Ultra Flashback

Now we go back in time!





Jay's Ultramarine army! Fully assembled and still ready to kick ass!

While at my folk's house today gathering some old scenery (of which you can see some in the background of this pic), I stumbled across my brother's old Ultramarine army. When we started out playing Rogue Trader: Warhammer 40,000 we started with me playing Orks and he playing Space Marines. He had two of the old RTBO1 marine boxed sets, one of which was painted as Space Wolves (see like, my whole blog) and the other as Ultramarines, his army of choice. I acquired it all since I painted almost all of it and didn't like the idea of all this work and nostalgia just going away. I cut my teeth on these guys, and my brother's Ultramarines were some of the 1st models that I painted that I was actually pleased with. It took me years to figure out the Space Wolves.

Jay (my brother) and I were living in England at the time. My dad was stationed at RAF Woodbridge/Bentwaters (two bases, but he worked at both during this time) however we lived off base. The Doctor and our friends were all into Warhammer 40,000 and we would scrape together allowances or work money or whatever to occasionally venture into Ipswich to visit the game store, War & Peace, where we would purchase Citadel Miniatures and other gaming products. At that time the Pound to Dollar conversion rate was not generous to us, so this stuff was really expensive to us back then (oh, if only we knew...). Yet, somehow, we managed to gather together some impressive armies which only grew bigger when we moved back to the States (and thanked the Emperor that 40k was big -and available!- over here!).

About a year after we moved back, the 2nd edition to Warhammer 30,000 arrived, and this army, Jay's Ultramarines, would achieve it's glory and earn it's laurels. Earlier this evening I sent my brother the pic above with a caption that said "guess what my next blog post will be about?" His response: "I'm guessing it will be about your orks getting their asses handed to them time after time, year after year?" ;)
LOL! Touche!

Anyway, enough of the background, on to the show and tell!

Before there was Codex: Ultramarines for 2nd Edition 40k, all I had to go by for any sort of paint guide was what little info I could figure out from White Dwarf.  There was a booklet that came with the Space Marine paint set that we had too, but it wasn't as helpful as it could've been, though I did wear it out! As the squad above shows, we figured out that Ultramarine squad Sgt's had red helmets. Although we had decals I was always unsure about what to do with them exactly due to the inability to put on the 'tactical' arrows on the right arm, as the studs were on the left. So these guys were never totally finished. Note the red skull on the leg of the sgt. And that is not an official missile launcher by the way, but I still like it! (it was from a Harrier jump-jet model that I had, and one of us thought that it would look cool as missile launcher, plus we needed another one, so we slapped on a com unit and presto!)

These chaps are from the 2nd edition starter box set. When the codex Ultramarines arrived we decided that he needed a Veteran Squad so we painted up there guys. It was probably the last squad of this group I painted for him. I really like how clean they look even still. Even the red guns don't bother me as much...

...as they do for this unit! Wow, that is some serious red. OK, these are not typcial devestator marine models, in fact they are from the Space Crusade game. They have a plug-in option for their weapons, so that they can swap weapons out during the game. Pretty cool concept, and one that almost carried over to 2nd edition 40k. The guy on the far left is the Sgt, armed with a heavy bolter. Yes, they used to just look like a big bolter, not the monsters that they are now. Next to him is a missle launcher (which looks similar to the rocket pod from the 1st squad in pic. 2), lascannon (way big! Especially compared to the Imperial Guard version of the time), a few regular marines (the Space Crusade one have bayonets), a conversion beamer (!), and an assault cannon. The 3 guys in the very back are the 2nd edition models included as unit filler.

Here is an example of the sort of things you could do with the Space Crusade minis. The Tarantula model has a remote that plugs into the pilot's hand, which also attaches directly to it for manual firing in the game. It's pretty cool.

This squad is much like the one in pic 2. I still like the orange missile launcher, and think this contrasts a bit less garishly than the red. Seriously, what was up with Games Workshop's mid-'90's red kick and how did we ever like it?!

