Ogres!

Hi, my names Ben and I'm an army-aholic.

I started *another* fantasy army, this time Ogres. I guess I just haven't found the right army for me yet. Here's some pictures of them so far:

First off is the Bruiser which is my army general. He's a slightly modified Irongun, you'll see later in the pictures.


That's a butcher, converted up from one of the ogre bodies. I'm quite happy with how he turned out.


Last is the full army shot. You can see on the left the Ironguts which are the basis for my Bruiser.

This was not so bad since it's 1000pts straight from the battalion box. There's a lot of little nobblars left to put together but there will eventually be a 20 block of them as fighters as well as a squad of 8 trappers. The nobblars add the much needed unit strength to the ogre army. We'll see if I manage to use them well. This is going to be a very finicky army but I'm looking forward to it because they seem very interesting.

The Butchers is an interesting spell caster. The magic is pulled from the ogre god, the great maw. All of the spells cast on a 3+ which means they usually only need 1 dice. They get harder to cast if there are more butchers trying to cast though so a second casting of any spell takes a 6+, a third would take a 9+, and so on.

The Bulls, on the right, have an interesting weapon which can be used as either an extra hand weapon or a shield, depending on what you choose. It only costs 1pt more per model than a simple extra hand weapon so I opted for it though I'm not sure what use it will end up being.

The Leadbelchers, at the back on the left, are also going to be interesting to fight with. They're the only ogres with shooting and they do put out a lot of shots, an artillery dice each, but they then have to reload by standing still for a whole turn which is a big sacrifice. They can however use their cannons as clubs at any points so it's not like they become useless.

Necromunda Figures

I've been slowly building up my gang in Necromunda as the game advances. I really enjoy the RPG aspect of it with each of the members advancing in their own unique way. I started out modifying each of the figures as advancements came along but I soon realized that was no a great idea as it took a lot of work and would reduce the re-usability of the models should the character die. Instead, I am now creating new models for every situation. Anyways, here they are:


The guy who looks out of place on the right is a Ratskin scout, a hired gun, who I'm planning on using. He adds the possibility of getting a new territory after each game I win. This could be quite lucrative once I get more guys and it would allow me to actually sustain a larger gang. There are three juvies in the back with pistols and knives, two of them with las pistols and the last with an auto-pistol. The outside back figures have lasguns with the one on the right having a scope attached. There's another lasgunner in the middle left who has a medic pack from the modifications early on. The rest of that row consists of a gunfighter with two pistols, a plasma gun which is currently one in a million (i.e. no ammo rolls), and a shotgunner who, in the current gang, has rapid fire for the shotgun and marksman which gives him a 27" range. The last two in the front row are the leader with a chainsword and plasma pistol and a heavy with my version of a heavy stubber who I don't actually use right now as he was captured and sold into slaver after my third game.

The little white lines on the bases that you can see in the front are to determine facing. This is important for a number of things including overwatch. A unit on overwatch can fire at anything that moves within a 90 degree arc. This is one of the more advanced aspects of the rules we're hoping to get started in the game now that we have the basic mechanics down. I've also ordered some interesting terrain from here which should spice up the game a bit more.

The GW manager at my store and myself tend to be overpowering other people playing so I'm thinking of starting over with my gang. This won't be hard since the numbers of my figures has been increasing and has a good variety to it. I will probably keep the current sheet for The Jau, my gang, to play against him and later on against other in the store, once they improve their gangs a bit. Most of the other players barely even have their figures much less any painting done so I feel fine re-using the figures I have made.

Best modeling ever

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Kill Team Tourney

Today was the day of the kill team tourney at my game store. I managed to get the body of my venerable dreadnought completed this morning so I took that.

