Echoes of Eisenstein - upscaling madness with the XIV

[BadgersinHills]

So gorgeous!!

[Sherrypie]

Thanks @BadgersinHills ;)

And now for something completely else.

Technobarbarism of Old Earth, vol. III, painted!

The Veteran Guardsmen are a joy to play KT with, but man if it didn't feel like a slog to get them finished. I put some "good enough" tabletop slop on them on one June afternoon to have them ready for some demo games, but it took two months after that to return to them. The simple underlighting covered by translucent red was good for the first speed painting goal, but felt somewhat lacking when approached properly, sapping my motivation a bit. It happens, but at least two days of work later they are finally done and playable. Note to self, this was not a favored workflow of mine.

Anyway. The tax collecting bullies of a minor no-name warlord have come for your shoes, citizen! Cough up or prepare to get wrecked!

Extort softly and carry a big gun: plasma, flamer and grenade launcher.

Mortar spotter, melta and sniper.

The most trustworthy command group: a friendly doctor, an encouraging leader and his softspoken HR executive.

The special grunts: bossman's strong brother (known as "the Handle" for the bit he carries around, inexplicably proud of it) and the agitator, always ready to read their victims the reasons they are to be immediately de-shoefied.

The regular grunts. At the end of the day, fancy guns won't get you far without the riflemen kicking down the doors.

[Sherrypie]

Modeling time mostly going to AT at the moment, but some Kill Team on the rad-wastes of Old Earth was had. The sorcerous Philosopher Kings gave them soldier boys a spanking.

[Sherrypie]

Huh, surprise tacticals got painted before finishing the Warmaster for my AT blog. They are easier to carry around for social events and casual painting, I guess :D

 

 

Cousin Stunty for scale, hoping he'd become a real boy one of these days too.

 

[madlibrarian]

Lovely work as ever! You’re one of the guys who got me back into the hobby (along with apologist and doghouse). 
is there a link to your blog please?

[Sherrypie]

55 minutes ago, madlibrarian said:

Lovely work as ever! You’re one of the guys who got me back into the hobby (along with apologist and doghouse). 
is there a link to your blog please?

 

Glad to be part of that, madlibrarian, it's nice to see people have fun. It's high praise to be in the same sentence with those two powerhouses of the hobby :)

 

Depends on what blog you mean ?
insert "you're looking at it" meme

My plogs are here on Dakka and B&C. This one has most of the non-titanic stuff while that's in the AT subforum (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/353673-legio-favilla-walks-ashen-gods-unleashed/). All the same stuff can be found on the collected Dakka thread (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/717557.page), as snippets on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sherrypiexiv/) or in occasional narrative play reports in places like this thread (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/786958.page).

[BadgerBodges]

Really beautiful set up you have there. Very atmospheric to fighter over! 

[Sherrypie]

Thank you, @BadgerBodges.

 

Last hours of 2022 draw near and while my hope for this year to be better than the last bastard didn't exactly pan out as intended all over the world, at least 2023 has plenty of room to improve on it  :P

 

Hobbywise, this year had plenty of gaming and other events to attend again which took its toll on actually completing any projects but hey ho. I paint my stuff for playing, mostly, so I guess that's a positive problem alongside real life things like finally getting accepted on a PhD program :D So what've we got?

 

Hobby log 2022:

 

Built but unpainted:

 

- 12 redneck tech-cannibals (KT)
- 7 Talons of the Emperor (KT)
- 16 XIV tacticals (30k/40k)

 

Finished stuff:

 

- 8 quantum evangelists of the Dancing Circuit (KT)
- 3 Mechanicum Triarii (Epic)
- Scorpius (30k/40k)
- 14 bully-guards of a no-name small fry (KT)
- 2 tables worth of Kill Team terrain
- 5 XIV tacticals (30k/40k)
- XIV Moritat (30k)
- 2 Warhound titans (AT)
- Warmaster titan (AT)

 

 

So a bit under 40 models and two small tables' worth of terrain, granted some of those things were larger projects like the Warmaster but still. However, multiple cons, megabattles, demo games, friendly campaigns, kickstarting other people into project mode in AT and KT and so on were all great fun. Also won a casual painting competition at the club with the Warmaster, Excidium Ultimum (by being the only large model in its category :P). May the fun continue soon, I have plenty of ideas bubbling in the cauldron when I get the responsible adult stuff in order.

 

Here's to 2023!

 

[Sherrypie]

Epic: Armageddon, Siegeline scenario, a bit over 4000 points, Imperial Guard (Death Korps of Krieg) vs. Legiones Astartes (Death Guard).

Click them pictures bigger for details :)

 

****

Hive Ludeon, last surviving Imperial stronghold on Kennet Majoris. Last refuge of civilian life not carelessly bombed into oblivion by the reckless battlefleet above this wrecked, ruined land. Last hideout of cowards.

