XBA: The Spear of Telesto

[Xenith]

Bit more work blocking the colours on my Contemptor in. I'm making the weapons relatively neutral so they might be swapped between my Alpha Legion and Thousand Sons contemptors also. Nice to be painting a dread again.

[Xenith]

Bit more work done on the dread over the weekend, just needs basing now really, then some freehand. Any ideas? Maybe the right pad can go black, then some heraldic items on the right knee?

[Majkhel]

I don't mind the black shoulder pads especially on units that date back to the Great Crusade or Horus Heresy era. As for additional markings on vehicles - the sky is the limit ;) Personal heraldry, company markings, scripts, hazard marking or of the Cult Mechanicum, battle damage,...

Some decals perhaps? There were some nice ones in the Indomitus sheet - chain-thingies, chequers. Always a nice idea to add a numeral on a vehicle too. 

[Xenith]

Ah yes, forgot that, he'll get a numeral somewhere, now I need to go back and count my dreadnoughts to see which number this is! 

 

Thinking on the above, I ordered some micro set and micro sol last night (seemed to be hard to find in the UK for a while) to try and up my transfer game. I have the BA HH transfer set I've been too afraid to touch so far! 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Xenith

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on the Contemptor.

[Helias_Tancred]

Yeah he's nice. Great work!

[Xenith]

Beautiful work on the Contemptor.

 

 

Yeah he's nice. Great work!

 

Thanks guys! Nice to see you back Bjorn, been a while! 

[Xenith]

Little while since I've been back as I've worked on my Tyranids and Thousand Sons, however with Heresy Rumblings, and a few folks starting up old armour mark era armies, I think I have to revisit the FW resin chunks I have in boxes, and maybe try to get a 500pt heresy ZM force built up for my BA! 

 

The contrmptor is one part of this, but heresy era models I also have include a Levi, a Dorito, Sicaran venator, then a few more boxdreads, as well as some parts to convert some assault cannon angels tears. 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Xenith

[BloodyB]

That deathmask is a subtle change, but really gives the dread character. A reminder that the Dreadnought holds not merely a wounded Astartes, but a hero in his own right, entrusted with the arcane machineries of not just a Contemptor Dreadnought, but also an irreplaceable Volkite weapon dating back to the Imperium's earliest days. Perhaps even a fallen Sanguinary Guard, now sustained by the sarcophagus that bears facsimile of his features?

 

Whenever I add decals, I ask myself what the Dreadnought might have done to earn the heraldry. I always feel better having a little bit of consistent lore behind their actions for my own reference.

[Xenith]

That deathmask is a subtle change, but really gives the dread character. A reminder that the Dreadnought holds not merely a wounded Astartes, but a hero in his own right, entrusted with the arcane machineries of not just a Contemptor Dreadnought, but also an irreplaceable Volkite weapon dating back to the Imperium's earliest days. Perhaps even a fallen Sanguinary Guard, now sustained by the sarcophagus that bears facsimile of his features?

Whenever I add decals, I ask myself what the Dreadnought might have done to earn the heraldry. I always feel better having a little bit of consistent lore behind their actions for my own reference.

Also, I had a game against a new guard player last week, same player as against my Thousand Sons. Been itching to try something out for a while, so used an all-tank BA force, which was fun, and great to get some under-used models on the table.

My Venator got pasted in T2, probably suffering from unpainted model syndrome, so I resolved to get some paint on it this week:

This is early doors after I managed to block in the black on the sides. I've got a bit more done since then and will have a quick photoshoot. The Venator is basically done to TT standard at the moment, but needs more work done before I'm happy to call it finished!

[BloodyB]

Looking forward to seeing that Venator being done, is it weird that I'm most eager about the driver's cabin looking thing on the front?

 

Excellent choice on the pintle-mounted heavy bolter, it just looks so cool. Little remote control gun just doing it's best to protect the tank from the alien, the mutant and the heretic. Such a brave little machine spirit!

[Xenith]

Looking forward to seeing that Venator being done, is it weird that I'm most eager about the driver's cabin looking thing on the front?

Excellent choice on the pintle-mounted heavy bolter, it just looks so cool. Little remote control gun just doing it's best to protect the tank from the alien, the mutant and the heretic. Such a brave little machine spirit!

Thanks! The pintle heavy bolter I cannot take credit for - it's part of the standard kit - but it is such a cool part - a true remote control turret. Funny you should mention the cabin/cockpit - I wasn't sure whether to do black or gold, but I went with black in the end, and will add some gold trim. I think gold would have been a little too much, considered how sparingly I've used it on the rest of the model.

