Preparing for Astronomi-con 2016

[Epimetheus13]

Astro is an unbelievably fun tournament that focuses on wacky, narrative-driven missions - there are missions where you have to stop a tank convoy, bring loot to the Grot-Mart, repair droids at a Tatooine vapour farm, defend yourself from a Deathwatch Squad, and face off against a Baneblade!  Although the force composition rules unduly penalize taking Inquisition as the primary detachment, I don't expect to win anything at this tourney so am just looking forward to a few good games.

 

Here's my list.  I hope that it's not too OP.  It is very strong at a few things, but lacks the mobility I'm used to. (Legionnaires can't run; the Henchmen are slow once they jump out of their transport).  I'll have to point each unit at their chosen objective and just refuse to get side-tracked.

 

 

DETACHMENT: Inquisitorial Detachment
 

COMPULSORY CORE (HQ)

1.       INQUISITOR KARAMAZOV ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  Master-crafted power sword; master-crafted multimelta; orbital strike relay; frag, krak, psyk-out, and rad grenades.

·  Independent Character, Relentless, By Any Means Necessary, Dread Reputation, Throne of Judgement.

 

HQ

1.       ORDO MALLEUS INQUISITOR ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  Two daemonblades; power armour; frag, krak, and psyk-out grenades; empyrean brain mines, 3x servo skulls. NEED TO ASSEMBLE! SERVO SKULLS PAINTED!

·  Independent Character, Stubborn.

 

ELITES

1.       INQUISITORIAL HENCHMAN WARBAND #1

·  12-model unit:

o 4x Crusaders: power sword, storm shield, flak armour. 1 ASSEMBLED, 3 PAINTED!

o 5x Death Cult Assassins: two power swords, flak armour. PAINTED!

o 2x Arco-Flagellants: arco-flails. PAINTED!

o 1x Ministorum Priest: power sword, laspistol, frag and krak grenades, flak armour, rosarius. PAINTED!

·  Uncanny Reflexes (Death Cult Assassin only); Feel No Pain (Arco-Flagellant only); Zealot, War Hymns (Ministorum Priest only).
 

2.       INQUISITORIAL LAND RAIDER CRUSADER (Dedicated Transport: Inquisitorial Warband #1) ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  Two hurricane bolters, twin-linked assault cannon, frag assault launchers, smoke launchers, psybolt ammunition, dozer blade.

·  Assault Vehicle, Power of the Machine Spirit.

 

3.       INQUISITORIAL HENCHMAN WARBAND #2

·  9-model unit:

o 3x Acolytes: plasma gun, laspistol, flak armour. ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

o 4x Acolytes: bolter, laspistol, flak armour 2 ASSEMBLED, 2 PAINTED!

o 1x Jokaero: digi-weapon, defence orbs. PAINTED!

o 1x Mystic: laspistol, flak armour. PAINTED!

·  Inconceivable Customization, Jokaero Ingenuity (Jokaero only); Psychic Beacon (Mystic only).

 

4.       INQUISITORIAL RHINO (Dedicated Transport: Inquisitorial Warband #2) ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  Storm bolter, smoke launchers, searchlight.

·  Repair.

 

5.       INQUISITORIAL HENCHMAN WARBAND #3

·  10-model unit:

o 8x Acolytes: storm bolter, chainsword, flak armour. 1 ASSEMBLED, 7 PAINTED!

o 2x Jokaero: digi-weapon, defence orbs.  ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  Inconceivable Customization, Jokaero Ingenuity (Jokaero only)

 

6.       INQUISITORIAL CHIMERA (Dedicated Transport: Inquisitorial Warband #3) ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  2x Heavy bolter, smoke launchers, psybolt ammunition.

·  Amphibious.

 

FAST ATTACK

1.       INQUISITORIAL VALKYRIE ASSAULT CARRIER ASSEMBLED, NOT PAINTED

·  1x multilaser, 2x multiple rocket pods, 2x heavy bolters, extra armour, searchlight.

· Flyer.
 

 

DETACHMENT: Legion of the Damned
 

COMPULSORY CORE (ELITE)

 

1.       SQUAD DRAUGR (Legion of the Damned Squad)

·  9-model unit: bolters (x6); multimelta (x1); plasma gun (x1); combi-grav, power fist (Legionnaire Sgt only); bolt pistols, frag and krak grenades (all). ALL PAINTED!