The 2nd to last unit I ever painted for this army. I was still sort of figuring out how to paint flesh at this point. These are OK, but I would later learn to deepen the shadows a bit more for better contrast and definition. Still, these guys are pretty cool. Added bonus for having painted bases, which is something I was really leery of for a few years and it took me a while to figure out how to do them. Now, it's almost my favorite thing to do on a model.

Nothing says old school here like this pic! The original plastic Space Hulk terminators, the plastic Terminator Librarian, the original dreadnought and in the background, the Mk1 Landraider! The Librarian is worth discussing: in 2nd edition, psykers were incredibly powerful, and this guy used to kick some major ass! He alone brought victory to this army on more than one occasion against the likes of Orks, Space Wolves, Eldar, Genestealers and Chaos.

Also, I did not paint the dreadnought, it is how it arrived when I won a pair of them in an online auction. The other one was stripped down and repainted and you can find him in my Space Wolves gallery.

The rare mk 1 Land Raider

Ah.... This thing was such a pain in my ass when it hit the game table! LOL! Still, I really enjoyed painting it. I remember painting it in a single day (seriously) and I still think it looks alright.

The even rarer 2nd edition box

A note on the color of this army. We used the Space Marine paint set that came out in '89, and for some reason the base coat from that set has a way of darkening the Ultramarine's blue when layered over on top of it. The newer paints have a brighter hue for some reason and this army looks odd when held next to them. However, to see my point, I put our Land Raider on the box and you can see that the colors are fairly close. You can also see that ours is more kick-ass because it doesn't have fricking RED all over it!

Not included in these pics are the unpainted models, mostly special characters, and a whirlwind that I disassembled to strip and repaint.

This army hasn't hit the table since 3rd edition, of which Jay only played a few games. The total lack of psionics and the radical rule changes between the two editions just didn't excite him anymore. However, we have been talking about playing again someday, and perhaps it is finally time for him to return... in the meanwhile, I am thinking I might experiment with touching a few of these guys up and seeing if I can't bring the paint-jobs up to my current standard (which these guys are just base-coated when compared too) and maybe have them make an appearance down at Hobbytown for bit of a muscle flex. Da Masta Cheef thinks I should use the Forgeworld rules for some of this old stuff. After all, this Codex: Space Marine army is more likely to see the light of day than my Celestial Lions probably ever will! :)

UPDATE:
Oh, and I added up the current point value of the Ultramarines assembled in the first pic. Without the Devastator squad they are right at 1500pts. With the devastators (plus a few more wargear goodies) it comes up to 1750 points. That doesn't include his unpainted models, the whirlwind or the special characters. Impressive for a 20+ year army, huh?

Erik Axegrinder: Deathwatch Marine

Presenting: Erik Axegrinder of the Deathwatch.




Die Xenos scum!

 

Erik Axegrinder didn't begin life as my typical named Warhammer 40,000 personality would. No, in fact, Erik was created on paper as a Deathwatch RPG character for the Doctor's Deathwatch game. I knew he would be a Space Wolf and I wanted to tie him in with my Space Wolf army, so I decided he should be kin to Sven Axegrinder

 

His origin is somewhat meek, one really sort of limited to what elements were randomly generated for the role-playing game; but I did decide that the reason his battle-brothers forced --I mean, bestowed the honor of joining the Deathwatch to him, was because he was found siting alone during a Great Feast with his nose in a data-slate and heard to say, when questioned, about his lack of participation that he was reading up on some "great ideas for us in this book"; the book turned out to be the Codex: Astartes. Two weeks later he found himself swearing new orders to a new Commander (Talltree, I believe, a character associated with the Doctor's legendary Rogue Trader era space marine chapter), and being requisitioned a bunch of sweet new gear.

