was not picking up the Pioneers at the end of the Necron's first turn- I could have kept them in Reserve and completed my Prospecting Agenda at the end of the game instead of whiffing on it. Mainly, I was lucky that I found the courier and that I had my melee Steekjacks still in Reserve to keep that objective held long enough to win the game. I'm having a rough go of the Votann, being so used to having severe melee threats in my armies (Skorpekh/C'tan in Necrons, Bladeguard/Victrix in my SM), that I deploy much more aggressively than I think I should. Both the melee Steeljacks and Hearthguard can do some work in close combat, but have limitations. The Steeljacks don't have damage to kill off big multi-wound units and the Hearthguard don't have the volume of attacks to really impact the game. I need to use them a little differently than I'm used to- Steeljacks are either a tarpit squad or a horde blender and the Hearthguard need to use their plasma shooting as their main damage dealer and then charge to mop up. Kind of annoyed that I can't yet get a Kindred Asset- need 30 Raw Materials to get it. Also, the dang shooting Steeljacks have managed to take a Battle Scar every single battle, which is really, really worrisome and kinda limits my RP allotment (down to 0 and need at least two in the next four games to increase my supply limit up to the full 2k). I really don't want to keep spending RP to heal them. I've finally got some upgrades that will help out, with Stealth on the Thunderkyn and the shooty Steeljacks re-rolling 1s to Hit vs stuff on objectives. I'm hoping that will balance out some of the downsides that I've got with Battle Scars. Anyway, I'm probably going to finish my infantry painting before my next battle, so there is something to look forward to. Thanks for looking!

Work has been busy these past few weeks, so didn’t have time to write up much. Also no pictures this entry cause I need to take them. Over the weekend I pivoted on the projects, switching from CSM/Orks to marines. Just felt like painting up my Hellblasters for my UM 5th that I have in the background. This did remind me I had 5 hellblasters in the colour of the Mantis Warriors. So wanting to do something different and have a wargear correct Gravis captain I built a spare I had with the right weapon loadout. Also pieced together most of the Honored of the Chapter sprue, which will also be Mantis Warriors. Gives a small force based on the CP that I can field as part of a larger force and still have the characters leading their own troopers. In this case the eradicators. Now I just need to locate/get a squad of Intercessors. In other news, I then double checked the other DA CP and realized I do have the right models for it. I’ll update the front page and see about taking a picture of the UM(DA) patrol Mordekai’s Judgement. I’m also thinking of taking the IH CP and painting it in IF colours so that I have a unit for Tor Garadon to lead. Plus I have an old first born devastator squad with LT already painted so the group would look decent together. Thanks for reading

Just a little update Primed, Zenithal, and started flesh tones

Hi Folks. After my recent addition of Imperial agents units (Rogue trader retinue, Breachers and Inquisitorial retinues) I have decided to close the loop and add an inquisitor model to this group so that I might eventually field a cohesive and coherent force, either as a stand alone army with some (old) DW units, or as allied in Imperial forces. Among the various options that were opened for selection I had identified some ooP models on ebay, all in the same range of prices (more or less): Hector Rex and retinue, Solomon Lok and retinue or Ostromandeus and retinue. I have decided myself for the later as the model was unbuilt and unpainted (obviously one may say…). So I have ended up with a limited release miniature ready to go through the bench. Stat wise I can use the Legend’s datasheet or go for a mundane profile instead. The latter being probably the way I’ll go. As most of the plastic minis, the assembly has been smooth. The smoke plumes on the base are probably the only parts that require being a little bit careful. But nothing too complicated. Unclipping of the skull and vox servitor require care as there are some tiny bits that might break but, generally speaking, the process went fine. The painting scheme has also been a relatively easy task as I had clear ideas of the colour scheme I wanted. Yet, in the end, it is a model I regret I haven’t applied a prepainting strategy, especially for the cape and legs. Accessibility of back of the mini is tricky once built. Anyway, I have managed hitting the areas underneath the cape in a good enough manner so that it cannot be found in any clearly unpainted area once the model is on table and even in hands. Except at setting it upside down. But who would dare doing this (a.k.a. “you-can-look-but-not-touch-at-my-minis” syndrome)? My color scheme has been based on a red armor, nor because it is a common color for many =][= models, but rather cause I use as a fluff for this inquisitorial force a story line bounding them the