·  Aid Unlooked For, Fear, Fearless, Flaming Projectiles, Slow and Purposeful, Unyielding Spectres.

 

 

I'm almost finished assembling/converting everything - here are some of the conversions I've done so far. Hopefully sharing my progress will help keep me on track!

 

 

Even for 40K, space apes are silly, so I'm replacing them with WFB Dwarf Engineers with a few sci-fi bits added and some of the medieval hammers cut away.

 

Inspired by Assassin's Creed; I used WFB Wood Elf Wildwood Rangers, and re-cut/re-posed their arms and elbows.

 

Cheers!

 

Edited to show painting progress and update my army list.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Very cool army, and I'm happy to see that it's a totally different look/feel to my own Inquisition army (since we'll be at the same tournament). Very very flavourful army too ... alas it's going to get destroyed in the composition score even proving my point to the organizers further that the system unfairly penalizes cool fluffy armies like Inquisition. But on the other hand I don't know if it would be fair (or if people would be cool with it) to have a different comp standard for =][= so we'll just have to roll with it. Glad to see someone else who is totally into the theme/fun aspect of Astro as when I went in '14 although I had an absolute blast, there seemed to be a few un-Astro-like armies seeping in versus my experiences back in the day (I'm guessing the new comp helps with that a lot).

 

I love the space dwarf alternative to the space ape Jokaero -- very nifty conversion. That old school 1950s style ray gun you made for him is perfect and the goggles really give him that sci fi look versus just a dwarf with a futuristic gun.

 

Very good use of Scout models for acolytes, too. With those Mechanicus helmets they look ace! Can't wait to see them painted up.

 

What's your plan for the counts-as Karamazov? Is he going to walk forward behind the Crusader? Or stick with the guys behind the Aegis?

[WarriorFish]

Those rangers work really well, shame I'm well covered for DCAs already! Lots of character in these conversions, I'm keen to see them all painted up :D

[Epimetheus13]

Thanks for positive comments!  Believe it or not, the dwarf engineer actually came modelled with that "ray gun" - I guess it's meant to be a fancy musket or something - all I did was add a stand to it and paint it differently!

 

I haven't had alot of practice using Karamazov - how I use him depends on who my opponent is and how many AP 2 weapons they have pointing at me.  With fewer AP2, his T5 means he can take a few lascannon hits without Instant Dying, so I'm ok to have him wandering out by himself to hold an objective, charge infiltrators or other weaker targets, or combo-charging with the Legionnaires to use his rad grenades.  Alternatively,  he'll hide behind the ADL and pelt the enemy with orbital barrages.

 

I'm a little loath to actually have him join an acolyte unit, since their majority Toughness will reduce him to T3. Does that affect his Instant Death threshold as well?

 

I've converted a few more models and done a spot of painting.

 

Bolter acolytes and Mystic.

 

Throne of Judgement, with a couple head swaps from the WFB Flagellants kit.

 

Arco-flagellants!  Bodies and arms from WFB flagellants, flails from WFB Mauraders.

 

Another Dwarf Engineer counts-as jokaero, and 3 flamer acolytes.  I really like the flamer acolytes - with their heavy clothes and masks, they're like reverse firemen - bringing the flames instead of saving you from it! =D  The dwarf already looks so steampunk, I'm not sure how I could convert him.  I'm hoping that the paint job will make him look more he belongs in 40K and wasn't just plucked as-is from the WFB range.

 

[WarriorFish]

Looking good, might raid my Scout bits for acolytes too...

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Somehow I missed your 14 February update. I really like how those acolytes turned out by kit-bashing Bretonnian men-at-arms with Skitarii heads. Your army is going to look awesome when it's done. I won't be surprised if we have a battle against each other in the last or second-last game of the tournament since we'll both be basement dwellers with awful comp scores and poor battle scores* ... it will be wacky and fun if that happens!

* Although at Astro anything can happen, and with the right missions/tables and a bit of luck we could do surprisingly well.