First game was against an ork player who brought 15 shoota orks with a missile launcher and a nob with a power klaw. In the first turn his missile shot but it blew up harmlessly on the armor of the dreadnought. In the second turn, the nob made a dash between cover but I managed to catch him out in the open and blew him away. At his point I need to take a break from this story and explain something. For Tanks!giving this year, Games Workshop authorized the creation of 100 sets of dice for Southern California which, in anything run by GW, would be honored as Rending, even if the weapon does not normally have that rule. My opponent had a set of those dice. Now back to the story. Third turn, the mob of orks which had been dashing between cover at the edges of the board all rush out and open up on the dreadnought. It came down to the last guy on his last shot who scored the much needed six followed by another six. The damage roll came in at 5, which I promptly asked him to re-roll as a venerable. The second vehicle damage roll came in at a 6 and so my first round ended with a giant explosion.

Most of the rest of the games weren't as exiting and I did end up beating him again in the final. I ended up winning but more on that later. There was one other interesting game against an Imperial Guard player in which my dreadnought was humping a pillar trying to avoid his melta guns. That game ended up coming down to single point which, if it had gone another way, would have ended up with him winning. It was a single melta gun shot on my dreadnought as he dashed to take out the rest of the IG units.

Once I had finally one I found out my prize options were and also, why my venerable dreadnought was out on a kill team mission on his own and here it is:


My venerable dreadnought was out, on his own, rescuing his venerated battle brother who had been captured and who all others believed lost.

I'me going to try using my cellphone camera for pictures for now, let me know what you think. Here is the venerable dreadnought who saved his battle brother today:

I still need to do some more work on him like highlights and such but his body was the rush job in the two hours this morning before the tourney.

Camera Batteries

My camera has run out of batteries and I'm not sure where the charger is so until I find that there won't be any more pictures. I did get to play two games of Necromunda yesterday and I already got some nice skills and a piece of armor. The gang make up changed around a bit too and probably will again when I get to chance to play some more.

Full Deathwing Command

I decided to take out the rest of the command squad figures and take a full group photo and here it is:


I plan on line highlighting the rest of the squad eventually and then possibly making some sort of display for them. They unfortunately ride around in the Land Raider for most of the game so they don't get seen that much. They are however fantastic for roll over to an objective with the Crusader pattern Land Raider blazing away with it's guns and them popping them out at the last minute, hitting a unit with a flamer, and then assaulting which usually clears out the objective completely by killing them all or making them run.

Deathwing Honor Guard

I finally got two things done that I had long been thinking about. They are the upgrades allowed to terminators when you take Belial in your army the first of which is a banner and the other upgrades a model to an Apothecary with a narthecium/reductor. Here they are:


Unfortunately my list doesn't really have the space to allow for these so they're primarily for display purposes right now but I may be able to fit them in at higher point values. I tried to make the bit off the back of the narthecium look like a vial of fluid and sort of managed it though not exceedingly well. It was my first attempt and I was copying it off of a picture. I think it would work better with wet blending so the attempt at bubbles and shine would not stick out as much.

Necromunda PiP

I got some more work done on my Necromunda gang today even though I wasn't feeling great. I decided to go with a black under fabric and green carapace though it doesn't actually count as carapace armor. Here they are:


I have no idea what other colors I'm going to use yet accept for boltgun on the weapons. I was probably going to paint their shoes brown and a lighter and yellowier green on some of the details like bandannas and stuff. I might then continue with that spectrum and do some yellow details as well such as some of the gems I left on. I was then thinking either khaki or brown for sheaths and pouches. The sheaths for sure but the pouches could go either way.

Necromunda WiP

People at my game store are starting to play some Necromunda so I decided to put together a squad. Here they are so far:


I used Eldar Guardian bodies for them to emulate the suits that they wear. Some of them look a bit odd for now but they should look better with a bit of paint. I like how they turned out. I had to make some of the weapons like the Heavy Stubber and an autopistol. I should be able to get a game in on Monday so we'll see how they do. The four in the back or Juves with pistols. The one on the far left has an extra pistol and the guy on the right has frag grenades. The three in the middle are Gangers with a shotgun and two lasguns. The shotgunner has a backup pistol, the other two have nothing besides knives. In the front, the guy on the left is the Gang Leader with a Plasma Gun, Chainsword, and a backup pistol. The guy on the left is my Heavy with a Heavy Stubber and a backup pistol.