Ordo Machinum. And being closely related to the surveyance of Adeptus Mechanicus, spending time along these guies require fitting into the mold: so red as the color of the Omnissiah. But, in order to hide in the shadows, a black cape (interior in cream color for contrast). One should however explain to the =][= that wandering with a big =][= sigil on the back is not the fanciest way to hide oneself. All augmetics metallic, inc. leg and arm. Stentor‑I‑52, the vox servitor, has been painted like my other servitors and Skitarii as far as its pajama is concerned. Rest of the metallics are aligned with the colors used on my Infotek deployed in the retinue: metal/silver/bronze. Here is the result: With a close up (image treated for improved clarity) on Stentor: So I end up with a series of additional units to be used as allied, inc. an Inquisitor. A family portrait might be a good idea soon. But before I have to dig up this ooP Cypher model I have somewhere in order to customize it as a second =][=. I have lost some parts of it so it will not be rebuilt as the character it is supposed to be, but it will make a good proxy. Main question is: will I do a red power armour? I don’t know why, but I think the armour will be dark and the robes red. And it has nothing to do with my Arcuitor Magisterium’s minion and its robe that went very good with such a scheme… Or has it? See you.

++ THIS ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS ++ PREY FOR DEATH: ++ A MEDITATION AND REFLECTION UPON THE ORIGINS AND HUMOURS OF THE MANTIS WARRIORS ++ Order Origination: White Scars (primogenitor), Marauders (gene-foster) Founding: Unknown; alleged to be the 8th Founding (Mid-34th Millennium) Region of Control: Maelstrom Wilderness Zone Strength: Recovering (as current date, M.42) Affiliation: ...Complicated… 'I have always been equally fascinated and horrified by the terrible occurrences within the Maelstrom Zone at the time of the so-called Badab Schism, a consequence of staggering arrogance and foolishness. Several Space Marine Chapters drawn into heresy by the perfidy of the Astral Claws, who left the others to bear the burden, ensnaring them into misguided alliance. The true horror of these times cannot be understated: even in comparison to the Heresy, the differences are stark. In the perilous days when Horus rose in treachery, brother indeed fought brother, but under Huron’s banner, loyalist fought loyalist, in a different shade of damnation altogether. Appeals to honour that haunt it, command it, shackle everyone involved to the millstone, making the grim voyage into crushingly deep betrayal ever more the bitter. This is well evidenced by the petitions of clemency from some of those the Secessionists called adversary, who decried the forfeiture of worlds, who baulked at the demands of hot, perhaps even hard-headed dissenters. It is this then, a tragedy upon tragedy that sustains the once great Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors, Khoisan Neotera in his deep incarceration, from whom whence this small treatise originates. It has been complied for completeness, for the official record, for the history and future of the Mantis Warriors.' - By Hyronimus Oberon Satii Esq, Interrogator First Class of the Ordo Hereticus, by the Emperor’s Divine Providence, at behest of his master, Lord Inquisitor Garrad Locke. +++++ Whenever I sign onto a Deathwatch Game RPG in the Nook, I go to Badab for inspiration, and judging by one of the Fantasy Flight Games splatbook supplements – Honour The Chapter – so did they. Roleplay, especially PBP is a strange medium and niche. In one instance, you’ve got the fact that everyone either knows or has access to, the lore of 40k, and yet in another, you may have picked a Chapter (or be running a homebrew) that has little known history. However sometimes you’ve got that weird twilight twixt recorded lore and general impressions of a faction, which leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Games Workshop are masters of this, painting with a broad enough brush to leave room for a Player to pick out what he wants, to tell his own story. The Mantis Warriors are one such Chapter, but that approach is not good enough for me, because the deeper you can go, the better and more realistic the character becomes, the more layers can be added. What language do they use? What are their customs? What spiritual paths lead them to the Emperor? There is just no concrete information besides some awful fluff about Mantisae Religiosa. We simply do not know them – which to be fair, is par for the course for an insular, isolated people. Or do we? +++ When I came to my man from Ootheca, thankfully, I had a starting point. The Endymion Cluster is right next door to Badab, and just as afflicted by the Maelstrom Zone. It is heavily suggested that the Astral Claws are (with a few exceptions) based on the ancient Sumerians/Babylonians/Akkadians, later becoming the country we recognise as Iraq. I had researched this already for a previous character, and other projects without the scope of this forum, and this avenue provided me with a lot of material. At