It was during our 1st game, that Erik came to the realization that "What was I thinking?! The Codex Astartes is crap!" as the unit was getting thrashed by a Thousand Sons Dreadnought! It was brutal and epic! LOL

It was a short 2 session game that we played while I was in town for a business trip. All of us decided it would be cool to actually make a miniature of our character even though we rarely use miniatures for the Doctor's games (in fact, it might actually be never). One of the guys (Brian) got his done up really quick, and even though I had gathered together all the elements to make him and primed him almost immediately, I only dabbed at the model for about 2 years... in fact if you look through past blog posts you might see elements of Erik scattered about on my painting table.

While working on some Long Fangs and Land Raider bits (all future blogs in the making) I kept throwing color on the Erik model. This (pic to the right) is the point I was at with him last week. And yes, I prefer to paint as I assemble...Yes, this makes it slower to get them done but I am far more satisfied with the end result.

While working on the Long Fangs earlier today, I was a bit vexed with one of the models that didn't have anywhere to put his chapter icon. The solution was to put it on the back plate on a back pack. I simply grabbed a micron, and drew it on. So pleased with how that turned out, I repeated it for Erik's backpack as well.

That's right, hand drawn!

 After that, I decided it was simply time to finish Erik. And finish him today! After a series of touch-ups I decided he needs some grenades. I have a bin with a lot of extra Imperial Guard grenades that I just love. So stuck those on after I was finished with the right knee guard.

Next I put on his arm, then the knife and finally the shoulder pad. A note on the shoulder pad, this is one of the original Rogue Trader era decals, and I discovered that these are bit brittle with age. The semi-circular bit on the lower right the icon tore off while handling, but I was able to fix it with a micron. Surprised at how easy that was to do considering that when I thought of the solution I was sure I would go mad in the attempt.

Next I added the Deathwatch plate then I applied some additional ink washes to the wolf pelt which I wasn't pleased with at first as I thought the head kept blending into the over-all pelt. I'm satisfied with it now.

And ta-da! He's now assembled! I fixed the base a took a few photos and now, here he is! 

Just needs some flock for grass (and yes, the base looks great with the top image, but that thing needs some grass too!), and I might stick a decal on his right leg but that might be more trouble than it's worth at this point... I shall ponder it.

In my 40K games, Erik will be used as either a Wolf Guard Squad Leader or as stripped down Lone Wolf. Which is why I chose to use the yellow and black claw markings instead of the red and black of a typical Grey Hunter. I have no doubt that Space Wolves returning back to the chapter would be anything less than a Wolf Guard for the experience! Or perhaps to find their original pack has perished or maybe his mingling with other chapters now puts him in a weird 'outsider' status? -Lone Wolf!



Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

 

Bring on the glory!!!!


 

 



Update:

Now with flock

 

To be a Lone Wolf

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919814.M41 Inq/045678506/BI Great Wolf Logan Grimnar Wolf Lord Sven Axegrinder Campaign Update from Segmentum Warzones Segmentum Obscurus Tri-Cinci Sub, Hobbytown Secundus LETUS05.61.CLA Don't trust the alien. Especially the herbivores.. We must retrieve the artifact, the water bowl of Freki, before the Xenos witches get their filthy hands on it and turn it into a salad bowl. Extreme prejudice is sanctioned and encouraged.  YOU ARE EXPENDABLE, THE WATER BOWL IS NOT. -LG

    The Battle Barge found it's way, again, to the local Hobbytown... actually it's the space it used to be, which is currently being used for games and RC races. but I digress.... Answering to the taunts and jeers of the xenos filth, we decided to take the fight to them. Da Masta Cheef brought his Eldar Exodites, and I used a previous list, the one I used against Hiveangel a while back but switching out the Bastion for a Whirlwind.

 The objective was placed next to a windmill which we decided was like the skymills that are on Acreage (Dark Heresy reference) minus all the rotting corpes and maggot men. Here I deployed with the thought to zip my rhinos up, and have the Grey Hunters leap out, take the object and try to get back to my line. The Long Fangs (positioned in a bunker just to the left of this image) with  the whirlwind would rain down missiles as  Rune Priest screwed everything over.