[WarriorFish]

If we don't get a picture of you both Inquisition bro fisting at Astronomi-con I'm going to be very disappointed. Red and black for life! Perhaps you could both do a "models count down", ticking off models as each week goes by? Could be a good way to help motivate to completion... and get some early competition in ;)

[Epimetheus13]

WarriorFish - those are great ideas! Definitely down for week-by-week model count - I'm all out of primer, and have some spray cans being delivered this weekend - once I get them, it's on! ;-)

 

Nicodemus - oh man, I hope that happens. My comp score is a feeble 15/20 - if I come up against Eldar, Knights, or alpha-strike lists all day, I'll be bottom tables for sure. Last time I was almost exactly middle of the pack in the low-20s. Took the Dark Angel Unrelenting Hunt dataslate, and battled Chaos Marines, Nurgle daemons, Dark Eldar, Skitarii and 2 Necron forces for 3 wins and 3 losses, of varying closeness. Was fun in every game tho!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

@Warriorfish -- We'll definitely do a fist-bump photo for the B&C whether we face each other or not. I'm definitely in for the weekly model countdown ... I'm away from home right now but will get started on this when I return early next week.

 

@Epimetheus13 -- Yeah, my list scores 15/20 also. We might even face each other in the first game since I think that's how the determine the initial matchups. We will likely have the two worst scoring lists comp-wise. I went 0-5-0 at Astronomi-con '14 but every game was down to the wire and on at least two of them my opponent and I were shocked when we added up the points as we were both sure that I would have won or tied. But I drew every single killpoint mission that tournament, which is part of why my DKoK Assault Brigade (whose whole strategy is to lose troops en masse and recycle them) fared poorly. But it was tons of fun, more fun than the more ITC-style tournament I attended last year locally instead of Astro where I actually performed better.

[Epimetheus13]

One of my Legion of the Damned units was picked up 2nd-hand, pre-painted.  They're older models too.  I touched up the chipped paint (too lazy/not enough time to strip the paint and start from scratch) but they look a little 'blah' so I wanted make them stand out somehow.  So I'm giving them 'real' flames using cotton.  (I wish I knew better how to use Green Stuff, so I could sculpt it on.)

 

I spray pained the cotton yellow to give it some solidity, pulled off what I needed, and glued it to the model using thin superglue.  Then I painted it with a series of washes to try and get a flame look.  I can't decide whether these first attempts look terrible or good enough.  I think I used too much wash, and too much dark coloured washes, at first, and gave the flames a "muddy" look in places.

 

I don't know - you tell me, should I continue to experiment with this technique?

 

The Legionnaire on the far left is a plain, unadorned LotD, just to compare what the models would look like without the flames if I decide not to do this after all.  He's kinda boring...

 

I still need to edge highlight these models' armour, and of course base with Agrellan Earth technical paint, but wanted to try out my cotton flames idea right away.

 

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

I think the flames look pretty good. Maybe dry-brushing them with a white or light yellow might help make them look less muddy?

 

Can we get a "count down" on what you have ready to go, and what still needs to be painted? I'm going to post that to my own Astro thread.

[Epimetheus13]

It's been slow going the last few weeks - all I've done is edge highlight the 5 Damned Legionnaires and improve the cotton flames.  They're not going to win any painting awards, but I quite like the look and feel to them.  I went for orange edge highlights as it reminded me of glowing embers in a dying fire - quite appropriate for the Legion of the Damned!

 

 

I'm going to edit my original post with my army list to show what I've got left to paint. Sadly, it's almost everything!  Luckily the model count for this army is low, but if I don't put a serious dent in this by end of Easter I may begin to panic!

[dogfender]

Glad to see someone else combining Sniper scouts + Vanguard heads for Inq henchmen =)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

You can do it!

 

Hope getting the army done isn't too stressful. Best of luck. I need to get out of vacation mode and back to work myself.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Any update?

I looks like you may be the sole representative of the glorious =][= at Astro Toronto ... I went to formally register today and found out I am #4 on the waiting list.

[Epimetheus13]

:-(

 

Well, you're only 4 back... We are inquisitors, and the Officio Assassinorum was made just for this purpose...may I suggest the Vanus Temple?

