The Apocalypse Crusade

[tvih]

+++ CRUSADE-WIDE ALERT +++

 

THE SPACE HULK "OATHBREAKER'S SIN" HAS TRANSLATED IN-SYSTEM. XENOS LIFE SIGNS DETECTED. TO BE CONSIDERED AN IMMEDIATE AND EXTREME DANGER TO GROUND AND ORBITAL FORCES. BOARDING FORCES ARE BEING PREPARED. FOR SIGISMUND, FOR DORN AND FOR THE EMPEROR.

 

+++ CRUSADE-WIDE ALERT +++

[tvih]

Since my move I never seemed to find the time or put in the effort to get in a game, until now that after randomly visiting the LGS a few weeks back I found out that a sort of tournament was about to start. There's now two teams of 4, and the event consists of scored 1vs1 matches that determine the outcome of the overall scenario.

 

I had the first game today, and sadly I must say I was not an asset for my team, as I lost 10-1 score in a maelstrom mission. Luckily one Crusader squad held an objective without routing on the last turn that we played (round 4 or 5, I forget) while being locked in CC, otherwise the opponent (who played White Scars) would've scored up to 6-8 points more due to tactical objectives.

 

I had terrible rolls throughout the game, while my opponent had great saves. After two turns he had done as much damage to himself as I had to him - his orbital bombardment scattered on his Rhino and gave it a shaken result, while another Rhino immobilized itself on a ruin. By comparison I killed a single marine and took one wound off his chapter master in a duel, after firing a whole lot of shots that turn. It didn't get much better later on. My MVP was the Vindicator once again, killing 3 terminators (those 5 TH+SS termies were the bane of me and my poorly-rolling honour guard). Later in the match a risky Vindi shot ended up killing a plasma gun crusader and a bolter crusader, but such is the will of the Emperor sometimes.

 

I'll post some pics and a better report of the match later. In the meanwhile I gotta plan my next list a whole lot better, as this was kind of a rushed job. At least I got to field my BT Sternguard for once, even if they didn't do much!

[Marshal Mattias]

It always takes a few games to get your eye-in again; a nurgle player in my local store carefully placed his warlord right at the back of his lines to 'keep him safe.'

Blood angel player dropped a venerable dread right behind him - instant first blood and warlord kill. Cost him the game, and he looked ready to kick himself for a silly mistake he only made because it was his first game in a long while.

[tvih]

Looks like I never got around to writing the pictured battle report of the previous game... maybe at some point... maybe :P

 

Today had the second game of the campaign, against filthy xenos also known as tyranids. Didn't know much of what to expect, only having played against MAYBE once, but maybe not (honestly I'm not sure if I played against them once in a 6th ed tournament or not, but probably not since my - admittedly somewhat haphazard - game log doesn't mention them). And definitely not in 7th Ed and against the new Codex.

 

Well, as it turned out they had gotten Haywire. So much for taking a LRC! I took basically the exact same list as for the last game as I never got around to sorting out the models for a different list, being busy with other stuff - the only changes I did were combi-plasmas instead of combi-meltas for the 5 sternguard, and LRC was for a Crusader squad as dedicated but with Honour Guard embarking on it on turn 1, and accordingly HG's DT was Rhino into which the Crusaders embarked on turn 1.

 

Long story short, all my metal boxes were useless in the end, with the Vindi killing I think two gargoyles before a flyrant (of which he had two) killed it. Haywire flamer thingies and a warp blast undid the LRC. The only somewhat worthwhile thing accomplished by a non-infantry model was my sole attack bike speeding to an objective to grab a point from holding it on turn 1. The mission was the Maelstrom mission where you get 6 tactical objectives on turn 1, and I completed 3, netting 5 points, one of which was from that bike. Of course the bike died immediately after.

