Returning BA player's army blog etc.

[GlauG]

Hi everyone,

 

I haven't been active on B&C for about a year on account of University eating up all my time, but I've mostly been active in the DA forum, on account of having run a Ravenwing/Deathwing army since I've started playing 40k again. However, I saw that there was a new BA 'dex, and thought I'd resurrect my old BA army, since I've had one ever since Angels of Death, way back when... Not a lot of progress so far, just one Assault Squad, Sanguinary Guard, and Dante basecoated, and my Furioso Librarian Dread (Click me!). The one downside I'm noticing with the new 'dex is that there isn't enough room at 1500pts to use all the new models I bought in a rush of excitement! At any rate, pleased to make your acquaintance. ;)

 

EDIT: I'll mirror my modelling updates here too, since despite nearly 3000 views on my WIP thread, I've had no comments for over a week. :sweat:

 

EDIT2: Most recent WIP image! See below for more.

 

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3973/p10006463195577.jpg

[Morticon]

Welcome back :yes:

[GlauG]

Rather than start a whole new topic I figured it's easier to just turn this one into a rambling about my experiences playing BAs again, and asking questions I'd like answered... EDIT: I'll also post recent modelling/painting stuff up here too. I've had a lot of time on my hands until this week, on account of only having a part-time job and university having broken up a while ago, So, digging up and stripping some Assault Marines, 2E characters, metal DC and Dreads, I got to work on a BA army using the new 'dex (which I'd bought for reading material on a train journey when it came out). First list was roughly;

 

 

Dante

 

Sang Priest + Jump Pack

Furioso Libby Dread, Magna-Grapple (which is supposedly not legal now?), Wings, Blood Lance

 

Sang Guard taken as troops, Power Fist, Inferno Pistol

10 man Assault Squad, Sgt Powersword, 1x Inferno Pistol

 

10 man Jump Pack DC, 2X Inferno Pistols, Power Fist, Lemartes

 

So, 29 models at 1500pts. It mostly evolved this way as those are the models I built first, rather than any special plan in mind, but it was fun. However, in my first game, the Furioso Libby ate through 4 assorted Dreads (Ironclad, Vet, and 2X Regular) in CC, so I decided to go for a second. Dropping half the Death Company made that easy, and left me points for more power weapons. That second iteration of the list was fairly fun, but then I decided to up the ante and replace the second Libby Dread and some wargear with Mephiston (since I've had the model for yeeeeears). That's when my friends started to get upset, and Mephy became a much more versatile Fire Magnet than a DS'ig Land Raider with "shoot me!" painted on the side. The funny thing was, the first game I used him in, he didn't even make back his points, just killed a Master of the Forge, and then punched a Land Raider a bit without destroying it. The problem is that in the second game, he literally killed an entire Tau army all by himself. My friend assaulted Mephiston with his entire army (sans some pathfinders and some battlesuits, and the vehicles), only to cause him a single wound, while Mephy just kind of stuck his sword out and spun round like a blender, eating Farsight and his bodyguard alive and causing every other squad to fail their morale checks, and then get run down. He Perils'd himself to death later that game, but the damage was done; suddenly half the guys I know who play 40k are talking about how best to take him down. However, in any of my games since he's not yet been killed by anything other than Perils of the Warp!

 

The other things I've been working on have been Dreads of all kinds, and a Stormraven. I'd love to take 2, but I took forever building the first one, and doubt it'd get done before I leave the country (and most of my minis behind). So, I tried a list that was nothing but Mephiston, some Scouts, a Stormraven, 5DC with no upgrades, 3 Furioso Libbys, 1 DC Dread, and two HS Dreads with Autocanons/meltas for fire support. Surprisingly fun for a joke game against a friend's 9-landspeeder Vanilla Marines, but I doubt it'd hold well for general use. My last game, I dropped one Libby Dread and one of the fire support Dreads for Dante and a 5-man Assault Squad, and it was surprisingly effective. A lot of the games I play are 4-player "doubles" with 1500pts each though, so my allies each time often make a big difference.

