Ulrik's Raven Guard: The StormCrows; de Villta Veiðin

[Dracos]

What was the name of your Chapter again ?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

What was the name of your Chapter again ?

StormCrows (originally named "Red Ravens").

[Dracos]

I’m thinking red might be my primary color for the new army.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

What was the name of your Chapter again ?

Bjorn got it. I've been through a couple of variations, but I settled on StormCrows.

 

In Other news, I found some old GW test models (10 of them) that I think might be a good inclusion as a couple of tactical squads, though they're all monopose and it'll look like I went cheap and raided the local GW... but they play just fine and it's GW product...

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So I got in touch with my local HH group, and they think my paint scheme is sufficiently black that I can get away with it. I'll be taking the stuff I had for HH and putting that towards doing Raven Guard for 30k. I'll be doing pride of the legion as my RoW and I'll be expanding with a Storm eagle and a couple of Leviathan Dreads to augment my 30 veteran tacticals , 5 cataphractii, and 25 scouts.

 

One reason I want to do this is to expand my 40k arsenal but also because I really like the way that 30k RG works.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I ordered my Storm Eagle this morning and will hopefully receive it within the next couple of weeks. For Now that's all I needed to make a decent list of 30K Raven Guard. All that's left is to get some Insignias for my Veteran Tactical Squads and then start painting. I'm going to paint with 40k in mind, so pauldron trim will be in codex compliant colors

 

I got a game in today and this is what I learned; I got stomped by the golden banana boys. Highlighted some real deficiencies in my list building strategy, which I think I have addressed, as well as highlighting some issues with my army's play style. I need to be playing more aggressively. I need to dominate the midfield and I need to bring some punchier units like boltstorm aggressors and a chaplain. Incursors worked pretty much as I expected, They did a pretty good job of forcing saves, but the Stalker intercessors were subpar, and did not do what I needed. What I needed was a solid 24" base of fire, which I did not have, while my incursors should have used their rapid fire to kite units into the haywire mines, and it worked on one side of the table against the melee contemptor.

 

My opponent was not playing a tryhard list, but it was very hard for me to deal with, I needed to be a lot more aggressive with my Invictors. There were also a lot of forge world units which I knew nothing about so I was kind of going into the game blind, and since I haven't memorized my book yet, and this was my first game I had an arm tied behind my back as well. Over all it wasn't a bad game, he knew his army much better than I knew mine, even with the Psychic Awakening changes that had been made to his army.

 

I'm terrible about taking pictures so sadly I have none to share, but it was a very enlightening experience.

[duz_]

I ordered my Storm Eagle this morning..

 

Oh dear Emperor why! /PTSD triggered :facepalm:

Good luck with the build I suggest in investing in some the gap filler TWH is using on his Xiphon :tu:

 

Yeh will take awhile getting used to Custodes can be tough to deal with of you don't have the right tools

 

I play my invictors and aggressors very aggressively (maybe a bit too much) I assume the aggressors will last 2 turns at most

The invictors are surprisingly durable though especially with two of them supporting each other

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

 

I ordered my Storm Eagle this morning..

Oh dear Emperor why! /PTSD triggered

Good luck with the build I suggest in investing in some the gap filler TWH is using on his Xiphon

I had to because Every army I own has to have 2 things; Walkers and Flyers. I have a heatgun and greenstuff, I should be fine.

 

 

Yeh will take awhile getting used to Custodes can be tough to deal with of you don't have the right tools

 

I needed more ways to force saves. I thought the Army was such horse:cuss, I started looking into getting my own banana bois. To be fair, I have always liked them, and they do have an appeal. Especially if I do only FW stuff, I can use them as a Heresy or 40k army.

 

 

I play my invictors and aggressors very aggressively (maybe a bit too much) I assume the aggressors will last 2 turns at most

The invictors are surprisingly durable though especially with two of them supporting each other

Yeah, It took him most of the game to kill one of them, the other melted from the Achillius Contemptor. Custodes are real strong in melee. It also doesn't help that I'm playing an infiltrator heavy list, that really begs to be an assault army.

