The Apocalypse Crusade

[TheCrimsonLancer]

If you give him a really good paint job than he could be the EC, technically each Crusade uses a different Black Sword and Armor of Faith, so having your's look different is actually very fluffy.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

I think that you're EC is really good and worthy of his mantle/task/duty. Adding a cape to him would look superb you can also use the pre-made cape from the Commander upgrade frame

(tried to but ended up making my one out of foil B) , yes FOIL! I didn't know about green stuff and I was just getting started) :mellow:

Anyway you can easily add a Bolt Pistol to him by giving him the BP holster from the conversion kit I'm sure there was 2, unless I was mistaken...

therefore keeping the arm, shoulder pad and adding another BT upgrade. my 2 cents of course, all up to you.

[Arthanor]

Looking good tvih! Definitely worthy of being an EC, especially if you paint him so he stands out (more gold and silver, more symbols, etc.)

 

One thing I have to say is that on his left shoulderpad (the arm holding the sword) the purity seals defy gravity, being almost horizontal. In general, it's good to avoid cloth going against gravity or the motion of the model if you can. It's a small thing, but it's also easy to fix using another pad from the upgrade kit.

[tvih]

Anyway you can easily add a Bolt Pistol to him by giving him the BP holster from the conversion kit I'm sure there was 2, unless I was mistaken...

Yeah there are, but I suppose it makes sense having it visible and in hand. After all I do have enough bolt pistol arms. Not that finding some use for the holstered ones would be a bad thing either.

 

One thing I have to say is that on his left shoulderpad (the arm holding the sword) the purity seals defy gravity, being almost horizontal. In general, it's good to avoid cloth going against gravity or the motion of the model if you can. It's a small thing, but it's also easy to fix using another pad from the upgrade kit.

Well, I've been trying to avoid gravity-defying bits so far too, but the other pad options aren't as... well, "showy". Plus it seems to be a sort of crusader seal shoulder, which I wouldn't be putting on regular initiates most likely, given the requirement that they need to be added to everyone in the squad in such a case. The pad on the right arm is the terminator shoulder actually, also a crusader seal-looking shoulder. I suppose I could use a normal shoulder on the left arm and just stick a purity seal or two on it. Worth trying out at least. Additionally he still needs a terminator honors bit, possibly a grenade if I can put it reasonably somewhere.

 

Overall he does look nice, but somehow I still get more of a marshal/castellan/sword brethren/cmd sergeant vibe... I'm not really sure why - most likely because of the use of common bits instead of having entirely unique looks like the GW EC. I guess it's just my OCD sensibilities at play. But as I mentioned in the previous post, the good thing is that he can be easily converted to any one of those roles if needed.

[Arthanor]

Well, I've been trying to avoid gravity-defying bits so far too, but the other pad options aren't as... well, "showy". Plus it seems to be a sort of crusader seal shoulder, which I wouldn't be putting on regular initiates most likely, given the requirement that they need to be added to everyone in the squad in such a case. The pad on the right arm is the terminator shoulder actually, also a crusader seal-looking shoulder. I suppose I could use a normal shoulder on the left arm and just stick a purity seal or two on it. Worth trying out at least. Additionally he still needs a terminator honors bit, possibly a grenade if I can put it reasonably somewhere.

 

Overall he does look nice, but somehow I still get more of a marshal/castellan/sword brethren/cmd sergeant vibe... I'm not really sure why - most likely because of the use of common bits instead of having entirely unique looks like the GW EC. I guess it's just my OCD sensibilities at play. But as I mentioned in the previous post, the good thing is that he can be easily converted to any one of those roles if needed.

 

Fair enough on the showy side. I personally like the one with a raised circle supporting a templar cross. Painting the raised area gold, with a colorful (ex.: quartered or halved white and red) field behind it and the cross black (obviously) makes it stand out. Add a few crusader seals (with proper orientation :sweat: ) and done. Also, I don't think either of the shoulder pads you are using are for terminators. Those have a very distinctive shape and no rim. If you go to the GW site, the TDA ones are in the 5 in the middle, painted with a black field, while the PA ones are the 10 above, painted with a white field. You seem to be using the 7th and the 10th PA shoulder pads (counting from top left to bottom right).

 

Regarding terminator honors, the medallion around his neck can easily pass for that. Indeed, when not wearing TDA, it is common for marines with terminator honors to wear them as cross shaped trinkets, hung on the weapons, belt, neck or banners. Maybe I should not tell you that because now you will start worrying about some of your initiates having terminator honors too since you gave them that torso but.. I felt it better to keep you informed and have you deal with the OCD :lol:

 

What about laurels of victory on the helmet to make your champion look more like the GW model? The GW model is "THE Emperor's champion" since it is "THE" official (current) one and that might be why you feel your model does not look like the EC. Making yours look closer might help, otherwise, you can always buy a finecast EC, chop him up and use the head/arms/sword to make your model look more like it! That's one huge advantage of finecast, it's easy to convert and mix/match with plastic.