the time, I knew very little of the Mantis Warriors outside the Imperial Armour IX/X books or the infamous WD 101, and would go on to consider their origins, modus operandi and naming conventions to place them further East. Indeed, there are several player-made articles and artworks which would suggest their propensity to make war via hit-and-run, proclivity to ambush, and Chapter credo placing them as either ninjas or samurai. Given their iconography looking suspiciously like Kamen Rider – a 1970’s TV series about a group of motorcycle riding superheroes with a Mantis-like insect motif, (and de rigueur exceptionally tight clothing), you can easily see the conflation. So, where do they hail from? "The winds of the desert care not whose bones they scour clean." — Endymion Cluster proverb. A solid compass heading for us to take! To be fair, my conclusions are nothing ground-breaking. Further research leads me to diminish Far Eastern influence/coincidence as a primary concept; however it is useful, as we will come to later. I now believe the Mantis Warriors are not so far flung, and are more at home in the ancient Parthian Empire, a major political and cultural power existing from 247 BC to 224 AD, initially spreading from the province of Parthia, to the Northeast of Iran. The Empire itself spanned many modern countries, reaching all the way from Greece to the Indonesian isles. Their battle methodology of shoot-and-scoot, so remeniscent of the dreaded Mongolian horsemen the White Scars are based on, is another hefty clue. That empire provides us with a lot of room to work in, and is quite a nice symmetry with the Endymion Cluster itself, with plenty of tropical haunts, and empty desert spaces, over which the Mantis Warriors provide their envelope of staunch protection. What further entrenched this idea was a snippet of the heroes fighting in the Badab War – in particular, a Hellfire-configuration dreadnought, the Venerable Secarssa, the Bow of Ma'Dan. (Imperial Armour Ten – The Badab War – Part 2, p.72). I submit that this likely refers to the Marsh Arabs, the inhabitants of the ancient Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day southern Iraq, these wetlands also straddling the Iraq-Iran border, and once again, the propensity of archery in both the name of the Honoured Brother and his devastating equipment loadout harken back to the Parthian Archers of so long ago, the bow a weapon with an unbroken lineage of over 5,000 years. +++ At some point in time, the Mantis Warriors, like most of the White Scars’ offspring must come to terms with the haunting dark side of the Khagan’s wildling power – because like every other Astartes in the Deathwatch RPG, they have something called the Primarch’s Curse, which is a psychosis lingering in the deep hollows of the Quintessence Sacred. How this manifests is tied firmly to their Primogenitor, and so, the terrible fury of Jagatai Khan flows thickly through a Mantis Warrior’s veins, bringing an echo of this potent Primarch into the present. So, how do they deal with it? This is a question we can answer now we have an idea of where our Character and the humour of his Chapter originate. Fervour and foresight play heavily into the mix with the Mantis Warriors, with the Chapter’s spiritual core ‘tempered by Dark Prophecy’. This isn’t a surprise considering the etymology of the Chapter name (Mantis, in Greek, means Prophet). Games Workshop love doing this, leaving little breadcrumbs for us to follow, and it would be rude not to. One of the main figures within the Badab setting is Ahazra Redth, the Dust Prophet, Guardian of the Endymion Cluster, and Chief Librarian of the Mantis Warriors, interestingly an incarnation who also bears a passing resemblance to Paul Atriedes (calm down, Stilgar!) from Frank Herbert’s Dune. I submit that his name also vaguely echoes the spiritual figure of Azura Mazda, the figurehead of the Zoroastrian religion – which again – was very common in the Parthian Empire, and Persia in particular. I make no other parallels; I just found the geographical and spiritual occurrences interesting in the context of the topic at hand. In a further coincidence, Zoroastrianism contains a figure which we recognise as Ahriman, who is reasonably board appropriate, so make of that what you will. Earlier, I mentioned that we should not entirely dismiss the Eastern or Oriental inflections of the Mantis Warriors’ origins. The ecological and geographical diversity of the Endymion Cluster is quite broad, and with training grounds on Tranquillity II and Tranquillity III we find the Mantidae Bellicosa hail also from a death world of deep jungles and mountainous, windswept crags. Indeed, the Mantis Warriors’ main established base outside of Ootheca, is placed within the Valley of The Nine Winds, which could be related to either the nine cuts of the sword as recognised by the ancient Celts, or the Nine Ryu Schools of Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu, which in turn are closely related to Ninjitsu. 