 

The real question is, what next? I'd like to try Land Raiders, since I have 6 at my disposal, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Similarly Vanguard sound cool on paper. Any suggestions would be appreciated. ^_^

[GlauG]

On reflection, it can't hurt to post model pics in here too. :(

 

 

WIP "Horn Pattern" Stormraven: Just needs me to add the missiles and then paint it.

 

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3973/p10006463195577.jpg

 

The magna-clamps really work, by the way ;) The bottom one has lead-pewter legs from one of my ancient metal Dreads, too!

 

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9868/p10006399627829.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/1156/p10006389601949.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8031/p10006409638367.jpg

 

Land Raider "Squadron": Trying to work out a list where I can take all 3 at once.

 

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6172/p10006513167660.jpg

 

A group shot: The Sanguinary Guard have had a bit more work done on them since then,

 

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8662/p10006078746498.jpg

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/6960/p10006088755191.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8269/p10006427688544.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2204/p10006138795450.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8870/p10006148804672.jpg

 

Updated the Furioso Librarian Dread which basically got me working on restarting my BA in the first place: I should really recast that hand in clear orange like the original one was coloured...

 

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9159/p10006437731693.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9060/p10006447706231.jpg

 

And one other Dread: I don't know how good 4 Twinlinked Autocannons really are in practice, but I love the look (and against an army with 9 Landspeeders in, I think this guy was man of the match...)

 

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/299/p10006168846365.jpg

 

Thoughts, comments, crits, anything, please. :)

[Jorre]

I love that Autocannon dreadnaught! where did you get the cannons from ?

[thor1234]

they look like the Autocannons from the Defence line box set?

 

how did U make That AWESOME Stormraven? i can see elements of the Valkyrie but what else?

[GlauG]

Thor's got it, they're from the Defence Line set. :P My partner and I both did the scenery tutorial at GDUK last year, so we got a set each. My other half as generously allowed me to nick theirs for more Dreads, too. And the Stormraven I can't take much credit for; http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/05/40k...torm-raven.html I just used some Gundam parts for the magnetic grapples, and the Rhino vision slit for the cockpit, otherwise it's mostly as the original.

[GlauG]

Tired after hours of spraying into the early morning, will copy-paste;

I've spent a few hours airbrushing all this crap thanks to chunky bits in my Mechrite red gumming up the works of my airbrush, but I wanted to post it before grabbing sleep.

 

This is practically an entire army in and of itself... If only the JP Marines didn't have the packs, it'd probably be legal at around what, 2000?

 

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8805/p10006522483464.jpg

 

Furioso Libby gets some love too, finally. He's being sprayed blue as that's the base coat for my Librarian Dreads.

 

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5581/p10006532498777.jpg

 

And Grandpa Libby gets a base. Not finished painting him yet, but I feel much better about the model now. Every base in my army will be modelled after this one.

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/1623/p10006542511445.jpg

 

Mephiston, TTAC Dread, ye olde metal BA Dread, Land Raider #1.

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/1231/p10006552522936.jpg

 

Stormraven (which I love even more now it's red), LR 2.

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4864/p10006562536824.jpg

 

LR3, plus kibble.

 

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/4616/p10006572548311.jpg

 

A lesson not to take a photo with a black background, my camera hates it. 10 JP Assault Marines, 10 without.

 

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/373/p10006592560748.jpg

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Dude this blog is getting me fired up and motivated... looking AWESOME so far.

 

I have to say that Libby Dread with the spear is soo cool. Got a tutorial (or resin molds!!) for that one?

[GlauG]

Thanks a lot. :P I like how the the spear came out, but wish I'd managed to make it a bit thicker, actually... I wanted cables and stuff wrapped around it, but it didn't really work out, so it's as it is. I didn't really think about casting the Dread... It's got a lot of GW bits and a lot of the rest is from other model kits, and in the UK we don't have that "30% different" thing when it comes to derivative products and copyright issues. I might cast the next scratchbuild Dread CCW arms I make though (and not use any GW bits), since I want like 6 right Dread CCW arms... I can give a rough parts breakdown:

 

Forearms are Hasegawa Macross Reflex missiles from the 1/72 weapon pack, the joints in the wrists are Gundam polycaps.

