Officially starting guard finally.

[duz_]

Except that the LSS says they can only transport scouts, so not sure if the Inquisition rule overrides that... 

[micahwc]

hmm, "all other restrictions apply normally" is listed under "Authority of the Inquisition", so I assume that means no.

[WarriorFish]

Indeed; only Scouts for the LSS! It's a nice little vehicle, but I'm not sure it'd be that suited to Inquisitors anyway. They might be a bit too pricey as it's not the toughest thing around :P

[micahwc]

Its mostly because I was gifted one for Christmas and I don't have any loyalist marines.

[WarriorFish]

If it's still in the cellophane your local GW will exchange it for you :)

[micahwc]

There isn't a local GW here.

 

Edit: just looked at the store finder. My local GW is over 400 km away.

Edited December 15, 2017 by micahwc

[WarriorFish]

I guess local is a relative term... :lol:

[Malakithe]

Have you considered picking up the beautiful missile platforms of death that are Manticores? Or Hellhounds? The FW Hellhoud is looking pretty good now after CA. And Vultures...which are basically flying Lemun Russ's 

[Tirak]

Vultures do not do well as anti tank platforms. To equip them as such you need to spend 220 points to get the 2 Lascannon 2 Hellstrike variant. Compare that in the pure anti tank role to the Leman Russ Annihilator which is 182 points and hauls 5 lascannon shots with grinding advance.

 

Even when AT Vultures were 200pts I found them lackluster and upgunning to a Tbolt (270 at the time) was a much better option. However now with the CA changes anti tank flyers are mostly dead. The Lightning with 4 hellstrikes is now 305 points, the Tbolt now 335. For these prices cheaper units will be more efficient.

[micahwc]

At that cost I'd rather ally in my xiphon interceptor. Four lascannons and a fancy missile launcher that ignore the penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons AND get a +1 hit ground targets. Edited December 17, 2017 by micahwc

[micahwc]

I've got 3 chimera chassis and a bunch of sentinel and russ weapons left over, so I'm converting some salamanders. I'll probably make two salamander scouts and one Trojan support vehicle to give re-rolls to my shadowsword, it's cheaper than Yarrick.

 

Still works in progress so no pics yet. Seems like an easy enough conversion.

 

I think I may like the scout salamanders better than scout sentinels for deep strike denial, as they retain the scout move, but seem to be a bit more durable (especially as Valhallans). They are about 20 points more than a lascannon scout sentinel. Salamanders have better toughness and more wounds than a scout sentinel, so I think they will likely last a little longer. Salamanders also have a larger foot print than sentinels, so they will be able to deny more space for deep strike.

 

With the Valhallan discipline, Salamanders stay on their top bracket until they have only 1 wound remaining if my math is right. (10 wounds total. 9 wounds divided by 2 and rounded up is 5, 10 -5 = 5 wounds on the chart which would be the second bracket at 9 wounds taken.)

 

 

Edit:

 

Considering this list. 3 detachments. 10 command points total.

 

Det 1, battalion. Valhallan discipline.

• 2x Company Commanders w/ Power Mauls
• 2x Salamander Scout Vehicles (squadron)
• Artemeia Pattern Hellhound
• 3x Infantry Squads w/ Plasma

Det 2, battalion, Valhallan discipline

• 2x Primaris Psykers
• Salamander Command Vehicle
• Trojan Support Vehicle (all my independent characters start in this for less deployment drops)
• 3x Infantry Squads w/ Plasma

Det 3, Supreme Command detachment, Valhallan discipline

• Primaris Psyker
• 2x Tank Commanders with Executioner, double plasma sponsons, heavy bolter
• Shadowsword tank w/ 4 turrets.

List is centered around buffing the shadowsword shooting. 3d3 strength 16 shots that re-roll misses and add 1 to their hit roll is probably putting too many eggs in one basket, but it's one hell of a basket. Alternatively, the Salamander Command can buff one of the leman russ executioners so they can overcharge their plasma with a +1 to their hit roll. Salamander scouts deny close deepstrike, and the hellhound helps deter charges. (could sub a regular hellhound in instead) Thoughts?

Edited December 18, 2017 by micahwc

[micahwc]

Got my plasma sponsons primed for my Russes last night. My airbrush hose broke the other day so I bought a new one last night and got it set up. It doesn't seem to be leaking anywhere, but all three of my airbrushes had issues last night. I could not get any paint to shoot through my Badger Patriot 105 or my Badger Krome, and I could only get a little bit to flow through my Iwata Eclipse. All three seemed to be letting air through, but none of them where letting paint flow well or at all.