'Kamen Rider! Henshin!' (Transform!) +++ The transformation of the Manga/Anime et al superhero mentioned above moves him into a battle-haze, with supernatural powers and speed. Here then, are those influences which interest us, loosely aligning with the particular condition of our eponymous Space Marines, the Mantisae Religiosa. Formed into a death cult within each Battle Company, it is a strange interaction between the Preomnor Implant and that quirky geneseed we mentioned before. The battle haze is a transformation wherein a brother finds himself with tunnel vision, ignorant of anything which is outside his immediate, murderous objective, but the condition provides him with uncanny agility and alacrity, not unlike the motorcycle warrior (and of course, the voracious predator). It is here, I think that GW beats us over the head with it, thankfully stopping shy of Mantis Missiles, Mantis-hawks, and Mantis Death Metal. Jagatai be praised. ‘To think is to do – to do; is to be.’ - The Principle of Alahk Geh. Given that the Far East has used the iconography of Mantids in many forms, and has some of the most beautiful living examples of the genus, it is easy to see where the influence bleeds in. One aspect of this connection we should not ignore is the prevalence of the spiritual married with the corporeal through Shintoism and Buddhism. The first honours the ancestors, the second we regard for the teachings of balance and atonement. Coupled with the desire to follow the path of enlightenment, and stand against the darkness from our Persian-planted roots; and we now have a powerful spiritual depth without contradiction, the press towards penitence in the contemplative pose of the prayerful supplicant. Obviously there is another martial exemplar here: the White Scars principle/performance of action-as-thought: Dreadful Perfection, Elemental Force. A broad scope you could call Zen Buddhist-led Bushido. The overriding tenet we are encouraged to take from this, then, should be as follows: that there is no disassociation between thought and action in the mind of the Khagan, there should be none in the locus of force exerted by the Mantis Warrior. How Inscrutable, mysterious and apropos. Perfect -and yet, as stated above, in my opinion, this should be considered a secondary theme, an overlay if you will, to the stronger evidence of Parthian heritage. +++

So, I've been working on a set of rules for co-operative play for some time now (and have actually played a succesful mini-campaign some time ago, where a group of Imperial Guard veterans where sent to investigate a mysteriously quiet space station, but that's another story...). The core rules seem to work pretty well, so now I've moved on to the next step: creating "campaign packs" that allow for story-based campaigns based around randomly generated scenarios. Last weekend, we got out first game in, and I'm happy to report that things went pretty well (some things still need to be ironed out, but that's the nature of homebrew; your games are also playtesting to a large degree). Our characters, in no particular order are: Ghanz Kurtz - A squat bounty hunter who used to belong to a cult believing that the Emperor is not only omnipresent but diffuse. He prefers not to talk about whether he still holds that belief and generally lets his axe and/or plasma pistol do the talking, but he still has all the underround contacts from his cult days, which make him an invaluable information gatherer. "Stalker" - A bounty hunter who hails from House Delaque and who earned his nickname from the way he, slowly but surely, stalks his prey, tapping his cane softly on the flooring until they're literally caught in his webgun- web. He is adept at a strange coded sign language, which allows him to warn his comrades of danger without a word. Calamity Joe - A Ratskin tracker, who has turned to bounty hunting as a way of life. He is an expert marksman with his lasrifle and has a Phelynx pet that he has tamed himself. He is also something of a card shark, which comes in handy from time to time. A-C4B "Snake" - An ex-enforcer sergeant, who turned to bounty hunting after his unit was all but completely destroyed in a showdown with a (surprisingly well-organised) scavvy gang. He prefers to lead from the front, where he can inspire his comrades. Whether they believe as strongly as he does that he is their de facto leader or not is a question whose answer is shrouded in mystery, but they do seem to enjoy watching him get in over his head. We generated an overall narrative for our campaign that we then fleshed out a bit - the emerging story is that we are on a mission to get back the deed to *redacted* for Lady Ataraxia Lockhart, so we went to a small settlement called "Fallout Post" to hunt for clues. Then the location, scenario objectives, terrain and enemies for our first scenario were all randomly generated and as it turned out, some locals needed help flushing out some strange mutant sect known as "The Progeny of the Jubilant Kiss" who had rerouted some power generators for their own use. The locals promised to reward us not just with credits, but also with a clue - and since the tunnels even bore the name of our (slightly mysterious) employer, it seemed too