 

The only truly worthwhile unit from a killing point of view was my Honour Guard + Chapter Master blob. Losing one guy to shooting after the LRC broke on turn 2, they then shot one gaunt and charged the 29 remaining ones in turn 3, with another blob of 30 nearby. Up until the end of turn 5 when we ended the game, they killed I believe a total of 70 gaunts and took 5 wounds off a tervigon, with 4 guards and the CM remaining at that point. Even when they were struck with foul witchcraft making them forget their weapon training (-3 BS & WS), they still killed gaunts left and right that turn! They didn't earn any victory points, but at least they definitely bought time for the rest of my army. When the game ended I only had I think 6-7 crusaders alive besides the HG+CM... two or three were alive in the second crusader squad, as they had been fighting some gaunts in close combat and then also a tervigon. The one with 4 left didn't really achieve anything except holding an objective, and even the casualty they took was from plasma overheating. Sadly my sternguard didn't do much either, only killing 6 gaunts before being killed in a single shooting phase with foul witchcraft (warp blast templates).

 

Despite my strong turn 1 with 5 points gained, in the end the foul tyranid swarm picked up the pace and game ended with me losing 10-11. Still, definitely better than the 2-10 loss in the previous match!

Here are links to the images I took from the two matches, too lazy to hotlink 'em now:
Game 1 vs White Scars
Game 2 vs Tyranids

[tvih]

Long time no post on this thread. As I got at least somewhat back to painting with my Sisters, inevitably there's some "state of the Crusade" type of pondering going on as well. Looking at the DW terminator captain lead me to look at my own terminators again, which leads me to ponder what to do with them all! I've pondered the subject before, probably in this very thread, but...

 

Outside of HQs, I currently have (if I remember correctly, at least):

- 5 AoBR tactical terminators painted as BT

- 5 DA terminators from the 7th Ed starter set, DA icons removed but unpainted

- one tactical terminator set, unpainted

- one built assault terminator set painted as BT, and I think another unbuilt one?

- a converted DW terminator set painted as BT that can be used as either tactical or assault

- 11 unbuilt Space Hulk terminators

So many, yet they've gotten used so little! (Mind you, I haven't played at all in almost 1½ years.)
 

I've been wanting to do some CF and maybe even a few IF terminators. As the Space Hulk termies are mostly tacticals, I've been thinking some CFs out of those... except maybe the ones with longer loincloths, they could be Templars? Mind you, on the gaming table it mainly matters if I decide to use CF as allies as BT, as outside of that I can just mix different paintjobs and use them with the same Chapter Tactics.

I'm worried I'll manage to mess up the conversion of these, though I've converted models before (such as the DW kit, but even that somehow looks a bit off the way I did it). The SH termies look so awesome, but don't want to them as BA, I'm even selling my Death Company models as it is, I just have too many armies/chapters otherwise. But being so awesome is also a bummer in that they're tacticals, and tactical termies so rarely get to see the table.

These aside unsure what to do with all of the other terminators as well, need to assign them paint jobs. Even the painted non-DW ones could easily be converted to CF for example.

Edited August 19, 2016 by tvih

[tvih]

Visited the FLGS yesterday, they were supposed to have a DW terminator captain, but it couldn't be found so had to order one instead.

Also put together the first two Space Hulk termies... it's gonna be such a pain to convert them.

In the meanwhile, finally got around to painting a FW shield for my terminator captain.

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/SM-terminator-commander.jpg

Still needs some touchups especially on the backside after a few knife slips trying to carve the shield handle to fit with this specific model a little better.

Lastly, also in the process of giving my Lord Executioner alternate weaponry.

[tvih]

So, more boring terminator stuff... did some dividing of the models into squads, here's what I've been pondering so far (CF = Crimson Fist, DW = Deathwatch).
 
BT assault squad 1: basically the converted Deathwing squad plus the two melee figs from Space Hulk. The SH claw dude gets an exclusion from being tabarded because he's so reckless that it always gets ripped off anyway
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/assterm-bt.jpg
 
BT tactical squad: the starter box DA termies plus the one from SH. Seems the most reasonable use for these starter termies in my lineup, with swords = sword brethren being the excuse here despite the lack of tabards on three of them.
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/tacterm-bt.jpg
 
CF tactical squad: SH all the way, baby.
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/tacterm-cf.jpg
 
DW tactical squad: One from SH, one from starter box, three from tactical terminator box (will also get assault cannons)
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/tacterm-dw.jpg
 
 
And there's these...