Edited December 19, 2017 by micahwc

[duz_]

Random?
Did someone go and sabotage them all?
Is the hose or compressor busted ?

[micahwc]

Compressor is about 2 months old and hoses are brand new. Air sprays, so its not a problem with the compressor/hoses. I think the nozzles may be clogged but they looked fine last night. I'll soak them and see if that helps.

[micahwc]

Picked up a third Russ tonight, probably gonna be another executioner

[micahwc]

Took about half an hour but I got all three airbrushes running again. I took them all apart, soaked the important bits in alcohol for about 20 minutes, then I used an old damaged airbrush needle to clean any paint I could find on them off, I lubricated the needles before assembling them.

 

The Eclipse had a massive amount of paint inside it despite it looking kind of clean before disassembly, once I started using the old needle to remove paint a lot came out of the nozzle. The Krome didn't have a lot of paint inside it, but the Krome has a .2 tip and there was loose dried paint that couldn't fit through the small opening; I had to remove that paint through the cup top instead of blowing it out. The patriot really just needed the lubrication.

 

Lessons learned: Clean your air brush every time you use it, even if it looks clean. Lubricate your brushes properly when needed. Don't take apart three airbrushes in the same work area at the same time unless you want to spend way too much time puzzling out what goes where.

[Withershadow]

One good trick for airbrushes, when done painting, add whatever cleaner/thinner you use, plug the tip with your finger, and blast some air. It causes the cleaner to percolate all through the brush and gets everything out of every little nook and cranny.

 

If you mix your paints directly in the cup, this is a good way to thoroughly blend them together.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Withershadow

[micahwc]

I do that extensively. It's a great way to mix paint and flow aid together.

[Withershadow]

I also keep a cup with half water and half cleaner, and I'll stick the brush in there and run it to clear out stubborn gook.

[micahwc]

I saw someone do that in a youtube video and thought it was genius, but I haven't found a cup large enough for me to get my fat hand in with the brush yet. Still looking.

 

My usual cleaning routine is to dump out the paint, use a paper towel to get the majority of the paint left on the sides of the cup, fill it with alcohol and spray it out, repeat as needed.

Edited December 20, 2017 by micahwc

[Withershadow]

All you need is to pull back the trigger, you don’t have to stick your whole paw in there. :P

[micahwc]

So, I've looked at some salamander scout vehicles and printed some basic Chimera chassis to convert into them and had the realization that a Salamander tank completely ruins the scale of the game. A Chimera holds 12 troops. A salamander crew is completely exposed and can only physically fit like 3 or maybe 4 models on the Chimera chassis. I suppose I should say not that the salamander ruins the scale, but that it reveals the scale inaccuracies in the game.

 

So instead, I gave printed and glued on chimera tops to all of them. One will have the top hatch opened and a crane added to become a Trojan Support Vehicle.

 

The other two have had turrets printed to convert them into Armageddon pattern Basilisks/Medusae. I've actually spent some time inside self propelled artillery similar to the Armageddon Basilisk, a M109A5 (precursor to the A6 version known as the "Paladin"). I trained on them in basic training but when I got to my unit they had converted to towed artillery pieces, M198 155mm. I will add the external stowage racks to the back of  the turret like a Paladin has, because they look wrong without them in my mind.

[micahwc]

I spent an embarrassingly long time trouble shooting the STL files for my basilisk turrets to figure out why they didn't print correctly, and then I noticed I had run out of filiment mid print. So they are on hold until the new year when I get some more plastic.

 

Third Russ is mostly assembled now. I need to put the sponsons together and glue the tracks on and then it will be done.

 

I'm off work all next week so I'll probably finish painting my infantry. Right now they are 3 color, but that's about it.

 

I started converting my heavy weapon teams over to mortars.

[micahwc]

Got Russ 3 assembled as an anihilator, and got a fourth for Christmas which will also be an Anihilator. I used two of the hull lascannons in each turret to kitbash the anihilator turrets.

 

I need some better magnets, the ones I have seem really weak for their size. I'd like to magnetize the sponsons.

[duz_]

Guys magnets in the UK has good prices and ship to the US for reasonable postage too.

 

I like their 3mm x 2mm discs for those applications you need some extra oomph!