Gazing on its smoking spires made lord Styrix laugh, or at least gurgle in a manner interpretable as amusement. His men had encircled and besieged the massive mountain of buildings for months now, watching it die a slow death as their necrotic gifts worked their way into the life-sus systems of the city. But now, as their own fleet burned and fell into the planet's atmosphere as smoke-trailing showers of flame like beautiful, unnatural rain, they would need to capture it by force and dig deep under its void shields to fight on. They had hastily erected new earthworks and tainted the ground further back with deadly chemicals, expecting the Imperial dogs' imminent attempts at lifting the siege at the moment they'd gain orbital superiority. And lo, he did not have to wait long before the tell-tale palls of dust rose from the blasted horizon, signalling the arrival of the massed transports of the Imperial Guard closing on them.

The fools were attempting to force a hole in their siege ring. "Let them try", Styrix mused and voxed an order to all available response elements in the neighbouring sections of the line. His infantry would buy them enough time. Stepping out of his command bunker, he observed as the dour marines of his warband settled in their positions heedless of the slaves digging them further. No shouted orders or fussing was needed, every man of the XIV already set on their tasks. "The Unbroken Blades endure. Come, lapdogs of the Corpse-God, break yourselves against the Grandfather's bountiful splendour."    

****

 

The field is set. A road once led from the wilder lands into the city's outskirts, now blown up and fortified by the Death Guard instead.

 

 

Lord Styrix's command post is swarming with activity as men and trench guns take positions.

 

 

By the mined road, more men and maddened dreadnoughts shuffle to take on the forthcoming assault.

 

 

Led by the rolling column of Gorgons and the stomping Reaver titan, the Death Korps advance towards the contact line.

 

 

Gorgons, heedless of the puny trees in their way, smash through the forest to avoid missile fire from the defenders.

 

 

Heavy Macharius-tanks take the hillside and let rip against the trench walls, but come under counterfire from the mortars and retreat back on the road.

 

 

The titan barrels forth, lasers and rockets smashing into the first dreadnought talon. Deadly turbolasers punch through their ceramite like wet tissue.

 

 

On the flank, the deathriders and grenadiers struggle to march and instead diddle under indecisive leadership as the Russes speed through the burning wreckage of the first Macharius.

 

 

While the Krieg artillery was settling their Bombards in position just outside counterbattery range, the Death Guard spotted a fatal opening: while the airspace was certainly contested by plentiful fighter cover, there wasn't much of air deterrence near the ground except for one flak battery. As the callsigns of two screaming Thunderhawks appeared on Styrix' command display, a quick command to the mortars saw the Krieg flak suppressed to hell and back before the first Hawk plunged to the ground hotly tailed by two Lightnings. Despite small fires and scratches here and there, the Thunderhawk made it to its target intact and spewed forth terminators who made short work of the Bombards (just! The terminators rolled the absolute worst and barely won the fight through inspiring leadership and numbers :D).

 

 

As the Krieg line advanced, the Reaver swatting aside the other dreadnought group as well, their rear got increasingly strung out and more openings appeared another Hawk to slam down through the patrolling Lightnings.

 

 

At the trenches, the reserves started arriving as zipping Sicarians sped up the road and brrrted a storm of bolts against the grenadiers who had snuck against the buildings before Styrix's fresh men charged in and mopped them up.

 

 

As the grenadiers were slaughtered, behind them the Russes opened on the plague lord's retinue and the deathriders charged. Though their explosive lances tore marines apart in the blood-soaked craters, on their own their numbers could not press through the pale and deathly line of power armoured monsters. Broken, the bloodied remains of the deathrides fell back.

 

 

At the center line, the ground shook and bunkers flowed as liquid lava when an orbital bombardment struck down from the crying skies. The targeting was not exactly spot on, only vaporising the last of the dreadnoughts completely and causing significant casualties in the surrounding infantry and mortar formations but it did signal the charge for the nearby guardsmen. One of their Gorgons had just moments before been immobilised by a lucky mortar round in the engine compartment, but still the Kriegsmen poured out of their rides and surged into the trench. After a desperate exchange of shots and blows, the surviving scraps of the Death Guard infantry retreated towards the second prepared line in disarray while the heavily depleted guardsmen couldn't enjoy their prize for a long, being themselves driven back in confusion by a furious direct-fire barrage from what remained of the battered mortars nearby.

 

 

As the Hawks and Lightnings duelled above and more Death Guard tanks started pouring in by the road, it began to dawn on the Imperial commander that they could not attain a sustainable foothold in time with this force. Seeing the situation for what it was, the assault was called off and withdrew with what assets they could to try again another day. However, with most of the orbital transports destroyed, who knew what they could even get to reconstitute...

 

*****

 

Death Guard victory!