Most colours blocked in and neatened up, but under this light it's looking too much like a plastic toy - shades and highlights next to bring the realism!

[Xenith]

Getting the sicaran done to tabletop standard for yesterday, I managed to get another mass-tank battle in! Not bothering with a full write up, but enjoy the photos!

We ignored the main missions and just had a blitzkrieg/linebreaker style game where whoever had the most units in the opposing deplyment zone at the end of T5 won. I did not win. The game was 2000pts of tanks, however a few of mine are useless in an AT role so I swapped them out for Typhoons. Couldn't quite get a Tornado in there.

My army

The opposing force and deplyment. Note Shadowsword in the far right...

Venator all painted.

After my T1 movement. opponent went first and pasted the Excelsior with the Shadowsword. 2D6 damage is excessive!

Shadowsword lines up on the Stalker.

Venator targets the Basilisks.

Land raider also lines up on the basilisks.

Typhoon tries to engage the superheavy and a LR to force them to fall back, not counting on the dD3 from the Shadowswords treads, which popped a wheelie and killed it.

SHOOT THEEEM!

Basilisks gone due to the venator and Proteus.

Relic Cannon LR lines up on the stormhawk and shoots it down.

Last ditch effort of the game, the flamerbaal, having finished off a demolisher with it's flamestorm, charges the leman russ, but is killd in my opponent's shooting phase by heavy bolters.

The Death Star trundles forwards and lines up a shot on the Venator. M10" is disgusting on this thing.

The Shadowsword accounted for the Excelsior, Stalker, a Typhoon, the Proteus, the Venator and the Rhino Primaris. Basically point click and delete one tank per turn.

Great game all in all, and I want to add some kill markings to my tanks: The venator in particular managed to kill 2 basilisks and a Leman russ. Level up!

Edited November 18, 2021 by Xenith

[BloodyB]

The Shadowsword accounted for the Excelsior, Stalker, a Typhoon, the Proteus, the Venator and the Rhino Primaris. Basically point click and delete one tank per turn. 

 

Great game all in all, and I want to add some kill markings to my tanks: The venator in particular managed to kill 2 basilisks and a Leman russ. Level up!

 

In fairness, a Shadow sword is meant to point, click and delete titans, if it didn't ruin at least a few tanks, the other guy would probably start doing a Commissar impression using the dice as traitors and cowards.

 

If you're looking for kill markings (the transfer kind) consider looking for spare Armiger transfer sheets, they have some excellent blood drop markings for use, as well as a selection of others available.

 

Good game and some lovely paintwork on the Venator.

[Jolemai]

This is why I play an all tank force in 30k - it's such a cool spectacle!

 

Glad you enjoyed it :Tu:

[Xenith]

 

The Shadowsword accounted for the Excelsior, Stalker, a Typhoon, the Proteus, the Venator and the Rhino Primaris. Basically point click and delete one tank per turn. 

 

Great game all in all, and I want to add some kill markings to my tanks: The venator in particular managed to kill 2 basilisks and a Leman russ. Level up!

In fairness, a Shadow sword is meant to point, click and delete titans, if it didn't ruin at least a few tanks, the other guy would probably start doing a Commissar impression using the dice as traitors and cowards.

 

If you're looking for kill markings (the transfer kind) consider looking for spare Armiger transfer sheets, they have some excellent blood drop markings for use, as well as a selection of others available.

 

Good game and some lovely paintwork on the Venator.

 

 

Yea, no hard feelings on the shdowsword, my opponent's first time using it - I guess I'm just hurt that marines don't have a superheavy in the codex, maybe I need a Typhon or Cerberus. 

 

This is why I play an all tank force in 30k - it's such a cool spectacle!

 

Glad you enjoyed it

 

Yea, the tanks can pull double duty, so I'm imagining my first HH games will be armoured breakthrough forces! Just need some more predators...

[Helias_Tancred]

Xenith, I like your battle board! Is it a folding GW cardstock board or something custom?

[Xenith]

Xenith, I like your battle board! Is it a folding GW cardstock board or something custom?

 

This is the 6x4 battlemat from Gamemat.eu, and I'm in love with it! 

 

https://www.gamemat.eu/en/battle-mats/6-x4-double-sided-battle-mats/6-x4-double-sided-g-mat-quarantine-zone-and-fallout-zone.html

 

Great material, easy to roll, doesn't crease, and it has handy, built in kind of 12" deployment markers on one side (quarantine zone). This was my favourite as it represents both cityscape and wasteland, so matches my armies. Pricey, but this was an Xmas treat to myself from last year.