 

I have completed painting 13 out of 14 legionnaires of the damned, 2 arco-flagellants, and bought/converted my third Jokaero. Am halfway through painting the unit of storm bolter Acolytes - I was postponing an update until I had a photo of them all to share, but Real Life is getting in the way.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well, I exchanged emails with Mike Major, and he says that (a) they almost always have at least a few drop-outs so they are confident the waiting list people will get in and (b ) if there aren't drop-outs they are going to do whatever they can to fit everyone in, perhaps squeezing a couple extra tables in. Assuming they are in the same room as before, it would be tight, but they could fit two more tables.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of the completed models!

[HackedDuck]

Well good luck if you do get to go! Do the emperor proud

[WarriorFish]

If there isn't a way the Inquisition make one ;)

[Epimetheus13]

Real life has been a turmoil this last month, but it's finally clearing up - and not a moment too soon!  The good news is that I managed to complete:

• All 14 Legionnaires of the Damned (edge highlighting these guys took me weeks - they are the most labour-intensive models in my army, I think/hope)
• 5 Death Cult Assassins
• 4 Crusaders (they are 99% complete)
• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor
• Ministorum Priest
• 2 Arcoflagellants
• 7 Acolytes with storm bolters

Here they are! Sorry for the poor quality of the photos - I don't have time to snap photos during the day. 

 

I like the green wash on the Inquisitor's poisonous needle pistols.

 

My plan was to print out several images of the Emperor in sepia and glue them onto the storm shields ("The Emperor Protects!") but I might just paint an Inquisitorial "I" instead.  Not sure.

 

They remind me of Star Wars and that 'other' Emperor's Crimson Guard.

 

I decided for forget the cotton flames - too finickey to get right.

 

I think they turned out OK.

 

And now the bad news!

 

After two practice games, at the very last minute I decided to change my army list to drop one unit of Legionnaires and the Aegis Defence Line, add a Chimera, a Valkyrie, and about 6 more infantry models here and there.  Oh, and I've swapped out the Ordro Xeno Inq for a Ordo Malleus Inq wielding two Daemonblades. None of which, of course, are painted - heck, I haven't even converted the Malleus yet.

 

Why do I do this to myself????

 

It'll all get done - even if I have to call in sick to do it!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Great work, I really love the look of your army. Really sorry I won't be able to attend and see the army in person.

 

If you are ever in the Region of Waterloo or Perth County areas PM me and maybe we can do a game.

[Epimetheus13]

Thanks Nicodemus! Same here - if you're in West Toronto, give me a shout!

[Epimetheus13]

Astronomicon has come and gone, and I juuuuust about painted up everything in time! (Mostly to a tabletop standard, but at least it was done.)

I also had just enough time to make these, which were much easier than referring to my iPhone:

So...how'd I fare? Sadly, pretty poorly by results alone: 4 losses, 1 tie, 1 win! Two losses (and, to be fair, the one win) were very close affairs that could've gone either way all the way to the very last throw of the dice. In the other two losses, I lost a couple units early on and, given both missions were to hold table quarters, my army just doesn't have the resiliency or numbers to achieve the victory conditions.

However, it was a joy to play the unusual Astro missions and see so many exceptionally-painted and converted armies.

The good folks behind Astro are coming back November 26-27 for a narrative-themed battle campaign over a whole weekend - I'm hopeful I can attend. Nicodemus, perhaps I'll see you then!

THE MISSIONS

Game 1 - Recon (vs Imperial Guard Tank Company)

Victory conditions: essentially a Breakthrough - get your troops in the opponent's deployment, keep him out of yours. A close loss. My Rhino and Chimera had their most durable showing of the weekend, fending off Leman Russes, Pask, two Vengeance Weapons Batteries, and a trio of Vostroyans in Tauroxes. Inquisitor Ebon, the Cult of His Holy Agony, and the Land Raider Crusader crept into the opposing deployment and almost won it, with the Land Raider getting wrecked on the very last turn, just before it would've wiped out the Taurox and 2-man Vostroyan squad in my deployment zone.

Game 2 - Divide and Conquer (vs Eldar Wraithguard in Dark Eldar Raiders)

Victory conditions: seize and hold table quarters. A solid loss. Three squads of Wraithguard in Dark Eldar raiders or a Wave Serpent, plus a trio of Crimson Hunters are very effective combos. He had written a good, fluffy theme and backstory, and had a story behind each unit's paint job for the army, plus he was a fun opponent, so in the end I didn't mind the army composition and would happily play it again. On reflection, I probably played way too aggressively as well - my Land Raider got too close to his 5 Wraithguard with D-scythes and ate 27 hull points all at once.