 Behind the Bunker stuffed full of Long Fangs in my Land Speeder Tornado, waiting to pounce and set fire to as many space elves as possible!

This will be a glorious sundering! The water-bowl of Freki shall be retrieved at last!

And here are the nasty Xeno Exodites. He hasn't painted them much since last time they appeared on this blog, but never-the-less I still enjoy looking at these sweet modes. The dino-riders in the front are counting as Wraithguard BTW.

 So here is the view that his dastardly Pathfinders have from the captured Bastion. Clearly they can see pretty much my whole army, the pack of Fenrisian Wolves stand out rather well here.

 And here we have the entire army of Exodites gathered. I was stunned just how many models hit the table, that is a lot of shurikan catapults! The "foot-dar" have assembled!

 And with the start of turn one, Sven Axegrinder and four of his trusted Wolf Guard land right smack in the front of the Wraith-drakes, blocking the Exodite forces path to the objective.

The Space Wolves fire everything they got into the Waith-drakes, and...a Long Fang killed one. Just one. All those templates (OK, just 2) and bolters, and Las Cannons, and we kill just one. OK, the Rune Priest took out a random schlub with Living Lightning (why did the Farseer snicker when I did that?).

 At the start of round. 1.5, this is pretty much what my army looked like. The Fenrisian Wolves would be cut down by the bladestorm from a Dire Avengers squad and sniping from the Pathfinders. A support weapon stunned the rhino closest to the objective. The rest of the army dumped every shot into Sven and the terminators. I was impressed with how much they sponged, but saving the best for last, the Wraithguns of the dino-riders brought Sven down.

 Realizing the tactical blunder, the 2nd rhino moved up the Grey Hunters moved out and tried to make off with the objective. It is worth noting that the objective would make it no further than this point. On the Eldar Round 2 they would be pinned and picked off...

 Meanwhile my Lone Wolf had worked his way up, but was greeted by these Harlequin, This was their position at the start of the shooting phase...

 ....And their positions after the assault phase. As you can see, drop pod was blown to hell by the wraith-drakes in the back ground. The Lone Wolf had killed a Harley, and the two sides were standing off...

 I believe this was turn 3. Things were getting...bad. My Rune Priest had been laid low by the Eldar witchery (frigging Runes of Warding and their daemon-summoning power!) I moved one rhino through the exodites in a desperate bid to tank-shock them (this seems to never work, and I question why I do it) but I did do something interesting with it, I killed a Warlock with a hunter-killer missile! I was shocked!

That little victory was greeted with entire elimination of the squad holding the objective, the 2nd Rhino blown up, and the unit within that locked in hand-2-hand. The Lone Wolf eventually took a wound (the red die is an old Sustained Fire die -perfect wound counters!). Else-where the Land Speeder was destroyed having nearly wiped out a guardian squad and damaging a Viper (the whirlwind destroyed the Viper next round , you can see the wreck of it behind the skymill).

By the time the Exodite Turn 5 came up, the Lone Wolf found himself positioned for some serious glory. Having killed off the Harlequin, he was now surrounded by the entire Exodite army, he fended off a near impossible amount of firepower, defecting the shots with his Storm Shield, or just not feeling their pain, he was truly living up to his role...but ultimately, he fell and the storm of slicing shurikans proved more than the math-hammer gods would allow...


So the game ended with my sole-survivors, the Long Fangs, sending their last spite-full shots at the Exodites and requesting immediate evac. The mission was a failure, and water-bowl lost!

It was a fun game, despite my being surprised at how nasty Runes of Warding are against Rune Priests!