[tvih]

I suppose you're right about the right shoulder pad. It just seemed larger than PA pads and was together with the termie pads on the sprue - but I suppose the size is merely an illusion caused by the crusader seal thingie.

 

It's true that the symbol on the chain could pass for Honors... but I figured it could just be counted as a decorative chapter symbol too. But were that to be the case, I couldn't use it to count as Honors on other characters. Decisions, decisions! I can always use these counts-as-Honors tabards for this and other "special" characters I suppose.

 

I don't have anything to use to make laurels or such, unfortunately. If I get the Finecast EC, I'll just use him like that rather than chop 'em and probably screw things up :) But I reckon I'll make do with what I have for now. It'll take me quite a while yet to assemble and cut/file everything let alone paint 'em even without further purchases (that I can't afford at the moment anyway). Right now my fingers are hurting from manually drilling magnets to five CC terminators and their weapons! Sucks a bit that getting good placements to make the magnetizing "universal" is tricky, but I suppose it's more important that they stay in place than that they're entirely snugly fitted - especially the lightning claws easily get placed slightly too low.

 

A general note about bits - GW really, REALLY should list precisely what bit represents what in their kits - if it's representative of wargear or just decoration and so forth.

[Honda]

Well, it has taken me awhile to get to your thread, now I'm glad I found it.

 

First off, you have quite a nice project going here and I think you're doing an excellent job. You have a nice, clean style and you seem to be comfortable with it, so please do continue. Regarding your EC figure, I like his pose a lot...in fact you just might see this pose somewhere else before too long. Very simple, yet effective.

 

The other thing I would offer concerning your EC is this. It's not necessarily how he looks, it's what he does that's important. You will find as you get more games in that some figures just deliver for you. In my other SM army, I painted a termie sergeant to look like he had lots of honors and was someone with a lot of history. Well, funny thing, he started doing crazy stuff for me in games. I say all this to point out, paint him like he is a hero and he will become one. In fact, paint your entire army to look like heroes and they will become exactly that.

 

Cheers,

[Marshal_Roujakis]

I don't have anything to use to make laurels or such, unfortunately.

 

If you have the standard Terminator box set that has a loose laurel to use.

 

Worth trying out at least. Additionally he still needs a terminator honors bit, possibly a grenade if I can put it reasonably somewhere.

 

There are a lot of Terminator Honours bits on the Terminator/Assault Terminator box set (those little medallion things) maybe you could use those.

You could also count the Terminator Personnal Heraldry Shield (the one on their shoulders) as your Terminator Honours. The other arm by the way is already holding a grenade

(unless I'm mistaken...) :huh:

 

Fair enough on the showy side. I personally like the one with a raised circle supporting a templar cross. Painting the raised area gold, with a colorful (ex.: quartered or halved white and red) field behind it and the cross black (obviously) makes it stand out. Add a few crusader seals (with proper orientation ) and done.

 

I agree to this. :devil: you should try. :P add one or to crusader seals or Terminator Purity Seals and that's a WIN!

[tvih]

If you have the standard Terminator box set that has a loose laurel to use.

Hmm... I only have the assault termie box, which doesn't seem to have them as far as I can tell.

 

There are a lot of Terminator Honours bits on the Terminator/Assault Terminator box set (those little medallion things) maybe you could use those.

You could also count the Terminator Personnal Heraldry Shield (the one on their shoulders) as your Terminator Honours. The other arm by the way is already holding a grenade

(unless I'm mistaken...) ;)

Yes, in the pic he is holding a grenade, but as per my edit I swapped the grenade arm to a bolt pistol arm - thus no more grenade. One reason for this being that having a grenade is ok if I use him for other roles (castellan etc) so gluing it on is no problem, but a holstered bolt pistol would need to be removable. As for the honors, yeah, I have the bits from the assault box, but I guess I'll just use the bit in the tabard torso to represent that after all.

 

add one or to crusader seals or Terminator Purity Seals and that's a WIN!

Ok, showing my "neophyteness" here again... what exactly differentiates between crusader seal and purity seal in a model? For some reason I always thought of crusader seals as bigger, like the larger hanging cloths of the pads (which is why I called 'em crusader seal pads) or possibly huge purity seal-like thingies like in one of the tabard torso options. Just seems that separate larger seals etc don't come with the kits much so I'm mostly wondering how would one get enough of 'em for an entire squad to begin with, aside from making them with green stuff.

[Arthanor]

There is very little difference between crusader seals and purity seals. We know purity seals to be the "bit of paper with a prayer/oath stuck on something using wax" but we don't really know what crusader seals look like. The description from the codex states that they are "waxen or metallic tokens with stuff written on hanging parchment" so it sounds very similar.

 

I tend to think of the bits from the Templar upgrade sprue that have little shields with hanging paper/ribbons as crusader seals. Those are metallic tokens and the only kind of seal we know can be metallic are crusader seals. That being said, since purity seals are held with wax and crusader seals can be waxen tokens, the other bits can be whichever one you feel like.