BT assault squad 2: The five black ones have been some of my most used models in my games so far, prior to getting the Deathwing conversions. It'd be a sort of shame to repaint them into CF/IF in that sense (the one in the middle even killed a GK grand master in a duel!), yet I find it rather unlikely I'd end up using two assault terminator squads at once. The one in the back is the extra model from the tactical terminator squad, just happens to be wearing assault weapons now. Wouldn't be too hard t make them into CF, as I wouldn't even lose any highlighting since they have none. They'd make do with just the base color and highlighting and new shoulders, details could stay as is. Another alternative would be a Deathwing assault squad, would only need the new shoulders in that case.
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/assterm-bt2.jpg

 

BT tactical AoBR squad: If these were all unpainted, I'd probably make them into Imperial Fists. But the three painted ones were the first three models I ever painted for my army, which makes me hesitant to repaint them due to sentimental reasons. Yet I'd a full squad of five for the IF. I guess I could get the extra tac terminator from the previous pic, but that'd still be just three.
http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/tacterm-aobr.jpg

 

Additionally I have the 5 unbuilt assault terminators, I'm not really quite sure why I got them in the first place, though the same could be said of the tactical termies, really. But as they're still in sprues, minus one thunder hammer, I guess I could even sell them.

 

TL:DR; so many frickin' terminators  Lots of stuff to vow for the IF expansion event though...

[tvih]

Uh oh. Been going through my things, planning, installing some terminator magnets (finally magnetized "assault squad 1", minus the SH models of course)... anyway, all that lead me to looking at the spare BT torsos I have, many of them from a lot purchase I made a few years back that included some partially used BT upgrade sprues. The problem seems to be that I now have more BT front torsos than I have unused back torsos. I managed to scrounge up 10 back torsos while I have 10 jump torso fronts, as well as one high-collar and 5 tabarded. Such are some of the troubles of crusade expansions.

 

As a whole trying to push the army organization forward after a long pause. Lots of stuff to sort, indeed.

[Marshal Mattias]

We all run out of backs and legs :P if I had more, I'd have enough bits to make entire crusader squads! Although I did notice that legs are easy enough to find alternatives from kromlech etc but back pieces are weirder and harder to get :/

[tvih]

I think I have 15 pairs of unused power armor legs, so those should suffice, especially as the new-style Vanguard torsos I have currently assembled will likely be replaced by the BT jump torsos anyway. The idea is to use the BT jump torso for vanguard and the "high-collar" torso for Sternguard, the latter already being the case for most of my BT sternguard. Which leaves the full tabard torsos for initiates.

 

As for the backs... I suppose I could try to convert some from the vehicle sprues or something, I don't seem to use those for the vehicles much.

 

Currently I can't seem to find the plastic glue to glue the darn torsos anyway though ;) I reckon the superglue breaks too easily when drilling the magnet holes. Terminators are so much easier to magnetize since you don't have to drill at a frickin' seam that then splits...

[tvih]

Holy baloney! It shows that i don't have the newest Codex, as I only just found out the Vanguard have such cheap power weapons these days. Damn, nice news indeed! Looks like my Vanguard are gonna be the next in line after the terminators for painting. Wish I had more fancy jumps packs, as is I only have 10 regular ones, 5 from the new VV kit and then 5 from the older finecast kit, but the finecast guys are most likely gonna be CF anyways (though, sadly having only 5 is kind of a 'meh').

 

On the downside, this is reaaaaaally making my elite choices overcrowded (especially as I just noticed Honour Guard is elite now too), I want them aaaallll

Edited August 27, 2016 by tvih

[tvih]

Ugh, I should've been painting, but instead I've spent the last three days installing 100 magnets on my BT models, something that I was supposed to do a long time ago already - mind you, some already have/had magnets, but a lot of those were too weak so needed replacing, the only exception being those I installed two years ago. The ones I installed now were even stronger, if only slightly. At least now the arms are secure indeed.