Book Review: Pariah

Pariah by Dan Abnett This review is a tad late, I've read more books since, but waited because I enjoyed this book so much that I am still kind of chewing on it (mentally anyway). Also I had to really think hard on how to review this book without spoiling anything! This book is formally titled: PARIAH: Ravenor VS. Eisenhorn: Volume one of the Bequin Trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with Eisenhorn and Ravenor, in other words you have failed to read the previous two trilogies, then you are completely and totally short-changing yourself from participating in an amazing aspect of the Warhammer 40,000 mythos. Fix this problems as soon as possible. Seriously.

Having said that, you could start off with this book, as Beta Bequin is telling us the tale about how she first met Eisenhorn and Ravenor, and her attempting to comprehend how their wilderness of mirrors works and the Inquisition's layers of secrets-within-secrets while her paradigm shatters on itself repeatedly, often with a turn of the next page. But I think I will not discuss these things, or how they fit with the previous books, so if you haven't read this yet, and intend too, I shall not spoil any of it. But again, you could start with this and then go find a copy of the Eisenhorn Omnibus. But I think this is more fun to recognize characters before Bequin does.

I will forgo my usual review format and focus on an aspect of this book, and indeed many of Abnett's 40K books, that I think he excells at: The trappings. Abnett has a gift for making you, as the reader, look at a given world in the Imperium. He wants to show you how the society functions on each world. all of which are far removed from Terra, and show that these loyal and faithful worlds all function in their own way. The City of Queen Mab is particularly interesting as it devotes itself to Saint Orphaeus and wars in which the hero of the Imperium rose to prominence. This history haunts this place and a lot of it tends to haunt Beta as she struggles throughout this tale to comprehend (let alone find) the truth of what is going on. A particular feature of Queen Mab is the holloways, which are streets that have been left in an abandoned state in reverence of the passage of Saint Orphaesus in times past. So the pious members of society avoid these holloways, but the dregs of society gather there. The warblind, forgotten veterans of these Orphaeonic Wars are some of these dregs that Beta will introduce us to as the story unfolds.

Another aspect of this society that impressed me was Abnett having Beta go to an artist's loft, where starving artists and their bohemian retinues gather to create art and party. Typically I think the only artists we as readers of 40K materials have been introduced too have been the monk-like thralls who produce illuminated scripts, frescoes and other works of a holy nature to enhance the Imperial Cult, but this is the 1st time we see it being produced in this sort of capacity, and probably the 1st time we see how Chaos can be a threat even to such an apparently harmless thing as an oil painting... however, we are still shown the vast scale of the Imperial Cult's presence even here in Queen Mab when Beta is take to a cathedral. Abnett does a great job showing us the vast scale of this structure, and the thousands of worshipers that pack this place. Probably one of my favorite scenes in this book is when Beta is forced to do something for the deacons that goes "better" than expected...

My only true criticism is that I felt Abnett might've reached a bit too far in trying to convince us that any aspect of a modern day secret society could still survive in the 41st millennium, even in the corrupted and bastardized state that we find it in. Still, it made for a hell of a read regardless.

You get about half-way into this book, before you really wonder where the Eisenhorn vs. Ravenor aspect of this this whole thing kicks in. Trust me, it does, and toward the end you are shown that it has been kicking all along. So be patient if you're find yourself thinking this as you read through this book, you will not be disappointed. That is, until it ends, as you will be left starving for more!

And if more is what you need, try to find a short story called Perihelion. This is about the last (supposedly) time that Eisenhorn and Ravenor met on any kind of good terms. You'll find out in Pariah that the good times have definitely rolled on. This story is incredibly short and I can't say that it will fully satisfy any need to see more adventures between the two, but it will serve as a crucial, but not vital,  puzzle-piece to the over-all story.

Happy New Year from the Battle Barge

WAAAAGH!!!

...A good way to start the New Year, 'ey? With an orky battle-cry! This is two posts in one, so if you're not into battle reports, skip ahead a bit for some more Neverness Hobby stuff...