[tvih]

Can't believe how nonexistent my progress is. As such, can't resist posting this for suggestions...

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/chaplain1-wip1.jpg

 

It's a bird... no wait it's a plane... no, actually it's a WIP Chaplain: Reclusiarch Joshua. Being the poor cheapskate that I am, after a ludicrous amount of pondering I decided that, just like with the EC, I'd try and make my own model instead of buying a ready-made "expensive" one, especially as the Chaplain with plasma pistol wasn't available in the places where I buy my stuff.

 

Firstly, there's the Crozius. I have no idea if my choice of headpiece has some significance or not, but I thought it'd look kinda cool seeing as I lack the eagle piece many people get from Command Squad or Terminator boxes that many people seem to use. Also the shaft is obviously scratch-built as I just couldn't bring myself to use an axe as a basis, given axes are my favorites. In general I'm loathe to chop things up, even just chopping off the hand and rotating it felt bad, but had to be done since I'm no good at making an arm from green stuff. I'm not sure if I should've made the Crozius shorter, as it is it's taller than the marine. Crozius can be a staff and all that, but usually it still seems to be rather short, which makes sense for a one-handed weapon... but might just leave it as is, at least it sort of stands out from the crowd now.

 

The head. I think I'd like something different, seeing as my SB will already be mostly bare-headed. But no hurry, I suppose I could as at the FLGS at some point if anyone has any interesting heads in their bitz boxes. Or I might just use a normal helmeted head. Who knows! Good thing there's blu-tack so I don't have to make up my mind about it now.

 

Further additions are planned, such as a cape - gah, I need to make so many capes since this chaplain, the EC and all the SBs need one - and a long loincloth, like many GW chaplain models have. That'll be a tough one to get to look good as well, I think. And in addition honors, a few purity seals and other small details (hopefully some chains at some point for example) here and there to round up the bugger. Any other tips on what to include?

[tvih]

As well as getting the Dark Vengeance box for the rulebook as well as DA allies, I finally broke down and bought a kit of metallic Sternguard. It had been taunting me for a month already at a cost of mere 15 euros, and with a -10% store discount today I was no longer able to resist :) The main problem (and the reason I hadn't bought them before) is, of course, that neither BT or DA use Sternguard. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to make them be counts-as Sword Brethren, except all my plastic SB have tabards and most will have bare heads. And they're close combat-geared, too. And one of the Sternguard models has a combi-melta or combi-plasma instead of a weapon supported by SB options. I do suppose giving him a plastic weapon and hands wouldn't be a big deal, though. But by comparison something like the "Space Marine Veterans" kit would be much better for counts-as SB. As it is with the sum of these issues it might just be easier to do the Sternguard as Blood Angels since I want some Death Company from them later on anyway. Just that I'm not a huge fan of red marines!

 

A more general note about the metal models is that there's some issues like one of the bolters being "bent" (it's notably arced from stock to barrel) and such... but nothing too bad I guess. Not bad for the price at any rate, even if I do dislike the two guys having a "long-nosed" helmet ;)

[tvih]

First attempt at a green stuff cloak on Sword Brother Ictus.

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/sb-pf-bp-gscloak-wip1.jpg

 

Not really a whole lot of detail, and yet quite uneven surface, in a bad way. It's removable, so I'll try painting it alone a some point with a heavier than normal basecoat, to see if the end result is bearable. As usual green stuff is quite the nightmare to work with, but alas, no other means of making 'em cloaks, and of course I need 11 more of them even if this one gets to stay. I suppose a proper mold would make things easier, but then that'd also probably result in all the cloaks looking too much alike.

 

--

 

EDIT:

 

Skimming through the new 6th Ed mini rulebook, I looked at the differences between power weapons... axe, Unwieldy? For crying out loud! Looks like I have to reconsider my power weapon options, as I had been allocating axes for just about every power weapon slot in my BT roster for the simple reason that I like axes aesthetically. As it is, striking at the very risky initiative of 1, it seems a Fist is a more serious contender than I previously thought.As such, not sure if I'll stick with axes or what :devil:

 

Also still not sure when I'll get around to doing more painting. As it is I have 5 SB & 5 assault marines & 3 CC terminators ready for painting (minus the removable green stuff additions), as well as the AoBR models of course. When I do start painting again I'll be making a small wet palette (read about 'em just recently over at the PCA forum), they seem like just the sort of thing I need to make the painting at least a bit easier.

Edited September 2, 2012 by tvih

[tvih]

Another useless update, you've been warned!