good an opportunity for us to pass up. So, off we went. Luckily, our two objectives - the generators - were not too far off from our entry point. Less luckily, the mutant leader was blocking our way and he had a lot of followers, including some strange three-armed monstrosities who seemed very eager to stop us from interfering with their power supply. A-C4B promptly took charge of the situation (that's his version anyway), by kicking in the nearest door and opening fire with his stub gun on the three mutants guarding the first generator. Meanwhile, Stalker calmly walked up to the mutant leader and webbed him, thus neutralising perhaps the greatest danger (as we're just starting out, the enemy leaders tend to have better profiles than us, so when we saw him deploy right next to our deployment zone we were kinda worried, but the initiative deck favoured us!). Ghanz opened another door and started walking towards the fray in his well-considered manner (some of his comrades might attribute this to his "stubby legs", but he maintains that slow and steady wins the race), while Calamity Joe ran to the enemy leader and took him out, after which he took up a firing position, as more guards milled into the big, open chamber containing the second generator. While the team had got off to a great start, problems soon ensued; A-C4B's decision to charge into the fray proved to be more dangerous than he had anticipated, as reinforcements arrived for the three mutants he had engaged in melee and they all proved more resistant to his shock baton than expected. But Kurtz deftly picked some of them off with his plasma pistol, so things would probably turn out okay on that front. In the big chamber, Stalker moved forwards, firing his plasma pistol at an emerging champion, while Calamity snapped off shots at a bigger group of shotgun wielding henchmen. But huge numbers of mutants, some carrying heavy weaponry was racing down the corridors towards them.

Nothing very fancy from me today, just a potato cam images of some WIPS. Two Khymaran Veterans. I might even finish them at some point. These are deliberately rough as a badger's chuff, and I'm a little fed up with myself, since despite practice, I just couldn't get the battenberg shoulder scheme down. In the end I settled for a mixed veg melange of red and yellow as their pauldrons would be if they were in normal livery. The pic robs the guy on the right of his MK VII-esque armour, as I've trimmed his poleyns and his gorget. Worked a treat and very easy to do. Unfortunately this is the only phone/camera I have, ad this is the best pic of a dozen. The weathering powder filled up some of the bolter holes in the legs, but at this point IDGAD, because they look great standing next tot he Deadnought (no not a spelling mistake) that can be found a couple of entries back. I both did and didn't enjoy doing them. Frustration is the worst type of motivation killer. Speaking of which, that's it for today. Happy blasting.

SESSION FOUR: I was harping on about doing a medical diorama based on the Howling Griffons actions at Khymara, and thought I had the parts, but I do not. However, I do have legacy models I will never use, belonging to armies I no longer have - I might have mentioned that. Anyway, I got to reading again, and found the segment about the death of Chaplain Armand Titus, hero of the Caradryad Campaign, which was the last action the Griffons prosecuted before the Badab War. Now, Khymara was a defeat for the Griffons, with the Executioners Space Marines butchering 70% of the 250-strong Loyalist Force. They had them at their mercy, but left them alone as soon as they became ineffective and all objectives were complete. One of their number refused to surrender. Armoured in his Dreadnought sarcophagus, and equipped with a power fist and twin-linked lascannon, he fought until his destruction. When the Griffons emerged to find him, they came upon his body, carefully laid out, surrounded by the broken weapons of his enemies, and a torn Executioners banner in his silent fist. Unfortunately, the Chaplain Dreadnought model is both expensive and rare, so I would never hack, chop and slice it up. I could do a little tribute to that magnificent end, though. I did drill up and hack his lascannon arm as well, with one of the barrels burst, but I have lost the image. I'll replace it if I remember. The model is technically finished, but I would like to try and add the banner, or maybe a Griffons' banner to add more colour to it. In other news, a very kind and generous soul (who is also obviously influenced by the Warp, obviously) has sent me some miniatures to complete another project mentioned earlier in this blog. I did have some bases like the one under the dreadnought made up, but this was wrong for the proposed camouflage scheme for the Sigmar VI Insurgency Force, so I made some more which will be desert themed. I do have one problem with this - there is almost no official fluff about Sigmar VI at all. I will have to do a lot more digging. Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, and thank you everyone who comments and reads the blog.