I tried out my scout Kill Team again yesterday and it didn't go great. The scouts have too low of BS to hit often enough to make the single shot sniper rifle worth it. This becomes the case especially when you're taking on large numbers such as IG.

1500pt Empire construction

I finished assembling models for a 1500pt list. Here they are:


The fire wizard will replace the generic wizard I built before, at least when I choose fire anyways. I still need to decide on the weapon to give my outrider champion though but I don't think anyone will mind for right now. The flagellants will be interesting to see in action and likely run interference for my newly strengthened gun line. I'm worried to see how the rocket gun works out since it's so prone to failure. I've heard it's devastating...when it works. Tomorrow a few of us at the store are going to hopefully be starting a Mighty Empires campaign so I'll get to play with my new, fresh faced force.

We are also thinking of starting a Necromunda campaign. That is the first time that and Mordheim have come on my radar and I'm very interested in them both. I'm still reading the rules for Necromunda right now but I'm excited to give it a shot. It's more of the small squads combat. Speaking of small squad combat, I have tried running my Venerable Dreadnought as a Kill Team all on his own and he has faired quite well. His record is 4W/2L and the two losses were more or less tailored to taking him out so I'm not so worried about him. One of them was a unit of the Eldar guys who are made of fire and anything they do is melta based which really messes with me. Most anything else I can survive against but a solidly placed melta shot really screws with me. I still need to decide if I like Infiltrate or Move through Cover as his USR more.

Scout Sniper PiP

I worked away on one of my scouts tonight. I think he turned out pretty well with a few exceptions. Here he is:


That was my first attempt at camo and it worked out much better than I expected. One half of the face is perfect and probably the best I have ever done but the other half is rather disappointing. Over all though, I like the model a lot so far. There are a few remaining touch ups to do which I should be able to do tomorrow and hopefully get some work done on the other scouts as well. Maybe I can get my dread and a few other bits primed as well.

I got a chance to play a kill team with naught but a Venerable Dreadnought and it was impressive. Once all the worrying ranged weapons were taken care of the melee began with only grenades being able to do any damage to me. Considering it was a 1/324 chance of doing anything what so ever, it went slowly but steadily in my favor. The Space Wolves and Imperial Guard steadily died off and failed their leadership rolls. I think it's something I'm going to have to look at further to test out for the tournament in a couple weeks. It could potentially be very weak if I don't manage to take out the heavy weapons right off the bat but otherwise it is heavily in my favor. It's a lot like my deathwing army in that respect, potentially very weak if played badly or dice are against me but can go quite well too.

Venerable Dread

I finished putting together my venerable dreadnought today. Here he is:


I chose to go with the terminator helm as it ties him in with the rest of the deathwing force. I also chose the concave shoulders and I got to play around with the fully assembled right arm, the ranged arm. It is really well designed to allow for weapons to be swapped easily and without any need for magnets. I still need to figure out how to be able to swap the storm bolter and heavy flamer on the melee arm. The model is a great one and I am very exited to paint him as well as use him in battles.

In the background you can see the assembled horses for my up and coming squad of Outriders for the empire. I'm hoping to get them finished as well as some flagellants built by tomorrow so I can fight on the fantasy leader board with 1500pts. I already have my deathwing army done for the 40k leader board.