Game 3 - Field of Screams (vs Crimson Fists)

Victory conditions: Kill Points and Table Quarters. Oh, but virtually the entire table is a minefield and counts as Difficult AND Dangerous Terrain. Ended in a tie - I sat back and blasted him to pieces as he bravely/foolishly marched across to bring the fight to me. I brought alot of units down to half strength, but wasn't quite able to finish them off and kill 150 points more than him, and the game ended in Turn 5 IIRC, so it ended in a tie.

Game 4 - Assault & Battery (vs Daemons)

Victory conditions: I had to protect three Imperial Griffons, which each earned 50 VPs every turn for firing at a target off-table. Opponent earned 200 VPs for each Griffon destroyed. An awesome scenario, and super-thematic: Inquisition vs Daemons, protecting an Imperial battery, what more could you ask for? Opponent had the Infernal Tetrad formation - that's FOUR flying Daemon Princes, one from each God - but it wasn't as bad as I feared. I shot down the Khorne Prince, two acro-flagellants brought down the Tzeentch Prince in a single round (after the Assassins whiffed and the Daemon crushed my Ordo Malleus Inquisitor (we need Invul saves!)). But the star of the show was Inquisitor Vane calling a Lance Strike unerringly on a poor Crusader who stood next to the Slaanesh and Nurgle Daemon Princes. They were insta-gibbed, and the Crusader walked away.

Game 5 - X-Factor (vs Marines w/ Raven Guard tactics)

Victory conditions: Table Quarters. Another loss - scouts set up in opposite quarters, and I just didn't have the unit numbers to go hunting after them all. The X-Factor is it's a sand storm, so all shooting beyond 12" is snap fire, and skimmers and flyers can crash on a '1'. Also, there's a Vindicare Assassin in a tower in the middle of the board. Each players rolls-off to control him that turn. I lost the first four roll-offs, and the Vindicare took out Inquisitor Vane and my Land Raider by turn three. Ooops.

Game 6 - Convoy Raid (vs Marines w/ Ultramarine tactics)

Victory conditions: Destroy a neutral convoy of 2 Sentinels and 3 Chimeras, and sieze the objectives that the Chimeras were transporting. A fantastic, cerebral end-game - we hardly threw any dice, it was all in the movement as we raced to control, and block each other from controlling, the last two objectives. (The third objective was destroyed when the Chimera carrying it exploded! Yep, that can happen!) Opponent was a great guy, but my complaint was that he took FOREVER to play his turn (We barely got 4 turns in), although I had put him in a tough spot and he really had to be creative to win it (which he did). But he had ALOT of time to think about his move.

20/20 HINDSIGHT

So is a 460-point Assault Henchman squad in a Land Raider worth it in 1,500 points? Hard to say...the games where I was in it was entirely due to the LRC's durability and ability to deliver the Henchmen to tear the heart out of the enemy army. But when the LRC dies early, my army just can't recover. After the Henchmen squad, the LRC, Inquisitor Karamavov-counts-as, and the Legionnaires - that's 2/3rds of my army in just 4 units. Individually, they perform great, but there's not really enough left in the rest of my army to reliably make a go of it if things turn sour. I will try to re-jig things and find points to add some Miliatarum Tempestus Stormtroops - since I can't duplicate detachments,I need more bodies on the table, and more effective sources of firepower.

Also: the Inquisitor with two daemonblades was honestly almost totally surplus to needs. The assassins usually killed anything before he got a chance to strike. And he really needs an invul save: the Tzeentch Daemon Prince killed him outright, and even a naked Archon and a squad of Dark Eldar Warriors took his last remaining Wound before he got a chance to strike! I'll be replacing him for sure and probably just keep my Karamazov counts-as.

(Edit for typo.)

[CaptainHelion]

Gotta say, love those Dataslates. They are just aces.

[HackedDuck]

Gotta say, love those Dataslates. They are just aces.

I agree those are awesome!

 

You may may have lost 4 games but at least you had fun that's the whole point of the game :)