SESSION THREE: I'll start altering the titles of the Blog entries to advertise a little better what's on the menu, since the entry names are kind of sterile and hide the content from those who might be looking for something else. Hope that helps everyone. +++++ ECHIDNA'S CHILDREN ++ THE KHYMARAN DRIFT ++ + BADAB SECTOR = LOYALIST CONTENDED + 'Twixt the barrows of Khymara, The dust of rock and bone, There Echidna's Children play, In their shattered domes, Scions of the Emperor, Slaves to hearth and throne, Twixt the barrows of Khymara, Do the Corpses make their home.' - Garrad Abarex, Astropath and Strifeward of the Third Dynast of Mancora. 1: COMBATIVE MEDIC Theoretical. A term used by the Primogenitors, and before them, the XIII Legion, a rhetorical device to prepare the mind for action, for the execution of a preferred eventuality. Tiber Mahlo found the latter disproportionately amusing, since it succinctly underscored his current predicament. The chainaxe in his shoulder. Scarlet runes in Mancoran Dialect helpfully informed him of the Practical as adamantine teeth driven to a blinding whirr, made contact and began to harrow his alabaster warplate. He couldn’t hear the weapon growling, since Khymara IX was utterly devoid of atmosphere, but he did notice the grey-green dust from the world’s surface clogging where it mixed with Astartes blood from previous victims. He had about three seconds to live. Then again, so did the bastard trying to kill him. With a jarring parry, Mahlo knocked the weapon back with his elbow, provoking sparks and flecks of ceramite to skitter across his visor before pinging off to oblivion in the low gravity. The clack-slam of his Reductor went right through the flexsteel of the Executioner’s neck, aimed at a point Mahlo was all too familiar with. Behind it lay the arteries and meat of the Space Marine’s absurdly well-designed neck, but also the fleshy gobbet of a single Geneseed cluster. The sickening noise as Biscopean cartilage parted for the invading metal never failed to force clenched teeth, when he powered through, severing the cervical vertebrae and the vital nerve clusters. A rune spoiled his vindictive moment with a green pulse to indicate the death-blow, and incidental geneseed recovery, was successful. It was a first. He used the corpse as a shield to hide from supporting fire given by the Scions of Dorn who called the meatbag comrade. More Astartes plate was turned into flinders by the hurricane of fire as they tried to bring him down; just as aware as Mahlo that the man he was holding was dead. This was an utter shambles, the Howling Griffons stationed here called for recovery of their wounded, and Mahlo was forced to leave the protection of his Rhino APC, clearly marked as an Apothecarion Transit, to enter the bunker complex which comprised of four stations, housing an augur array, telecoms units, and a remote surveillance drones. What was left of them. He fought the Executioners with bursts from his Umbra-Ferrox bolter, mindful of ammunition consumption, the firing-bolt assembly hammering a predictable chugging that tallied in his mind along with the cortical-interface in his visor. Never rely on technology, Tiber! The Emperor gave you a brain, did he not? Nothing must be a surprise. Kordus. The Chief Apothecary. Even in death, Mahlo could hear the admonition. He wondered if the Head Surgeon had been surprised by the Executioner's power fist when it punched out his thoracic cavity, spilling bloody bone and gristle onto the bland canvas of the inhospitable steppe of the moon. Probably not. Throne, what a desolate place. Even the Caradryad Sector, harbouring the Night Worlds, had some glimmer of...existence. Here there was little divorce from the hard reality of war. The enemy were clad in almost as motley a panoply as his own Brothers were, some in gleaming blue-steel, others marked with dark lozenges of Codex disruptive patterns, more still in the blue-white lunar amoeba. Being Page to Baron Armitage instilled a certain interest in the heraldry, but the brief nostalgia was rapidly discarded when his power plant hit the door sill leading to the under-complex with a jarring crunch. Abandoning his erstwhile, now limbless Astartesian shield, he banged a cipher with an elbow, tossing a krak grenade out with the corpse to cover it. A blast of displaced grit and pressure warnings eclipsed as the door opened to admit him, staring into the muzzles of two bolters clasped by Howling Griffons from a different Company. + Peace, brothers,+ he assured, although it was both hollow and pointless, since his IFF would have already painted him as friendly, but the mortal adepts in thier control pulpits seemed to relax. Perhaps this was the bedside manner Kordus was so keen for him to develop. +++++ This probably belongs in another place, but since it's not an official Cabal of Dead Ink project, and it marries the theme of the Blog so far, I thought it best to put it here.