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 Once again I directed the battle-barge to the the Cinci Subsector, the Battle-ground of  Jake's Terror near the Batavian Hive on the World of Olszewski's Landing. My good friend (who for the sake of professional anonymity we discreetly refer to as: 'The Doctor' on this blog) has his annual birthday bash just before New Years. I usually make it, and this year I did. We skipped our never-ending Necromunda game this time for a three-way bash of 40K. We choose a mere 1000pt each for this scuffle, which proved to be more than enough for us to slay the evening!

1K of Space Wolves led by Sven Axegrinder stand ready in the setting sun...

To make this work, we chose the Hammer & Anvil deployment map and the Crusade scenario using only 3 objectives set out in 'no man's land'.

The muddy battle-field (which looks like a wooden table to the unimaginative)

Ork Deployment. Lots of Boyz led by 2 weirdboyz!

The game would begin with Doc and I rolling off to see who would go 1st: Orks (his) or Space Wolves (me) and after our 1st turn, Brian would start deep striking in his whole Necron army to where he wanted too just like a daemon army. I was thinking something a bit like Caves of Ice where the Necrons 'woke-up' in the middle of a war between the Imperial Guard and Orks. We all agreed that this might work out well, especially if it prevents the 'monkey-in-the-middle' syndrome that most 3-ways have a habit of degrading into.

Space Wolves deploy...

 On the far end of the industrial zone, the orcs swarmed. I don't have his list, but it was 2 killer kans, a grot mob, a big mob of boys, burna boys (on the green platform) and a nob mob with a warphead (his overlord).

I had the venerable dreadnought, long fangs with missile launchers, a rhino with grey hunters, whirlwind and a drop pod with grey hunters being lead by Sven Axegrinder.

Orks had the 1st turn, I failed to steal the initiative (as did the Necrons- and yes, we would've let them! LOL).

Turn One:
In typical ork fashion, they brought the fight right to the wolves and got stuck in immediately. The warphead 'Ere we Go'ed across the table and his Nob buddies trashed my newly painted rhino! "How dare yoo use lemon wax?!" they screamed at the Grey Hunters as they bailed out! Orks get the 1st Blood VP!

"That rhino was an artifact!!!" Screamed Sven in rage as his drop pod landed nearby almost on the objective. I grabbed onto 3VPs, and after my ENTIRE ARMY fired into those Nobs I was not sure if I would hold onto them...

They absorbed A LOT of firepower!!!

Now, these Nobs were accompanied by a Painboy, and had Cybork Bodies and Feel No Pain! A nasty combo that I have been known to use when I play orks. This made for some tasty medicine... so while I was pondering how so many withstood the entire army's attention...

 The Necrons arrived...!

...on both of the Space Wolf flanks!

And in the Ork deployment zone!

After a round of shooting, my Space Wolves lost a few members from the Rhino unit and a single wolf-brother from the Drop Pod. The Necrons made a dent in the orks...

Turn 2 (and beyond)
A lot happened on Turn 2,  so much so that I'm going to go into highlight mode, as I really wanted to show how exciting it was to have a 3rd opponent drop in and tear into both armies that were already joined in a heated battle.

I can't remember how long this fight went on for, but the routed necrons (...why aren't necrons fearless?) missed being destroyed by the orks sweeping advance by a single pip! These guys would run far, turn and blast away at orks on this side of the field for many rounds...

 The Nobs would eliminate my Runepriest, who learned Independent Character rule #1: Join a unit as soon as possible!!! He learned this too late as he stomped into the mud, mangled and mutilated...

Where my Venerable Dreadnought stands in the pic above, there WAS a necron warrior squad...

Also, the Rhino squad would kill the necrons that were on the hill.

 The Doc's new assembles and primer-ed (yeah, that's it!) Killa Kans would come break up a massive fight that had been stirring on my right flank. This melee had last a lot of rounds until the kans showed up...I wanted to say this occurred on turn 3.

Having wiped out the necrons on Orcs and Kans moved onto the objective. My Long Fangs on the kill blew up two of them and damaged the 3rd.