 

I finally got the Emperor's Champion Samson and Sword Brother Ictus into a "table-ready" condition - as established with the termies earlier, this means basically ready except for edge highlighting, possibly some more "washing" on the metal parts and then finally varnish (well, and now that I think about it, the purity seals and of course any extra seals and other decorative bits I'm going to add at some point). In other words, not ready at all, since highlighting takes years with my (lack of) speed. In fact I spent probably six or seven hours today just painting Ictus and the EC's weapons + shoulders. I'm quite happy with the weapons and tabards (though Ictus got a too heavy dose of primer, thus the termie honors bit lost basically all detail) especially considering these are my first two tabards (aside from that green stuff fail), and even the shoulderpads turned out nice. But the sides of the models' torsos are a real pain, seems impossible to get 'em smooth. Either there's the gap, or a mess after green stuff is used trying to plug 'em. It's never a smooth end result. Luckily they're not very visible, so I guess I can live with them.

 

And finally, the actual pictures:

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/ec-and-ictus-tableready-front1.jpg

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/ec-and-ictus-tableready-back1.jpg

 

I suppose one "major" problem is easily illustrated here - they look so similar! I left Ictus's belt black, but that does little to help things. Ictus has a temporary identical helmet in this picture as I haven't gotten around trying to paint flesh yet, but even so the EC doesn't quite stand out from my Sword Brethren aside from the shoulders. Ictus is supposed to get the cloak added later, but the first attempts seems like a likely bust so far. And I was thinking of the EC getting some sort of cloak too... d'oh!

 

I was supposed to paint 10 ranged tactical initiates and three assault terminators for a 500-point army list to play with on Thursday, but given neither of these two models are in that army (unless I "demote them" temporarily :evil:) it seems unlikely I'll manage it. So far three terminators are table-ready, while three terminators and one initiate are base-coated. The rest... only assembled. Just seems like blasphemy against the Emperor to play with unpainted models!

 

Oh, and when I primed Ictus and the tactical initiate I also primed the turret parts of a Razorback that I bought on Saturday. Just my luck that for some reason the sides of the weapons ended up anything but smooth. And since the new Army Painter primer spray that I bought isn't acrylic, removing it seems unlikely to work. Ah well. No idea why it happened, all the other parts came out smooth. As said, just my luck! My plan is to replicate the non-weapon parts of the turret with Instant Mold and green stuff, so I can make my Rhino a Razorback too if need be - as it is I already mounted the turret on the Rhino to check it out.

[tvih]

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/cc-termies-tableready.jpg

 

Basically table-ready CC termies. Unpainted heads, because I still don't know how I'm gonna go about painting them. The guy on the right got a normal head and is missing a shoulderpad for this pic because I was checking out possible Marshal combos on him. I'd really like a termie Marshal option for my crusade, but the problem is I only have 10 terminators. So whenever I'd use one as a marshal, I'd lose either the ranged or the CC squad. Also as with the power armor characters I lack bits to make him really stand out. While I was planning on using the AoBR termie sergeant as a Castellan for my first match, he'll probably act as a command squad sergeant more often. The item combo I'd like for my Marshal is actually power fist + storm shield. I'd like to use a templar fist, but getting a right hand to hold a shield is a problem, I'd need to green stuff it.

 

A ForgeWorld left shoulder (in their website pic, the middle one) and a FW storm shield would certainly make a Marshal candidate stand out from the rest, but of course I can't just buy two bits like that specifically. And if I bought the full sets, it's expensive if I don't use the rest - and if I used 'em, of course the Marshal wouldn't stand out anymore again! Always the same ol' problem with making characters yourself rather than buying expensive single models.

 

With the lack of extra terminator bodies as is, I guess I'll just do him in PA with the fist and shield for the time being, or for smaller matches just use one termie squad. Just that Artificer + Honors is more expensive than Terminator armor... meh. I was also originally considering storm bolter + power fist, but the extra durability from the shield would be handy. My original build had an Iron Halo to compensate, but boy do things get costle at that point!

 

In any case, Instant Mold package should arrive tomorrow, so I might try and replicate an extra shield and try to make it right-handed while at it - I'd rather not possibly mess up an existing one. Might also try a jump pack, though that'd require quite a bit of green stuff, and thus quite a waste of it fails!

 

EDIT:

 

Finally named my crusade and changed topic title to reflect that. The name's supposed to be symbolic of "raging against the dying of the light", as it were. The Imperium might be heading into darkness as some claim, but that doesn't mean my Templars will go gentle into that good night :)

Edited September 14, 2012 by tvih

[tvih]

Right, last post here for a while, future modeling stuff will most likely be posted in my PCA WIP thread instead of here.

 

Without further ado, here we have Marshal Grimgard and the first squad of his Sword Brethren - Ictus, Grimgard's "right hand man", Dernos with the power axe, and finally Aber, Gerhard (with a temporary weapon) and Revon.

 

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

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

 

Marshal's basically done except for the head, he's even highlighted as much as it makes sense (without varnish the amount of highlighting I do - i.e. non-extreme - tends to wear off anyway, I've noticed). Though I just realized he's lacking his black "loincloth" and another "waistline accessory" in the picture because the damn things won't stay in place, in case of the loincloth due to the shape of the Templar chestplate (too curved). And like all my models, he doesn't have his cloak yet.