SESSION TWO: Well, I've been busy again. I've thrown myself into weird and wonderful projects because I can, and I have the time. It has also served me to look at something other than a bloody computer scream (no, not a typo), and has allowed me to just get lost in a project, no matter how much hair it still causes to fall out. It has been a bit of trial and error, but I got where I wanted in the end. Looking at the RT WH40K Compendium is absolutely lethal. Now it just so happens, I do have a Diemos pattern Rhino from FW, the resin hull and front plate one that builds onto the plastic Mk IIc. Unfortunately, that one was already half way through a lick or two of paint, but the current WIP (right) is pretty impressive with the Howling Griffons Night World Battle Livery. Look at that sucker POP. It's a like a trolley of Battenburg Whoopass (TM) The Badab War Khymara Campaign does have it's advantages, one being I can drybrush the hell out these tanks and it looks pretty good, since the FW art has them very, very messy. I'm still working on how to replicate the 'heavy micrometeorite strikes' you can see on almost all the images of the Griffon's armoured vehicles, but I'll get there. Maybe. Now, to business. Here's my more modern rendition of the RT Ambulance, (there were some problems with the model too, since it is a 'reclaimed' hull from another army I no longer have), but I have glue, plasticard and bad eyesight, so... Lighting in my workshop is...patchy, so the full glory of the slopped around paint isn't really in your face, but trust me it's there. I must confess, I only sprayed the medicae vehicle with Grey Seer, then slapped Agrax Earth over it, and drybrushed it white. I regret I had no Griffon decals, but with colours like this, well, I think I just want the pretty for now, and I wasn't going to splash out on stuff I might not get full use out of. Colour scheme choices were a bit of a bind, since I wanted to have the maroon/pink markings on the vehicle to demonstrate that, besides the colour of the hull, it was a medicae truck, as with the RT inspiration model. I also decided to use the Battenburg instead of the body colour as a Tactical Recognition Flash (TRF) so that overflying Marines air/void craft wouldn't blow it all to hell. The pictures aren't great but it's weathered a lot too. The discolouration is sponged or scrubbed on black mainly, but the moon of Khymara is an airless, dusty ball of rock, like our own Luna, and so the weathering powders and brushing I would use (Mud, sand), doesn't work on a white-hulled vehicle, in this environment. I did have the advantage of buying several sets of weathering powders many years ago, which were boxed into 'themed groups'. One of these is snow, dirt and the crud that can be found in winter cities, and the very nice Terra Vert Gris - a grey-green powder just the job for splodging. I took the liberty of also using the carbon black to smear everything in range that fell under my eye. If I didn't have a paint, I mixed it. I have no idea to the ratios, but I whipped up a small puddle of grey-green to do the track skirts and flanges with. You can see the effect better on the finished black rhino above. I highlighted nothing on the white tank, except the scuffs and dings. I also experimented with contrast paint. I have discovered I can't use it for toffee, but I can use the contrast medium for heavy glazing to improve colour depth. I did plan on doing a little medical diorama, and I still might, since I've got a cool idea which likely will never work, but some joker on ebay wanted $99 for the SM Casualties set, so I made my own, but I will say no more... The project continues.