 

Alas, now I need to order another batch of magnets, frankly should've done it when I ordered the now-installed 100 too. But at least what with being temporarily out of magnets and all, maybe I can get myself to paint in the meanwhile :P

 

As some may remember from earlier posts in this thread, I'm "a bit" obsessed with "modularity" on my models, hence the magnets and all, I try to avoid gluing parts where I can. Torso-to-legs joins are with blu-tack (for posability as well as modularity), as are shoulderpad-to-arm and head-to-torso and backpack-to-torso. Problem being that I've been getting annoyed with backpacks falling off. I thought of putting magnets on those too, but it'd be a good dose of extra work, plus of course potentially the magnets messing with each others' pull. I suppose I'll have to use a dab of superglue instead on most models, but those designated for devastator use (=different backpack depending on the heavy weapon) or those with potential to use a jump pack would still need the magnet or keep using suboptimal blu-tack. To a lesser extent shoulder pads sometimes keep falling of too, and/or the blu-tack ends up visible which isn't nice, but not real other option for that besides gluing I guess.

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

Ugh, I should've been painting, but instead I've spent the last three days installing 100 magnets on my BT models, something that I was supposed to do a long time ago already - mind you, some already have/had magnets, but a lot of those were too weak so needed replacing, the only exception being those I installed two years ago. The ones I installed now were even stronger, if only slightly. At least now the arms are secure indeed.

 

Alas, now I need to order another batch of magnets, frankly should've done it when I ordered the now-installed 100 too. But at least what with being temporarily out of magnets and all, maybe I can get myself to paint in the meanwhile

 

As some may remember from earlier posts in this thread, I'm "a bit" obsessed with "modularity" on my models, hence the magnets and all, I try to avoid gluing parts where I can. Torso-to-legs joins are with blu-tack (for posability as well as modularity), as are shoulderpad-to-arm and head-to-torso and backpack-to-torso. Problem being that I've been getting annoyed with backpacks falling off. I thought of putting magnets on those too, but it'd be a good dose of extra work, plus of course potentially the magnets messing with each others' pull. I suppose I'll have to use a dab of superglue instead on most models, but those designated for devastator use (=different backpack depending on the heavy weapon) or those with potential to use a jump pack would still need the magnet or keep using suboptimal blu-tack. To a lesser extent shoulder pads sometimes keep falling of too, and/or the blu-tack ends up visible which isn't nice, but not real other option for that besides gluing I guess.

Wow that is a monster load of work right there!

 

And to think I spent an age putting on just 12 magnets on my centurions!

 

Push on with the painting, it's always a great feeling when you have finished more models!

[tvih]

Well, I'm getting faster with the magnets - practise makes better, etc - despite some mishaps. And of course my electril drill (kind of like a cheaper Dremel) is a must, hand drilling just... doesn't work, at all. The most annoying part is actually applying the glue, because each and every superglue bottle (well, plastic glue too, though I can't even find mine right now) stops working, so right now I'm applying the glue by dipping a toothpick into the glue and then putting it on the parts with that, what a pain.

 

Getting stuff painted is great, but it's also great finally getting these magnets in place, arms falling off because of blu-tack or poorer magnets was always such a pain during games, and an annoyance for my opponent too of course. The 3x1.5mm N52 magnets easily allow lifting models by the limb with no real fear of coming off.

 

Looked more closely at the magnetized backpack option... it'd have to be done using my 2x1mm magnets I suppose, because with 3mm there either would be too little room for error, or they'd have to installed where the "nub" is, which in turn is what would keep the backpack from rotating when the magnet is above the nub. It's midnight now so too late to do any drilling, but I suppose I could do a test model tomorrow to see if it works as planned and is worth the hassle (and if the 2mm magnet holds well enough, sadly I'm not sure if the ones I have on hand are N52 or not).

[TheOneTrueZon]

The Loctite Gel Control stuff is great, I've been using it with my magnets and it's super easy to use and control:

 

http://bit.ly/2bNl3kg

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

Ahh the highly coveted electric drill, I would love to have that and a small vice.