Hungry for the objective the Warphead led his Nobs into Sven and his Grey Hunters. The fight would last many a few rounds, with the 1st round ending in a draw. Sven would slay the warphead in a challenge, but it ultimately took the squad from the rhino to join in and assist with finishing off the nobs!

My Dreadnought would turn his attention to the Kan on the other side fo the bridge and shoot at it, however it would fail to damage it. However it did get the kan's attention...






The Kan would charge the Dreadnought on the following turn, but it prove to not be a match for the Venerable foe, who turned the Killer Kan into a useless wreak. The dreadnought would turn to find another foe, leaving the grot driver to screaming profanities from his trapped position. Meanwhile the orks that the Kan was covering and who were holding the objective where all killed by Whirlwind and Long Fang missiles...

With Nobs killed, the Rhino Squad moved to claim another objective. Meanwhile the burner boyz were skulking about on the top level of the industrial site while the remaining Necron Deathmarks were taking pot-shots at my grey hunters. The long fang eliminated the burner boyz from a distance, effectively tabling the orks. After a few more skirmish-like final rounds, the Deathmarks would be eliminated, tabling the Necrons.

Final accumulated VP: Space Wolves 7, Orks 2, Necrons 0.

It was a long, but intensely fun game, with death everywhere!  I was astonished by the Doc's ability to roll saves for his orks. If I had been playing them I would've been tabled by turn 2... The Necron's were fun to play against too, but I wasted no time eliminating them once I saw how dangerous they were to my power armored marines! My biggest mistake was not attaching my Runepriest to Rhino Squad, but then again, if I had done that they might have been eliminated by the nobs which would've prevented them from taking more objectives...

Brian's thoughts:

Well, despite the utter annihilation once again of my Necrons, I still had a lot of fun. I think our decision to go 1-on-1-on-1 made for a very interesting dynamic, especially in the confined space of the Hive.

Highlights: I know, they were gretchin. But seeing the remains of the unit turn and run, only to be completely cut down by the Flayed Ones was nice! >:-) (that's the attached image) Also nice to see that Flayed Ones *can* be effective in melee, given appropriate numbers for their melee-only role. Future tactics: keep away from flamers.

On the other hand, I definitely still have a ways to go in effectively dealing with vehicles. It could be I just haven't fielded appropriate units yet – I've used pretty much nothing but infantry types so far, and no vehicles or monstrous creatures. It will be nice to get some of the Necron vehicles built and on the board, especially a Doomsday Ark, since that seems to be the Necron's answer to enemy tanks

What I would have done different?
1) Stayed away from the flamers.
2) Should have tried to get the Deathmarks up on the platforms sooner so they could try to take out the flamers. Would've let the Flayed Ones hang around longer
3) Tried one more time for Anrakyr's "Mind in the Machine"; taking over a Killa Kan and using its weapons on the other two Kans might have been able to save the Anrakyr's accompanying Immortals unit

A particular highlight of this game, which greatly enriched our playing experience was the use of Litko Blast-Templates. If you have, or fight against horde armies, you MUST get some of these! Shameless plug I know, but I freaking mean it and will be getting some of my own soon!

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But the holidays weren't all fun and wargames, no, it is also a season for acquisitions! This year was little-lite on 40K prezzies, but I did get a few.

The featured model in this photo is owned by Da Masta Cheef who also got me one for Christmas as well as a dozer blade set for a Land Raider. I look forward to, eventually, painting my version of this chap.

I am humbled and moved by this next gift. The Bink made a gaming table for me! I came home last night to find this monster of a table in my living room!

There is a single Imperial Guard miniature on the center of the table

I can't say just how thankful I am for this, I am really blown away by it, and can't wait to start gaming on it! Now I am in the process of reorganizing my house to accommodate this table...but this is a good thing! :)

There is a single imperial guard model on the drink shelves.

Thanks again Bink, I appreciate the time you have put into this!


That's it for now, more painting updates on the way soon...

(...and let's not talk about New Years resolutions... :D  )