[Xenith]

On another note, over the weekend I was doing some detailing on the venator when I forgot what tank number it should be. Cue going back through my plog to count the painting order of my tanks and putting some vehicle unit insignia on all the models, so basically more fun with transfers. What's great is that the SM Transfer sheet now has BA numerals that go all the way to 10. Bad news is that Number 11 will use 2 sheets, but from there, a single sheet can do all the teens. At least you get one sheet per tank, right?

 

So far, dreads, tanks, speeders and transports will have their own consecutive numbering schemes. Speeders will get both vehicle numbers and bear the livery of the squad they are piloted by. 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Xenith

[BloodyB]

 

This is the 6x4 battlemat from Gamemat.eu, and I'm in love with it! 

 

https://www.gamemat.eu/en/battle-mats/6-x4-double-sided-battle-mats/6-x4-double-sided-g-mat-quarantine-zone-and-fallout-zone.html

 

Great material, easy to roll, doesn't crease, and it has handy, built in kind of 12" deployment markers on one side (quarantine zone). This was my favourite as it represents both cityscape and wasteland, so matches my armies. Pricey, but this was an Xmas treat to myself from last year.

I have the exact same mat, and I concur with the esteemed hobbyist, they are excellent value and really convenient. They also have a handy travel bag that comes free with them, like a bag for a yoga mat.

[Xenith]

So the big tank game triggered something in me, which is the desire to hyper detail and weather than tanks. This is maybe my favourite.most engrossing part of the hobby, but I haven't done it in ages as I became focussed on smashing through my backlog during lockdown and getting armies on the table. I'd ordered some micro set and micro sol specifically to get the hang of doing transfers better, so during the week I had a go at a few.

Fancy chapter icon from the FW-HH set. This one went horribly wrong, I think I applied too much micro set and it got very soft...and I might have picked it up by the transfer when applying the below kill marking... I managed to peel it off and straighten it out, but some bits are folded over and unsaveable. I'll fix it with battle damage.

Kill marking from the Legio Tempestusr transfer sheet.

Chapter Icon on Venerable Bellerophon

Kill marking and chapter icon on the Flamer Baal. This one was maybe too big, should have used the AT ones.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Xenith

[BloodyB]

The decal on the Venator looks good, a little weathering and you'd never know. The kill markings on the Baal predator looks fine to me, add a smaller one and maybe it signifies burning something much larger than a mere swarm of flammable infantry? They look fine on the Venator, is the Sicaran that much bigger than the Pred?

 

The Chapter symbol on the dread is really nice as well.

 

Keep up the good work!

[Xenith]

The decal on the Venator looks good, a little weathering and you'd never know. The kill markings on the Baal predator looks fine to me, add a smaller one and maybe it signifies burning something much larger than a mere swarm of flammable infantry? They look fine on the Venator, is the Sicaran that much bigger than the Pred?

Thanks for the comments - the Baal one is a different transfer to the Venator one - the venator one is smaller and from an adeptus titanicus sheet, while the baal one is I think a 1st squad knee badge from the BA transfer sheet.

On another note, I did this a while ago and forgot to share - I remembered after asking Cleon how much BA he had. The below is painted.

[Majkhel]

It's so cool you had such thematic battles!
Very nice progress on the tanks too. I love it that you added kill-markings based on actual battle records. I think I need to do something similar.

Also lovely to see how one's force has grown over the time. While it may not be as visually stunning as a group shot, the numbers rpvided by army-builders deliver the message just as well. I'm also tracking my overall progress on the Blood Angels forces as well as yearly completions. Gotta remember to brag about it a bit around year-end

Edited December 7, 2021 by Majkhel

[Xenith]

It's so cool you had such thematic battles!

Very nice progress on the tanks too. I love it that you added kill-markings based on actual battle records. I think I need to do something similar.

 

Also lovely to see how one's force has grown over the time. While it may not be as visually stunning as a group shot, the numbers rpvided by army-builders deliver the message just as well. I'm also tracking my overall progress on the Blood Angels forces as well as yearly completions. Gotta remember to brag about it a bit around year-end

 

Thanks man, always good to have a throw down and ignore most of GW's mission rules - and actually get to put some under-used models on the table! Yea, the battle honours and stuff is a fun part of the hobby for me - the last couple of years have been about pumping out as many painted models as possible to clear backlog, however before that it was very much about individual models, then going back and giving the markings when they did stuff in-game. It's something I'd like to do more of again.

 

Army builder is great in that way - really nice to get a glance of how much stuff I have also - but I see that 13k and want 15k   That might be a challenge for next year...10 terminators and a stormraven and I'm halfway there, right?