[Dracos]

I lost to a 750 point Custodes army in February by 1 VP ....  and then he realized the Flyer thing was illegal at that point level for the Escalation League so conceded. Honestly, it was a great game. I lost my most my Chaplain, Aggressors, most my Eliminators and Intercessors. I was using a Smash Captain but Cap barely was able to handle a few of the Troops on his own before dying.

 

What did work well was the Eliminators and Stalker Intercessors thinning his ranks T1. Then the Rapid-fire Intercessors taking his Objective a couple Turns. If it weren't for the Flyer challenging my Objective and having some freaking heavy firepower I think I might have pulled off a win. Maybe not though I'm betting he'd have brought Jetbike Captains and we know the trouble those guys are. If ayone is built to take them out it's Raven Guard.

 

Now with the Eradicators coming out and having two 5 man units on Bolter Inceptors, I'll be interested in a rematch in 9e once the store allows public play again. 

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I painted my chaplain, because I can't have any unpainted plastic in the list that's going to see play. Hopefully my latest list works well as an all comers list. Big thing that I think I need to do is work on my target priority. I need to pop transports so that I can kill whatever comes out.

 

One big thing I need to do is figure out what to charge and what not to charge. I also need some better anti vehicle weaponry since I'm lacking that.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So I did some work on some projects, since I'm kinda down to odds and ends of my Collection. Here's pictures of the Chaplain I painted yesterday:

 

 

 

And here's the Smash Captain I built today:

 

 

Allow me to Introduce Captain Sigurd of the StormCrows Second Company. I will probably replace his shield, since I'm not big on the space wolf shield, Though, I might leave it, it'll depend on how I paint it. I might do a blue and white quarter scheme on the shield just to break it up and make it look a bit less space wolves ish.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Glorious day! I have finally finished magnetizing most of my Primaris Marines. They mostly all fit in a Pack 432. The only things that remain not magnetized are; Squad of helblasters, two squads of intercessors, a trio of Primaris lieutenants and a redemptor dreadnought.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Chaplain.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So I'm building up my Horus Heresy forces, and My local group is generally ok with the Mournival fanmade rules. So I'll be representing my StormCrows with some MkIV marines kitted out as Mor Deythan Strike Squads with Combi-Volkite. I have a Storm Eagle inbound, as well as a couple of Leviathan Dreads. I'll be getting 3 apothecaries to put in each squad, as well as a Vigilator (who will stand in as my Legion Praetor) as well as 10 Dark Furies, and a Master of Signals. I'm also hoping to pick up a couple of Moritats and that will get me going pretty well.

 

I'm stoked to be doing this, as I think that this will be a really nice way to expand my chapter to fill out some of the other companies. I'm thinking that I'll do my heresy stuff as my 4th Company, as I already rewrote their description to have them be the least changed since the Horus Heresy. I might even go as far as to say that they retain their Legion squads, so blocks of 20 Assault marines and tactical squads, and blocks of 10 heavy weapon squads to be my devastators, while my contemptors and leviathans will serve as their dreadnoughts.

 

I'll do my dark furies as first company veterans, along with my cataphractii terminators (which I need more of, because I want to unleash the deliverers). I do plan to get 10 more Dark Furies, as well as 40 MkIV assault marines for my Raven Guard, as well as 60 Tactical Marines. I think that I'll have my 4th company be the one that ignores the Codex because they'd be constantly deploying their forces to assist the other Companies, and would be facing the highest attrition among all the companies. I also envision my 4th Company as an Orbital Assault force, which means that they'd deploy most of their assets by drop pod and gunships, and eschew the use of heavy armor, instead focusing on going for the decapitation strike.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

UPDATE!