 

One of my next projects was going to be rebasing most of my army but magnetising it at the same time, it would allow for some nice posing as well as the ability to have multiple bases for different terrain. If that was going to happen then an electric drill is a must!

good luck on your magnet mission brother!

[tvih]

Ah yes, bases. I just recently decided that I most likely won't be bothering with decorated basing. Not only will this allow me to glue the bases (again, something that's blu-tacked currently, causing the occasional "fail" as well as being annoyingly visible), but also saves time, money and effort that's at least currently better spent elsewhere, and terrain always varies anyway, as you say.

 

Anyway, gotta try and get some painting done today, so that at some point I'll have more than just meaningless words to show for once ;)

[tvih]

Righto. Got at least some late night painting done, finally.

 

Firstly, repainted the tabard on this guy, I was never quite happy with the black one so now it's white. The "rim" on the upper portion looks gold or something in the pic, but it's plain ol' red actually. Also sadly for him, he's now been demoted to a sergeant since I have a new configurable terminator marshal being painted 

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/bt-termi-sergeant-wtabard.jpg

 

And then the mostly completed model of the night, my first CF terminator (oddly again the brighter red looks like orange... silly camera).

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/cf-termi-nidkiller.jpg

Mainly the 'nid parts need painting, once I figure how to paint 'em. Might need to do some cleanup on the highlighting too. I really need better lighting in my living room, as I'm putting the lines in half blind given the dim lighting and rather dark nature of both the base color and the highlight color.

Other than these, made some progress on the new BT terminator marshal as well as two BT tactical terminators. Should hopefully finish them tomorrow.

[tvih]

It seems Marshal Grimgard co-opted this new terminator armor set, since his head suddenly appeared within the armor.

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/bt-termi-marshal-new.jpg

 

On the downside the usual head peg is too big for this model, should cut it but then it'd be too small for his old armor 

 

Funny how the flash lighting makes the Deathwatch shoulder pad looks as if it is unpainted, though it isn't! And if you've followed this thread earlier you might remember I don't normally highlight my Templar models, but I figured I'd do it at least for HQs going forward (seems I forgot to do it here for his BT shoulder pad though). Overall reasonably content with how he turned out, though it did take faaaaar too long to finish and got no work done on the other two WIP BT terminators.

 

In other things, I've been agonizing over my Vanguard models, in my typical fashion. Of course, the problem is once again the BT/CF assignment issue. I have the 5 finecast models, 5 plastic kit models (with BT jump torso). Plus could make 5 more with regular assault squad legs and jump packs, but they're not really decorative enough. If I make the finecast into CF, there's the issue of it not making sense to replicate every unit for the CF roster if I already use them for my BT, but the finecast models, while awesome looking, would look different from my BT torso ones, which gives me OCD-like symptoms I guess I should just stop thinking of the possibility of using BT and CF detachments in the same game so I don't have to worry so much about the paintjobs and can just mix 'em in whatever way.

[tvih]

Instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing - namely painting my IF Expansion vow - I ended up working on an older model again. Gotta say, I still miss the good ol' days of 4th ed codex kickass chaplains Even worse for the terminator chaplain, one of my all time favorite models, since they can't even get an AP2 weapon outside of the Burning Blade. Regardless of this little rant, here was Chaplain Joachim before:

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/chaplain2-tableready1.jpg

 

And here he is after:

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/bt-chaplain-joachim.jpg

 

Looking a bit better there. He got his original crozius arm back (it was unpainted prior to today), minus the traitor symbol headpiece. White tabard, highlighting, a few fixes here and there, as well as his original plasma pistol (also was unpainted). Although the left arm will be modular anyways, so he can take a regular bolt pistol too, for cheapskating purposes. And of course finally painted the incense thingamabob, smoke included.

 

Also worked on my Sword Brethren models (the resin ones) to give more of them Honour Guard weapons (in other words, power weapons), since that's what I use them as. Deciding on whether or not to glue them like that, as the 2mm magnets suck and 3mm is too big for these particular models.

[tvih]

The new batch of 200 magnets arrived, and I already installed 50 of them, mostly on crusaders and vanguard vets, but also upgraded the magnets on my jump and terminator chaplains. I hope this batch is enough, but despite my earlier calculations it seems far from certain... 