Hands are 1/100 Gundam Sandrock hands (only good thing about the kit...) with modified outer plating from the old 1/100 MG Zeta Gundam

Hips are from stabilisers from a Kotobukiya Armored Core kit, unfortunately I can't remember which but it's brown plastic and one of the first 7 sets... maybe the flamethrower one.

Torso is entirely plasticard besides the front plates, which are from a Venerable Dread, and a SM torso I shaved down to fit the Sanquinary Guard Death Mask into. The hips are a SM tank cupola, magnetised so that the interior bit just rotates inside the larger part which is stuck to the torso.

The shoulder mounts are wheels from a Generation 1 Transformer, you could use either Inferno or Grapple (I had a junked one I'd bought for repairs for another). The interior for those shoulders is a WAVE joint part with a 3mm hole. The actual joint parts are all Kotobukiya ABS joint sets, both A and B if I remember right. The joints between the arm and shoulder, elbow, and knees all bend.

The engine/powerplant is made from parts from the Cities of Death Manufactorum.

The feet are made from WAVE round plastic detail parts, while the "toes" are kibble clipped from the Manufactorum buildings. The shin plates are from the Venerable Dread.

The cables are WAVE springs.

The BA wings on the forearms are from the Death Company box.

 

Okay, so much for rough, I think I covered everything. :) Hope that's some help to you! I took some construction pics, they're in my original WIP thread for my first Furioso Libby.

[GlauG]

So, today I did washes and highlights on 30 Assault Marines, 3 Land Raiders, a Stormraven, 2 Dreadnoughts, and Mephiston... I'm kinda desperate to get a good selection of minis painted before I move to Japan, since I know I'll be able to get some gaming out there, but I doubt I'll be able to afford to pick up a good selection of paints.

 

So, here's most of that:

 

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4586/p10006710414906.jpg

 

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/7465/p10006690947887.jpg

 

http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/765/p10006680960218.jpg

 

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4447/p10006661013250.jpg

 

 

As an aside, I hate painting yellow, and the yellow BA Assault Marine heads are starting to bug me. >_>; Kinda pleased with how they've come out though.

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/7373/p10006701581259.jpg

 

Stormraven, with the first inklings of some weathering. :)

[GlauG]

Okay, I'm now convinced that water-soluble black oil paint is the greatest thing ever. I am so, so happy with how the Stormie is looking.

 

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3979/p10006828726718.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5448/p10006878712803.jpg

 

 

No comments about the Fenris Grey though please. ;) It's a placeholder as I work my way up to some other kind of grey for NMM engine parts etc. Got plans for scorched metal thrusters and gun barrels...

 

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/508/p10006858750249.jpg

 

Dark pic of the Dread in the clamps.

 

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/9797/p10006838759922.jpg

 

Mephiston, Lord of coming out too dark in photos.

 

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8448/p10006808790331.jpg

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/4033/p10006798804877.jpg

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2553/p10006788814655.jpg

 

Also, I still hate painting Yellow. I also feel like a moron for trying to paint green eyes on yellow helmets... How the hell did I think that was going to end well? The yellow won't cover to touch up and my attempts to wipe it away smeared everything on a few helmets green. :tu: Though for all that, my live-in Imperial Fists player is aparrently jealous of how it turned out.

 

The bad news is that leaving them near an open window meant that the magnets shrank in the cold wind and broke off of the parts they were glued to... Argh. I don't have a drill big enough for my largest magnets to be mounted into something. I'll have to putty them back into place.

[GlauG]

In response to a query on another board, I thought I'd share these;

 

Mephiston's wings are just pinned above the backpack mount, though the backpack vents had to be cut off and the connecting piece removed inn order for it all to fit. Similarly, Dante's backpack mount wouldn't take the wings, so I just pinned them into the SG JP instead.

 

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/6562/p10006882862338.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4948/p10006912907253.jpg

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1227/p10006922916273.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9874/p10006942935269.jpg

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9391/p10006932924153.jpg

 

The downside is, in daylight Dante looks like ass. Argh. Maybe I should give up on this NMM stuff and just strip them and spray them Alclad Chrome. :);

 

And since I had some good light for once;

 

You can probably see how I've just been lazy and used magnets...