 

My Heresy stuff is on it's way, and I should hopefully have it in my hot, little (ok maybe not little), hands. Some Friends of mine and I made an order and it's arrived at our friend's house, now we just need to get it. I'm going to expand my Collection substantially, over the next year, and I've now come to a decision about how my Chapter is to Organize itself. The standard codex colors will stay in place, but using the old Legion Structure, Where the Codex states Company, for my Chapter it shall be battalion. 10 Battalions, of 5 companies each 100 men strong. This would give the StormCrows vast resources to draw from, in their eternal crusade against all that threaten the Imperium and humanity.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

My leviathans have arrived, and I'm waiting for them to finish drying after their hot water rinse after soaking overnight in hot soapy water. Hopefully I'll have some time to get them built. I need to take the time to magnetize them so that I can use the multiple weapons that I got for them. I just need to figure out how I'm going to do that. I'm working on finishing my AoS projects first, I have a bunch of night haunt to finish painting, before I can really start working on my Heresy stuff, because I need to clear the desk space.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I have two leviathan chassis assembled, all that remains is to magnetize them. I'm still awaiting my Storm Eagle, and some other things. I also need to get some bits from pop goes the monkey to upgrade my marines to have combi-volkite, and grab some insignia as well, so that my heresy marines will be complete.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Picture Update, because I haven't in a while:

 

 

 

Leviathans and TH Sgts are ready to go!

[Dracos]

I want those Thunder Hammers for my Assault Intercessors. :)

 

Oi those Levis are beefy. I can’t even afford 2 Invictors in most the list I’ve been math-hammering with for 9e

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I want those Thunder Hammers for my Assault Intercessors.

PopGoesTheMonkey is where I got them. they're great.

 

 

Oi those Levis are beefy. I can’t even afford 2 Invictors in most the list I’ve been math-hammering with for 9e

Fortunately, I'm not trying to cram them in 40k lists much. The Leviathans are mostly for 30k, and very large 40k games. I still need two Dreadnought Drop Pods and a Deathstorm Drop pod, so that I can get them on the table, unless I walk them on turn 2, which taking the stormcannon array gives me the option of doing.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

My Heresy Characters are built, and my Dark Furies are proceeding at pace. The glue on the Dark Furies needs to set before I go putting their jump packs on because that needs to be greenstuffed most definitely. I'm also trying to draw out the process so that I have a bit of hobby project to do. My Bladeguard is going to get some greenstuff work done, to make fur tunics so that they look a bit more like my berzerkir should and I'm going to do the shields in a quartered blue and white scheme just like my smash captain will be done.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Update with pictures! I've been working diligently to get my Raven Guard ready for tabletop. I've got some models that I need to go back over and do some detail work on, painting purity seals and whatnot (I hate purity seals) plus I have my stuff from Indomitus that I'm working on. Here's some pictures:

 

 

The indomitus stuff is coming along pretty well, I'm still kind of refining my first company color scheme, but I'm inverting the colors just like regular Raven Guard used to for veterans.

 

As you can see my heresy project is moving along as well, I got these lovely guys built and they'll be getting the first company treatment as well.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I don't have pictures this time, but my Storm Eagle finally arrived and so that's going to get put in the bath to get the mold release off it. I'm also going to have to take a warp out so hopefully that doesn't set me back too much.

 

I also went back over the army yesterday and today, and painted all the purity seals I could find (thankfully not too many) and I also re did the weapons. I used Grey Knights Steel washed in Nuln Oil for the metal bits. and then I did the casings in Incubi Darkness and a highlight of Thousand Suns blue. THe weapons really pop a bit better now and they're all looking a bit more interesting to the eye, and the slow march to completion continues.

 

Just though I'd give an update, these are some rather small improvements but they felt like huge steps considering I hate purity seals (almost as much as I hate Wolf Talismans), and I'm loathe to paint weapons in garish colors.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I painted my smash captain the other day, and I highlighted Shrike to make him "pop" a bit more. Doing black is a real pain. Until recently when regular marines were stated to b e going up to 2W I felt funny representing a Firstborn Captain with a primaris model. now it doesn't feel so wrong.

 

My storm eagle arrived, and I'll be building that soon.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So I've been working on my Storm Eagle, and it's been a right royal pain to build, everything was all warped so that's been a nightmare to sort out, but the fuselage is now more or less done. the wings are now glueing and then I can get the rest of it together. 

 

I've decided that I'd really like to have a couple of Xiphon Interceptors since this thing was a nightmare to do and I don't want to do it again. On the up side, I will be getting a ton of use out of this thing once it's done.