SESSION ONE: Just a quick one since I had some time today, and so I went delving in the boxes, the miniatures shuddering from fear and fright in the back of my attic, and I found the hull of a Land Raider Redeemer/Crusader with a goodly few bits. This fired up a few neurons, and I pored through the pages of Imperial Armour IX and found a very intriguing bit of artwork, namely the Howling Griffons Land Raider Prometheus. Well, you know, the FW kit has been out of production for ages, and there are a good few tutorials about, but I decided to go ahead and eyeball it, spending some time building the ABSOLUTE UNIT to the right. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how I built this. I just saw parts and glue, and...yeah. I'm a little scared. I don't have the skill to completely render a full LR Prometheus, but I can have a crack at the sponsons. Unfortunately I was only able to complete one, and while it doesn't elevate, it does traverse, so I'm fairly happy about that. I've also decided on building it with assault cannons and the back of a Whirlwind launcher I found, and mounted by chopping up a spare Predator turret ring. Yes, that is the abomination (the Mazer-dubbed LR Khymera, after the Badab War Khymera campaign) to the left. I also unearthed a Vindicator...with the dozer blade... Send help?

SESSION ZERO: Welcome to the Blog! This is basically intended as a collection of projects - which likely won't ever get finished, but I don't want to clog up the WIP/HOH with my inane and meandering nonsense. You can see my very small pile of shame here, which consists of half an Infiltrators kit (Technically a Phobos Kill Team with the upgrades - I can't even remember the name), a Bladeguard kit, and two Intercessors. They've been sitting around for a while, doing not much of anything since I partially built and painted a Mantis Warriors KT, inspired by a character I've been playing in a Deathwatch RPG game over in the RPG Nook (Murderers In Black). I had the concept of a Librarian, but he didn't fit the game, and another player had suggested the Howling Griffons. Being an old hand at the Badab War, and my treasured WD101/Compendium, which sparked my greater interest in the hobby and drew me further into 40k from the 'gateway' drug of Space Crusade, I took a second look at them, and discovered a lot of ideas for the character aligned. I'll likely build the character bio etc, and leave him here for use (so I don't mess up anything elsewhere). It got me thinking, though - the Howling Griffons have an absurd paint scheme, and for me (my eyes are going) I thought it would be too much to try and paint a force of them, but then I saw a wonderful White Scars KT diorama (I forgot by who - I'll add it later) which had a complement of models on a magnificent display board. I was flicking through some Youtube channels as well, boning up on Howling Griffon lore for the character, and it struck me that the boys in Forgeworld had a partial solution, and the serried ranks of Mk VI in the Compendium came to my rescue. The Howling Griffons have three colour schemes: The classic gold and scarlet, the almost 6-colour choc-chip Sigmar VI Insurgency Force, and the Night World Livery of sable with quartered pauldron vignettes. I reasoned I could paint at least maybe one Intercessor or Bladeguard in the red and yellow scheme, the latter representing their bold attitude to oaths and honour, as well as their renowned swordsmanship. The Griffons have a lot of Psykers and the Deathwatch RPG paints them as Duellists, so this would be an excellent choice. I plan to modify the Mk X down to Mk VIII where I can, with minimal cuts to the poleyns, avoiding sculpting and other modelling work which is both beyond me and outside the scope of my time available. I also think it looks a bit cleaner, and I have loads of spare smol-marine heads. The other, sneakier miniatures will be in either the desert style camouflage, or the Night World livery, and I plan to acquire a single Eliminator who I can doll up with both (black armour, Sigmar VI cape). I can't go mad, since my budget is very, very small. I would also like a Librarian to round off the set (I'm not looking at many models - budget, budget, budget!) and the Phobos Lib looks like a good bet - since I'm weird and actually like Phobos armour. I'm not planning to do any significant conversions, but I will do what I can to make the models a little more interesting to me. Spoiler Warning: I like pouches. So that's about it for this post, I appreciate you taking the time to read it, and I know this isn't an innovative idea, but I thought it would be something to try and get me doing something with the remaining plastic crack, since I don't play anymore, and haven't rolled tabletop D6 dice since 2018. Just a note on expectations - I expect this blog to be slow. Very slow. I'll also be dumping a few ideas in here that won't be model related, but are RPG character, setting or history related, sprinkled with pics or brain-fluffs from my other projects. Be good.