 

Sword Brethren are merely table-ready, except the two backpacks since the camera-facing side lacks a proper layer of spray (dunno why I didn't notice that prior to putting the packs in place).

[tvih]

Not even had my first match yet - I tried by bringing my army to the FLGS on Thursday, but others hogged the table with their bigger armies and thus I'll play on Monday at the earliest - but still I can't seem to stop the urge of expanding my Crusade on and on. They don't call these things plastic crack for nothing, I tell ya.

 

Right now I'm having a really, really strong urge to buy a LR/LRC and a Venerable Dread. And despite wanting them at some point regardless, it's now tripled in difficulty to resist because I kinda need to order a new spray can anyway. Can't really afford to order more models without adding to the "tab" and thus my personal financial ruin, but gah, as if cravings ever listen to any reason :devil:

 

Assuming I'm unable to fight off the urge, there's still the question of LR vs LRC. LR's a bit tricky in that for us Templars it can't hold a TDA IC together with a 5-man terminator squad. For C:SM it apparently can! It'd also have that nice long-range anti-vehicle firepower. LRC (aside from being "templary") on the other hand has lots of close-range firepower with its six twin-linked bolters, multimelta and twin-linked assault cannon. And it has more carrying capacity. But at long range it's "useless".

 

Of course, I could configure the Dread to be long range to support the close-range LRC, but I don't know, long-range Dread seems lackluster due to the lame missile launcher needing to be the secondary weapon. Going close-up with AssCan + DCCW + Heavy Flamer just seems like the more fun approach.

 

My plan is to eventually have one of each of the two Land Raider variants available to us, but for now I have to pick just one if my Plastic Crack Resistance Save roll fails.

[Arthanor]

If you can only get one, the LRC is superior. Most BT players like close combat and the LRC is king to deliver you into cc. Once the cargo gets there, often by turn two, it is easy to make us of the guns too. You can put terminators in it, which you already have and they need the transport if they don't want to have to run around all game getting shot with plasma. Otherwise, cc crusader squad with IC(s) works too.

 

There's more you can do with the LRC, a Phobos is a better 2nd LR, something you don't do until big games.

[tvih]

I guess the problem with the Crusader is "melta-phobia". If it is close enough for the passengers to do an assault on the same turn as they disembark, it's may also be within multi-melta optimal range! Losing a 265-point LRC to a single MM shot... not a pretty mental image!

 

As I mentioned in some other thread, there'd of course also be the option of buying LR and then the LRC upgrade sprue, but the sprue is so darn expensive - basically more than a third of the price of a full LR kit where I buy my stuff from! Frankly it'd be the nicest thing if all three variants could be made from the same kit, but I guess that wouldn't be as profitable for GW :)

[SunshineDragon]

Give him a pistol mag-locked to his right hand side, then you'll be fine. Also there are no assault squad torso bits, they're just normal squad bits (not everyone has a tabard), they just look like that's where they might go. They can look a bit silly (trust me I tried, when there was a "Black Templars Assault Squad" box), but its ultimately up to you, i think they look fine with templar shoulders & weapons with the normal assault stapped torsos :lol:

 

Hope that helps.

[tvih]

My army pic for my first battle tomorrow - if all goes as planned, anyway!

 

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/bt-list-first-battle.jpg

 

It's a lot more unfinished than I'd like, but I wasn't really prepared for 1750 points yet. However, the potential opponent wants to play at that point bracket, so that's what I tried to plan for. This list includes all but two models that I have assembled, those two missing being the AoBR Commander and Sergeant. The army list comes out at exactly 1750 points. There's a few WYSIWYG errors (like the termie with the sword and currently lacking Cyclone missile launchers, for which I'll try to scratch-build something later in the evening), but nothing major - and the WYSIWYG rules seem to be quite relaxed around here.

 

Anyway, here's the army list itself for those interested:

 

---------------

 

HQ:

 

Marshal (PA)

- Base 80

- Terminator Honors (15)

- Artificer Armor (20)

- Power Fist (25)

- Mantle (35)

- Storm shield (15)

- Bionics (5)

195 points

 

Emperor's Champion

90 points (+50 for Vow)

 

ELITE:

 

Terminator Squad

- 5x SB + PF (200)

- 2x CML (+50)

250 points

 

Terminator Assault Squad

- 3x TH + SS (120)

- 2x DLC (80)

200 points

 

Dreadnought

- Base 105

- Multi-Melta (+10)

- DCCW+HF (+10)

125 points

 

TROOPS:

 

Crusader Squad 1

- 1x Lascannon (31)

- 1x Plasma gun (22)

- 3x Bolter (48)

101 points

 

Crusader Squad 2

- 1x Heavy Bolter (21)

- 1x Flamer (22)

- 3x Bolter (48)

- Razorback (TLLC + PMSB) (100)

191 points

 

Crusader Squad 3

- 1x Plasma Cannon (36)

- 1x Flamer (22)