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7098/p10006902895694.jpg

 

Those are speed blurs! 4+ cover save!

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8080/p10006892871952.jpg

 

Finally got a shot of Psycho Tycho not to come out blurred as all hell. Shame the sculpting looks really bad. >_<

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/5931/p10006982951830.jpg

 

Finally, some decent shots of my Assault Grunts.

 

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/187/p10006992960949.jpg

http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/5413/p10007002970174.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/2622/p10007012981419.jpg

 

The guys without helmets are an interesting story... Like all my Assault Marines, they're secondhand guys I gave a new lease on paint and life, but unlike most of them, these guys aren't from the eBay slop pile, they used to be a friend's UM Veteran squad. I thought it'd be fun to lump them in a JP-less Assault squad, with a headswap for the Sarge. ;)

[GlauG]

I hate painting burnt metal without using metallics, but I set myself the stupid challenge of not using metallics or SFX paints in this army. I then cheated and used some UV paints mixed with the highlights. Bleh.

 

 

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/936/p10007024030840.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/3438/p10007034040496.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4616/p10007044052555.jpg

 

Trying to work out if I should try and blend some of the base colour up for highlights or just drybrush it. I'm inclined to side with the latter...

 

Happy with how the Stormy is looking though. Will be taking it dow to my local GW later...

 

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4010/p10007054064899.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3627/p10007064076653.jpg

[GlauG]

Not a modelling update this time, a gaming one. Played a 4-player "doubles" game, 1500pts per player, I teamed up with my flatmate and his Impy Fists against Tau and Necrons combined. We won first turn, but chose to go second instead, and ended up stealing the initiative. It was Pitched Battle deployment for a C&C game. Rough army breakdowns;

 

My BA:

 

Mephiston

Dante

Furioso Librarian Dread X2, one in Drop Pod

5X DC

DC Dread, Blood Talons

10 Assault JP Marines

SP with JP

Stormraven

 

Fists:

 

Lysander

5X Terminators

Command Squad + Chaplain

2X 10 man Tac Marines

Dread

Predator Annihillator with 2 Las sponsons

 

Necrons:

 

Lord with Res Orb

Monolith

Flayed Ones

Tomb Spider

6 Destroyers

And LOTS of Warriors making up the points.

 

Tau:

 

Commander in Crisis Suit

2X Battlesuits

Pathfinders

Fire Warriors

Skyray

Hammerhead

And a bunch of basic troops in Devilfish.

 

 

I started with only Mephy and one Furioso on the board, the second Furioso Drop Podding in. Unfortunately, rather than landing right along the Tau tank line so I could use Blood Lance through 5 lots of side armour, I instead scattered off the board... DS Mishap table was 3, so they placed the pod right in our own deployment zone anyway. Argh. Lysander and Terminators were also in reserve, and our opponents started with everything on, "my corner" opposite the Tau, and my flatmate opposite the Necrons. Dante cursed the 'Cron Lord.

 

Our Turn 1: Mephisto Wings of Sanguinius's his way over towards the other side of the board (since the boards in the store are 46" accross instead of 48", due to the raised 1" rim round the edge, if you roll well you can assault on turn 1 if you're Fleet and have a Jump Pack). The Podded Furioso Dread runs for some cover, and I totally forgot to move my other one after vacillating over using Wings or not. My teammate accidentally moves all his Troops off our Objective, and realises as soon as he's done it that moving towards the Necron army was actually a pretty bad idea. Shooting is totally uneventful, unfortunately while making Mephiston run I only got a 4 instead of the 6 I needed to hit my main target, the Destroyers (who I'd hoped to tie up in CC if not outright destroy, so that they couldn't zoom round and waste our armour). Neither of my Dreads are close enough to anything, and the Fists must have mistaken their Lascannons for Maglights, as not a single shot even glanced between the Predator's 3 shots and their Dread. Assault phase was uneventful; Mephiston was only in range of the Monolith to charge, but I decided to anyway, since either way he was now stuck out in the open unable to reach an actual unit he could lock into assault with... 6 Strength 10 auto-hits later... And he glanced. Once. However, I got a 6, becoming a 4, immobilising it! If he'd wrecked it at least he'd have made his points back. :sweat:

Their Turn 1: Necrons basically swarmed Mephiston to shoot at him. The entire army. Since he was in base contact with it, the Monolith left him unmolested, but after an entire army's worth of Necron shooting, Mephy took a single wound. Unfortunately those dastardly Tau markerlights meant that one of my Furiosos and the Predator got blown up with seeker missiles! Stupid ignoring cover saves. Assault phase, Mephy got swarmed by Flayed ones, the Lord, and a Tomb Spider. He took the Lord down to 1 wound (unfortunately, I forgot about Dante's curse on the Lord and unsurprisingly my opponent didn't remind me, he should have died there!) but got taken down to 1 in return by the Lord, Tomb Spider and Flayed ones (1 wound from 30 Flayed One attacks... Not bad). Failed my leadership check, but saved the No Retreat! wound.

 

Our turn 2: Nothing of mine turned up from reserve, re-rolls failed me too. Lysander and chums turned up... And scattered into a building. They got a 3 again, and were placed in the corner of our deployment zone by our opponent. Furioso Dread moved via Wings towards the Tau vehicle line, hoping to bring SOMETHING down in the absence of anything better to do. A Combat Squad ran back to take our objective though. Shooting was a wash, the Fists maybe took down 2 'Crons and I could do nothing. I ended up just out of Assault range with the Furioso Libby and so was stuck staring down the barrel of a Hammerhead, and a Fusion gun... Mephiston killed the Lord and the Tomb Spider, but was taken down by the Flayed ones, sadly.

Their turn 2: The Lord got back up. Stupid Resurrection Orb. :) The Necrons advanced slowly towards the Fists, and opened up with a hail of fire. They plinked the Las off of the Dread, and stunned it, and the Monolith took down a bunch of Tac marines as well as all but the Chaplain and a Vet from the Honour Guard. Amazingly, the Hammerhead missed my Dread after those blasted Markerlights made it hit on a 2+ and negated my Dread's coversave from the other Tau vehicles. The Fusion gun also only stunned the Furioso. Unfortunately then the Tau player got annoyed and fired ALL of his seeker missiles at it in frustration, and it got blown sky high. If it'd been a "normal" game, I'd have been tabled, as it were. In the meantime, somehow the Terminators were made to take a leadership check, and broke. Argh. Assault Phase, nothing happened.

 

Our turn 3: Dante and the Assault Squad + Priest turned up, thankfully. Unfortunately due to positioning and a Devilfish being in the way, I couldn't drop right into distance of contesting the objective, and I couldn't just run up to it either... So they blew the Devilfish up taking half its passengers with it, which is the best I could manage. Assault Phase, the surviving Fist Honour Guard charged the biggest Warrior squad, killed a few, and amazingly survived.

Their turn 3: Not a lot of movement. Shooting, Dante and his squad took the firepower of the entire Tau army barring 2 units, and lost only 5 Assault Marines for their troubles. Painful, but not as bad as it could have been. The 'crons couldn't really shoot at much that was on the table, and so just advanced towards the objective. Assault Phase, no Tau was dumb enough to charge Dante and chums.

 

Unfortunately we ran out of time and called the game a draw there, but it was interesting to say the least. I think that might have been the final nail in the coffin of my small and elite style of army building... I'm trying to open up more and change my playstyle for fun, but more importantly against non-Marines/Tau I actually have a pretty hard time with the small number of troops. Against Marines of other stripes the number difference isn't so pronounced, and my usual Tau opponent doesn't take enough anti-MEQ weapons to really bother me; a Dread after his Hammerhead and Mephiston to jump over to his Battlesuits usually do the trick. The Stormraven not turning up was a blow, as the Death Company plus its heavy weapons could have cleared the Tau off the objective, with enough luck, and at the very least contested. But most importantly, my troops coming in piecemeal was a real pain when there were so few to start with... A learning experience, and my first result other than a win with my BA, after about 10ish games.