 

One big expenditure is bolter arms. I finally got my hands on the 7th Edition codex, and boy am I out of date on many things. Like the formations. Yeesh, that Battle Company is pretty sweet, but too bad can't take crusader squads. Which means - bolteeeeers. I did need way more bolters regardless, mind you. Now I magnetized five brand new bolters today, will do more once I find where the heck I have put most of my upgrade sprues.

 

As for the vanguard, man, do I wish I could buy separate resin jump packs. Such a pain with the seams on the plastic ones. For the time being it seems I'll stick with 10 jump vanguard (5 plastic painted as BT, 5 resin as CF), and keep the old 5-man assault squad as such, plus make 5 more upper bodies from the stock vanguard torsos (since my plastic VV use the BT jump torso) and the extra 5 backpacks I have, taking legs from some other models if the jump models are being fielded. I really want to start using jump troops more once I start playing again, since I like them so much but have used them very little.

[tvih]

Oh, and a rather interesting effect I noticed with the new magnets on power armor models... the magnets are so strong that the models actually sometimes repel/pull each other when they get too close. Uh oh

 

Further, having some grav cannons for shooty crusaders would sure be nice, but that'd mean buying the "new" devastator kit... ugh. I already have at least four of each of the other heavy weapons options.

Edited September 6, 2016 by tvih

[tvih]

Excessive posting spam continues, this time with the result of some additional conversions on the finecast Sword Brethren with the focus of making the equipped like Honour Guard. Much cringing took place cutting into these fine models with my lack of aptitude being a known factor, but for the most part didn't seem to do too much irrevocable damage.

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/bt-honour-guard-wip.jpg

 

Aside from giving them the proper weapons the goal was to make each one a bit different, considering the SB models are two of each here. Prior to today the only conversion was the second from the left on the bottom row (since the lone fig isn't really a row  ), with the power sword (well, the top-left model also has a regular bolter instead of his standard combi-weapon). Now I converted the four rightmost ones on the bottom.

 

Not sure the relic blade makes sense, might have to try to find something nicer. The second model from the right ended up extra shooty, but I suppose it's not a big problem.

 

I'm also unsure what to do with the unconverted model at the bottom. Could give him the regular BT power sword for his left hand, but having a pistol or bolter aiming upward wouldn't make much sense, these aren't your third-world goons shooting into the air to be macho  Probably giving him a left hand to carry the bolter without a hand on the trigger, at least it'd look different from the rest.

 

Other considerations... although there's 11 models already in the picture, there's no Chapter Champion. Last few times I think I used the official EC model for that, but not a big fan of that model for some reason. Yet it really should be unique. The AoBR Captain model might be doable but he's the Banner bearer. Draco's model doesn't seem fancy enough for the job.

 

While it's strictly not necessary, I would like for all the HG figures to have all three weapons - melee weapon, pistol, and bolter. But there's the issue with the models that don't have a bolter in their hands - it's really hard to place the bolter anywhere on the model, as if it was mag-locked  The DV Chaos Chosen have bolters on their backpacks, but they are integrally molded into them, putting a separate bolter on a backpack just looks off.

Lastly, I just can't decide what to do with the twin lightning claw models. The only role 2LC power armor is somewhat viable is in vanguard units, but my jumpy figures don't have tabards, let alone cloaks, and I can't see a reason to take foot vanguard when you can take HG, and the latter doesn't even seem to need a Chapter Master these days (plus with these models having been converted to HG, I don't even have foot vanguard models unless I equip my sternguard models with melee weapons).

[Marshal Mattias]

Have you seen the old metal EC? He has an odd pose (which I didn't like at first, but grew on me) but he looks suitably unique to act as your champion. Mine does interchangeable duty with my newer finecast EC.

[tvih]

Yeah, I have the old EC, I painted him for ETL II (along with the two other "vintage" BT models that can be seen in the pic) - but he's my EC :) Although I guess he could be the Chapter Champion in those times when I'm not fielding the EC. Come to think of it I've probably used him as such at least once.