- 3x Bolter (48)

106 points

 

Crusader Squad 4

- 1x Missile Launcher (26)

- 1x Plasma Gun (22)

- 3x Bolter (48)

96 points

 

Crusader Squad 5

- 1x BP+PF (31)

- 1x Melta (26)

- 3x BP+CCW (48)

- 2x Neophyte BP+CCW (26)

- Frag + Krak (15)

- Rhino (PMSB) (60)

206 points

 

FAST ATTACK:

 

Assault Squad

- 1x PW+BP (32)

- 2x PP+CCW (54)

- 2x BP+CCW (44)

- Meltabombs (10)

140 points

 

Total: 1700 + Vow (AAC) = 1750

 

EC & Marshal with Crusader Squad 5 in Rhino

 

---------------

 

It's by no means the most optimized list ever. Basically it has a lot of variation so I can get a feel for how different things work in practise. Plus of course since almost all my models bar DV stuff are in this list, that limits things slightly too.

 

My opponent is probably Imperial Guard, so I'm a bit worried about my anti-vehicle capabilities. In general my army lacks anti-flyer stuff, which will also be a problem in the 1000pt tournament in two weeks' time. But I suppose BT lacks good anti-air in our Codex anyway.

 

The odds are stacked against me in the match in probably every way, but heck, I chose Accept Any Challenge No Matter The Odds as my Vow for the list for a reason :)

[tvih]

Had two battles today!

 

First was at 1750pt with the above army list, and unlike expected it was against Dark Eldar. Second match was 750pt against Chaos.

 

Writing a battle report is a bit difficult since I don't really know anything about most non-marine units and for the first match forgot to take turn pictures. But I'll try, with some help from GW's models lists... (some pics at the end)

 

----

 

Battle 1: Purge the Alien, against Dark Eldar, 1750 points

 

Enemy had 3 Raiders, 1 Ravager (all four with Disintegrator cannons and Night Shields), 1 Jet Fighter, Mandrake squad (8 guys I believe), and I believe three 10-man squads of Wracks. Not sure about the Warlord, it was hiding for the entire match, only contributing by enabling Wracks as troops apparently.

 

My forces were deployed so that three shooty squads were in a ruined building on the bottom left, and basically everything else was near the middle. Mandrakes started by infiltrating to my right-hand corner of the map. His Ravager and Raiders blew up my Rhino right away in turn 1 because the enemy had first turn. Razorback and Dread took hits early on as well. I returned fire with Razorback and mainly the heavy weapons (Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Missile Launcher) of the three shooty squads. I'm not sure if the Ravager died in the first round, I think it did. Might've done damage to a Raider, too. My Assault Squad went to intercept the Mandrakes, shooting down only model. Meh!

 

In turn 2 the Razorback blew up. Dread was reduced to 1 hull point and was immobilized. Damned Disintegrators and Jet Fighter! Not a great start for my vehicles! During my second turn I deep-striked my shooty termies near the Raiders. With concentrated fire I stunned the crew of one Raider, and shook another with penetrating hits. Might've done damage to the third, as well. My Assault squad got charged, but the end result was that the Mandrake squad was down to 3 or 4 models and ran away scared, with me losing one marine.

 

During turn 3 and onward all his Raiders were blown up. His Jet took a pass at me causing a few losses to one of my shooty squads in the building. At this point my CC squad started taking heavy damage as well. A bunch of flamers and such quickly reduced my CC squad to just the Marshal, EC and the Melta guy. Assault Squad also took a casualty, and my fourth shooty crusader squad also took one or two. My CC terminators mostly avoided the flames, and were soon locked in combat with a squad of Wracks. Shooty terminators were similarly engaged by another squad. The Wracks were no match for my CC termies, but fared better against my shooty ones. In the end the CC termies made that squad run away after they lost over half their models. My shooty termies lost three models but held their ground. Meanwhile my shooty squads and the Dread reduced the third Wracks squad that wasn't engaged in CC to zero models on short order. My CC termies and Assault Squad (the three models that remained) then proceeded to charge the Wracks squad that was fighting my shooty termies. Needless to say, the xenos got purged in short order.

 

His Jet Fighter still made a pass trying to kill my shooty termies, only got one. Other than that his forces were routed or destroyed, and the field was mine! It was a bit of a bummer that my Marshal and EC didn't basically do anything but take a few saves, but at least termies got some nice action.

 

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Battle 2: Relic, against Chaos... Nurgle or something, I think. 750 points.

 

I had Marshal with PF,SS,Honors,Bionics (that I forgot to use!). CC termie squad, shooty termie squad with 2x CML, CC squad with PF, Rhino with smoke. Shooty crusader squads with HB+Flamer.