 

Playing the long table was a pretty brutal experiment with the Siegeline scenario that requires the attacker to constantly attain more of their objectives lest they lose the momentum. The road and mostly mechanised forces could help, but the Imperial commander realised a moment too late how aggressively they should have been pushing from the start. Didn't help that one of their flanks basically went "plbbbt" on the first round instead of marching forwards :D

[Firedrake Cordova]

Ah, Epic Armageddon ... I game I remember, but never got to play (doh)

 

Nice write-up 

[firestorm40k]

Nice to see people are still playing Epic: Armageddon, I absolutely loved that game 

[Sherrypie]

Cheers lads, E:A is indeed great fun with a proper battlefield look :)

[Sherrypie]

Some hobbying as well, preparing proper heavy weapon support squads for the legion and turning some hand-me-down DZC vehicles into Mechanicum Ordinatii Minorii.

 

[Sherrypie]

I swear I'll occasionally make Death Guard models that aren't terminators (he says while also buying more Deathshrouds and Grave Warden bits, but they were so cheap...)!

 

This time, it's time to crack open some of those newfangled mk VI boxes and see if we could make some proper DG Destroyers out of them.
Some caveats though:
- no beakies, they don't fit my image of the legion.
- dual bolt pistols? Bah, we've got to pump those up into war crime territory as we're already spewing rad grenades and phosphex everywhere. Grenade launcher pistols it is.
- most jump packs are just not meaty enough. This image is quintessential to my image of DG assault troops:

- the mk VI legs are better proportioned than their predecessors but the marines are still oddly abdomen-less. They still need scaling, but only two cuts instead of three like the previous marks :P

 

With those lines set, here are the first five test models sans rest of the chest harness cabling, that comes after the first greenstuff has cured.

 

 

[Sherrypie]

One rather angry fellow seems to have jumped the queue...

 

 

I put some quick paint on another failed librarius aspirant from way back, the poor sods deserve to get their glorious amok run one of these days before the agony of their failure takes them into the darkness.

 

 

[Sherrypie]

Putting some base colours on the remaining six possessed, before progress inevitably stalls in the detailing phase  :p

 

[Sherrypie]

With the remaining six aspirants finished, the possessed posse is now up to ten men strong and ready for their first (err, last...?) suicide mission. Click the pictures to see details.

 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

They look disgusting. Nice work!  

Edited March 26, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova
spelling

[Sherrypie]

8 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

The look disgusting. Nice work!  

 

Cheers Cordova :)

 

On the gaming front, XIV kicked some IV butt as the Iron Warriors' guns proved insufficient for stopping the terminator tide.

 

 

[Sherrypie]

Today the possessed did take to the field! 2500 p DG vs Mechanicum, tried out two squads of five with bound daemon brute rules as a mobile melee element running in front of the terminator wall. They did pretty well, reaving through multiple squads of midsized robots and hanging on there causing havoc until the very end of the game where they finally died to darkfire lances. By this time I had thoroughly won on objectives already.

 

Here's some pictures of the midfield brawl as Scoria and two Domitars attempt to take on the whole world at once (and fail, less than surprisingly).

 

[Sherrypie]

Eyy, painting!

Finished some 50 heavy support mates for the Epic army. Finally, some firepower :P

 

 

...take a plasma gun, they said. A safe and sound weapon, they said... :D

[ZeroWolf]

That is fantastic work! Especially at that scale.

[Sherrypie]

1 hour ago, ZeroWolf said:

That is fantastic work! Especially at that scale.

Thanks ZeroWolf. It's funny how I'm approaching the same number of steps in the process on both scales, even if these little buggers should just get done in an evening or two... 

[ZeroWolf]

I think it was it worth it 

[Sherrypie]

Ponderings for the future, new crews for the madness of Kill Team M29.

 

Most of my technobarbarian ideas use teams that have lots of finicky rules, which is pretty awesome in general but also a bit of an obstacle considering how much I do demo games in conventions and events. So something simple and straightforward would also be nice before throwing the clockwork hell of Warp Covens on new players. Thus, while reading more Unification era materials, my inspiration sparked with the Revenant Legion. The IX legion would eventually wound up as the lovely space vampire artists they are, fine-dining with the best of them and chilling in their golden hot tubs, but in their inception the Immortal Ninth were little more than angel-faced cannibal psychopaths stalking the ra-wastes of Old Earth with no plans beyond brutalising everything that dared to resist. With Intercessor team's rules it's easy to represent these 'roided out loonies out on the cull. Even better, with all the varied bands of desperate hopefuls hanging around their parties, there would be no shortage of ragged aspirants dreaming of becoming angels themselves as well. These flagellant charnel cultists would then be a perfect counts-as for a Novitiae team. Miracles and mutilation, babyyy. Perhaps even further, into campaigns like the ravaging of Kiy-Buran or the moons of Neptune, with a scout team of sorts representing their uncanny ability to always reinforce on the move even when cut off from supplies and proper reserves...

 

Watch this space, though now I need to source some bare Pre-Raphaelite heads...