Choices, choices

I got the new plastic Venerable Dreadnought today since I pre-ordered it and I need to start deciding on what I want to do with it. The kit comes with a lot of options and it's a bit overwhelming. The first of which is the arms:


There are three different shoulder choices with the options shows there and a list of famouse battle as the base options. I have opted to not have any of the names showing in the places I can avoid it, it's just not what I want for my ven dread. I don't like the top of the left most shoulder but I like the rest. The top that I like the most is the one on the far right. I'm not sure how bad the names showing up behind the arches is going to be so I'm a bit hesitant about that. The center one is the best over all but not the best in any area. There is a down side to the two on the left that I would also have to magnetize the ammo containers over the squares you see. That's another reason to lean towards the right most arm. I'll probably end up choosing that one. Along the top you can also see the bits for the sweet new power fist. I'll have to magnetize the heavy flamer and storm bolter if I want to swap them out though I never do so far. Feedback would be good on that.

Another tough area of choice is the sarcophagus and head. Here are some choices I've put together so I can personalize it a bit more:


The upper left corner has the side panels I intend to use but I have to choose the head and if I want a sarcophagus cover. The head options are a hood like the upper left and lower right and the terminator helm like the upper right and lower left. I like the idea of the terminator helm as it connects the dreadnought to the rest of my deathwing army and since the Dark Angel venerable dreadnoughts are meant to be those terminators who were entombed, it makes sense. The hooded head would tie the dreadnought in with the dark angels feel a bit more. I have a couple other heads in hoods, some of them helms underneath which might make more sense. There are also some helms with Dark Angels iconography on them which would distinguish the dreadnought as well. Choices, choices.

Deathwing Update

I've been getting bits of progress done on my deathwing for a while, nothing big enough to really warrant a full update until now. Here's the progress:


I have a second shooty squad part way through painting on the right. Most of them are just glued on accept for special equipment such as the assault cannon, and chainfist. the sergeants sword is also magnetized though that's more for packing than for swapping.

The third shooty squad is made up of the bits in the fore ground. I have the sergeants body and the assault cannons body put together but I forgot to include them. I think I will probably put this squad together like I did the second shooty squad because not all of the storm bolters and power fists really need to be magnetized and I don't really have the magnets for that right now.

After the success of the sergeants face for my assault squad I realized that a face was a good way to distinguish them and I have started to do that. You can see the second face on the sergeant of the assault squad front and center. That squad is fully magnetized and only needs to be based to be ready for priming. I built them up the same as the other assault squad but I will be able to change it around if I need.

On the left is the newly primed land speeder from the ravenwing attack squad I'm putting together. He's a bit points heavy for the standard make up for my deathwing list but I want to give the deepstrike list a shot and the land speeder gives some fierce fire power. I also chose it as an option for Apocalypse games to be used in a formation with some whirlwind tanks. I am in the process of building the first of the tanks for that formation as well.

Since I have 1000pts of empire put together that has moved to the back burner. I also got a bit sick of painting so I switched away from the kill team for now. There is a Kill Team event going on this Saturday which I hope to make it to but we'll see. I don't really know how well the squad will work but we'll see.

Inquisitor

I got some more work done on the inquisitor and got him done, more or less. feedback on areas that need work would be good. Here he is:


His psycannon could use some freehand highlights on the black sections. He's definitely not my best work but he looks pretty good. For some reason he came out shiny, not sure why. The face is also lack luster, I think I should have watered the paint down a bit more. I was a bit worried about the two different arms on him but it seems to have worked out more or less. His base also needs to be painted and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. There are a few larger rocks on the base which I can't decide if I want to paint them grey or simply do some highlights. If I painted them full grey I would highlight with white on them. I'll work on the rest of the scouts later but they'll be assembly line so it will go faster than a model per night.

Kill Team PiP

I've been working on getting the Kill Team painted up. I was doing the scouts assembly line until I got distracted by the Inquisitor. He's coming long nicely though, the washes should make him look much more dynamic. Here they are:


I'm not sure I have the paint to do the cloaks for the snipers and rocket launcher but I'll figure something out. All the figures still need various colors as well as some details but they're coming along well. I'll probably freehand highlight the armor once I use washes on the rest.