 

Things started up nice enough. My shooty termies took the right field, with shooty crusaders taking midfield and the rest going left. My termies shot up the enemy's chaos marines so that the before they reached assault range, they had lost around 5 models out of 10. The daemons he had... I'm not sure what they're called. They had T5, WS3 and only melee weapons. They at first appeared from the left, and I disembarked my marines. Bad idea as it turned out, since the daemons and the second squad of them that soon followed ran in the other direction. Meanwhille my shooty terminators ended up in CC with the remaining chaos marines, who, as it turned out, included an overpowered Nurgle marine commander thingamabob. Why overpowered? Well, he wiped out the entire terminator squad. In a single turn. Solo. The other models in both sides never got to attack :lol:

 

In reaction I moved my CC termies towards them, assaulted them in the next turn, but only after my shooty crusader squad had killed all but a PF guy and the commander. In the first turn of the assault I lost a lightning claw termie I think. I got the commander down to 1 wound, and the other guy died. I was supposed to have ran with my CC crusaders to also assault them, but forgot to run and thus was out of charge range. Fatal mistake. Well, I ended up in CC against one of the demon squads instead. My shooty guys shot at the other demon squad, but with little effect. In return, I lost three models to a flamer that ignored all armor saves. Nice.

 

Then the chaos commander killed two more of my terminators without taking any damage himself, despite me having reduced him to I1 with my previous turn's attacks and thus my models getting the full amount of attacks. In the other combat my CC marines were faring better, but still proceeding slowly through the enemy horde.

 

Next turn of combat, my terminators died, not even getting to attack this time. So yeah, basically the commander just soloed 10 terminators. Nice, don't you think? In the other combat the end result was an eventually wiped out enemy squad, with me having lost two marines. That was of little solace as at the same time the enemy commander, now joined by some big ugly IC dude from the mainly intact demon group that picked up and started to run away with the relic. They wiped out the rest of my shooty crusader squad. Enraged, the remaining CC marines together with Marshal Grimgard charged them, with Grimgard issuing a challenge to the abominations. The Big Ugly accepted it, and as expected the cheese-commander wiped out my other models. My Marshal took two wounds due to some very crappy rolls, but I think he also did 1-2 in return. In the next round, however, the commander intervened. A turn was spent in a limbo, because his 4 attacks were skillfully blocked by Grimgard (my only real luck with dice during the match), but he also saved against my single hit (I really am going to spend the points to get his fist master-crafted from now on, frankly would've been a better pick than Honors in this case too...). Then I believe I again saved two attacks next turn, and got to hit back, and finally slaying the heretic with a mighty blow. The victory was short-lived however, as in the next turn the Big Ugly hit with two attacks of which one got through, and Grimgard fell. After the fact I realized I had forgot to roll Bionic saves, but that alone wouldn't have changed the end result, the enemy still would've held the relic even if I had killed the Big Ugly.

 

At this point he had the Big Ugly with 1 wound or something remaining and the mostly intact Demon squad running away with the relic, and the only thing I had left was the Rhino who had been taking potshots at whatever models weren't locked in combat, but didn't really achieve much given the 5+ rolls needed to wound the demons. I still tried to shoot just to spite the enemy, but didn't cause any wounds. And then we ended the battle, as basically he wouldn't have been able to do much to my Rhino, but neither could I stop him from getting the relic. As such, end result: defeat. And all because of an absolutely ridiculous enemy commander that got what seemed like rerolls to absolutely everything. A million attacks, a million different saves, a million of everything, really. Just absolute rubbish in every way ;) Basically he rolled more dice per turn for the commander than I did for my entire damn army, and and in terms of attacking with a weapon that strikes at initiative yet doesn't allow armor saves, to boot. And with a ridiculous amount of attacks, too.

 

----

 

Still, with the exception of the ridiculousness in the second match, I had fun. I'll definitely upgrade Grimgard's fist, the "luck" I had with to-hit rolls was just so ridiculous - MC PF instead of Honors and I might've made it out alive with him (though still would've lost the match). Similarly I was quite underwhelmed with the Lightning Claws in the second match. Had I had 5x TH+SS, I might've actually killed the bugger, who knows.

 

Not sure when I'll have my next match(es), but since my Venerable Dreadnought and LRC arrive tomorrow, I might incorporate them into a list to try them out. Or I might just build a 1000pt list to play with from now on to practise and experiment for the 1000pt tournament held in two weeks. Might try LRC in such a list just for giggles, but not really sure about the Dread.

 

Anyway, here's some pics from the matches!

 

Table at the end of match 1, as you can see my vehicles didn't get far. His second Raider died where that wreck is too, while the third and the Ravager died a bit farther back:

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012018.jpg

 

Match 1 casualties (minus the Rhino and Razorback) - not that bad!

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012019.jpg

 

During turn 2, when I had killed half of his marine squad:

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012024.jpg

 

You'd THINK it's clear who's going to win this... :tu:

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012027.jpg

 

Here's where the shooty guys in the middle got flamered, and then butchered by the commander...

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012030.jpg

 

Grimgard & co charging the commander and the Big Ugly after mopping up the previous demon squad, and the entirely unscathed Rhino helplessly looking on while the demons run off with the relic:

http://www.tvih.net/stuff/wh40k/24092012031.jpg

[tvih]

So, in the last couple of days, my crusade has grown with:

- Land Raider Crusader "Witchbane"

- Venerable Dreadnought-Brother Decus

- Terminator Squad (DV)

- Biker Squad (DV)

- Executioner-Chaplain Joachim (DV LE)

 

They may neglect our codex, but they'll never stop our armies! :)

 

The DV stuff isn't properly converted yet. Joachim's got an axe arm as his right arm and my custom crozius in his left, but that's about it. Still need to do all the iconography removal and all. I'd like to get rid of Joachim's left arm to allow more more customized poses for the arm and to get rid of the shoulderpad, but that might be more risky than it's worth, especially as I don't have a saw for the task. The cloak should be doable with sand paper, of which I bought some today.

 

The bikes... well, shouldn't be too tricky, except I need to decide what to do with the wings next to the handlebar. Removing them entirely leaves the front of the bike kinda... empty.

[tvih]

Third match today. The ridiculousness of the second match continued in full force. I was playing at 1750pts with a haphazard force (I had only prepared to play 1000, really). He had Grey Knights + Imperial Guard tournament list, with IG hiding behind Aegis Defene Line.

 

Some "highlights":

- He started, and blew up my Venerable Dread before I got to do anything whatsoever. Same fate for a 5-man Crusader squad defending an objective. In return my lascannon and missile launcher did absolutely nothing to his Hydra (the only model they could properly see).

- He deep striked his terminators near my objective. I was just moving my CC termies and multi-melta dread around it. He kept blasting at my Crusaders with his IG vehicles. Large Blast AP2 is just so much fun... I deep striked my 10-man shooty terminators near his GK termies in an attempt to stop them, seeing as they count as troops and my troops had been wiped out from there. Still, in retrospect deep striking there was a huge mistake, I should've gone to harass the IG instead. At least I might've done some damage, even with how many lascannons and plasma weapons they had there. By comparison I managed to inflict 17 woulds on the GK squad, and only caused one casualty. Luck of the dice continues, as on average 3 should've died. In return, his plasma cannons and Bombards wipe out the entire terminator squad except for the Marshal who took a single wound, and...... ran off the table due to a double six on the leadership roll.

- CC terminators with attached EC and MoS (the one mentioned in the previous post, Executioner-Chaplain Joachim ------ and I just now realized I forgot to use the goddamn Holy Orb!) assaulted the GKs. EC and uh... Thrawn or some teletubby that always rises from the dead (no literally, I've never seen the guy fail that roll) engaged in a challenge. EC was victorious. But then absolute ridiculousness ensued. His termies attacked with their power weapons. Four wounds. Not so bad with 2+ saves, right? Yeah, you might think so, but I rolled four ones. So that's every terminator dead, as one died prior to assaulting. The only positive thing about the whole match was that Joachim enraged and with his 7 axe attacks landed 6 wounds, all of which ended up killing blows. He was then killed by two wounds from a force weapon and thunder hammer, but at least he, unlike everyone else, got to do some damage.

- Thrawn resurrected, and since EC was still in combat due to one other model, some sort of standard bearer, being alive, so the challenge happened again. And again Thrawn goes down. My melta dread charged in and killed off the standard bearer.

- Thrawn resurrected again, but now EC and Dread were no longer in combat. They get killed by a Bombard blast, big surprise.

- In the meanwhile my one Rhino had gotten near the enemy lines but was finally destroyed by a Hydra since it only had one hull point remaining. The troops disembarked, and tried to shoot at a tank. No effect, even plasma gun rolled a penetration roll of 2 *facepalm*. In return a Bombard one-shotted the entire squad. Around the same time another Bombard one-shotted another Squad I had sitting inside a ruin.

- End of match basically, I had another Rhino which got blown and thus I only had 7 marines left.

 

So basically if there was a chance to fail a roll, I failed it. Could've just as well had neophytes instead of terminators given the ridiculous amount of AP2 spam - especially the large blasts - and useless saving throws. I could've done more damage had I not deep striked in a useless spot, but would've still lost by far, especially as I couldn't have taken the objectives most likely anyway. 48" S10 AP2 large blast spam is really quite ridiculous as I found out. If only I had had drop pods, I would've deep striked both dreads and the terminators next to his tanks and might've at least taken out some of them. As it was, I only killed 9 of his terminators and I think one IG infantry, with him losing one more infantry to "Gets hot!". Quite pathetic performance indeed, I reckon my models will be doing penance for the next ten thousand years.

[tvih]

To celebrate Executioner-Chaplain Joachim's fine terminator killing spree, here he is, converted to do away with the lesser chapter's markings and painted to almost completion after a 6-hour painting spree:

 

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

 

Missing his storm bolter since it's still not modeled far enough to paint. The pics came out pretty poor for some reason, but I guess you can still see what there is to see.

Edited September 30, 2012 by tvih