Three-way Attrition

 Last week on the 5th of November, Kushail, Da Masta Cheef and I gathered to play a three-way game of Warhammer 40,000 9th edition. I brought my Black Legion Chaos Space Marines,

Cheef brought his Tau,

 

and Kushail brought an all Dreadnought list of Lions of Harlech.

We decided to use the Open War deck and chose War of Attrition. We randomly drew a Twist card  and got Exhausted, much to Kushail's glee, as it ment all models had their Strength characteristics reduced by -1. We all pulled Ruse cards which we kept secret from each other until they were revealed. 

This isn't going to be one of my typical battle reports, but more like a highlight of what happened. Cheef took so many photos that I"m having a difficult time figuring out what's what, or when was what, or why we took a given photo. So, I am going to focus on who eliminated which units. We only counted a unit destroyed when the final model was pulled as a result of shooting, close combat in the fight phase or elimination during the morale phase. Assists did not count for anything other than bragging rights. 

The dice eating lava board

The Lions of Harlech won the roll-off to go first, Chaos would go second and Tau would go last.

 

Looking at home in a Chaos shrine...

According to my notes there were no destroyed units in the first turn. Although I almost wiped out the Tau Hogziliaries, but one sneaky piglet got away! 

This little piggy...

The ruckus of turn one.

LIONS OF HARLECH TURN 2

The Hellbrute, despite using the Fire Frenzy Stratagem during the Lion's Shooting Phase and getting some Overwatch shots, failed to withstand the double onslaught of the Ironclad Dreadnoughts and was ripped apart. The Lions scored 220 points. 

The pathetic demise of a Hellbrute. 

BLACK LEGION TURN 2

"Shoot 'em down boys!"

One of the Lion's Itonclads was destroyed by the Psychic powers of the Sorcerer Lord in Terminator armor. 

The Black Legionaires wiped out the Tau Jaloo Auxiliary. 

The Black Legion take the lead with 235 points. 

Lining up for a strife,

TAU TURN 2

The Tau didn't eliminate any units but they put a considerable hurt on the Black Legion and picked off a few wounds from some of the Lion's Dreadnoughts. Using the Outflank Ruse card, the Piranha and Ramora Drone harassed the Lions of Harlech while a squad of Breachers, Kroot Carnivores and a Kroot Shaper showed up in the Chaos deployment zone. They took a wound or two off of the Chaos Sorcerer. 

End of Turn 2 points: 

Lions Of Harlech: 190

Chaos Space Marines: 230

Tau: 0

LIONS OF HARLECH TURN 3

I have heard it said somewhere that 40k is a three-turn game in the sense that the winner can usually be determined by end of turn three. Well, Kushail was determined to make that theory a working one. The Chaplain Dreadnought charged my Exalted Champion, and, well, pulped him. This earned him another 90 vps 

CHAOS SPACE MARINES TURN 3

The traitor astartes didn't eliminate any units this round but they did hold their own against the Dreadnought onslaught. Both of my psykers put some hurt on the Chaplain Dreadnought using Smites of Infernal Gaze powers to achieve this. Of Particular note was the Aspiring Champion of Legionaires Squad 3 by rolling an against the odds Morale test and keeping the Chaplain tied up a bit longer. 

The Vindicator putting the hurt on the Dreads. 

TAU TURN 3

No units were taken out by the Tau in this round but they put a lot hurt on my Legionaires squads and tore some armor off of some dreads. But the Kroot did manage to get a charge in on my Chaos Sorcerer. The Chaos Sorcerer took a few wounds from these guys but he killed a lot of them in return. The failed morale check caused a lot more pain on the Kroot but the remaining ones were still in the fight.

LIONS OF HARLECH TURN 4

The first few rounds were just a big wind-up for Kushail and his Lions of Harlech, and on Turn 4 he landed his killing blows. In the Shooting Phase he shot down the Ramora Drone, and picked off the Kroot Shaper. Then he squashed a squad of Chaos Legionaires. He racked up 190 points from all of that and it was looking like he was going to be hard to catch up to.

Out flanked but fully armored. 

CHAOS TURN 4

Now trailing the Lions in points I was desperate to get rid of some of these Dreadnoughts. My Legionaire with the Balefire Tome finished off a Contemptor Dreadnought with Infernal Gaze earning 150 points for me. And my Sorcerer used Infernal Gaze to eliminate the Chaplain Dreadnought for 180 points. A moral victory indeed, but one short lived, as the Kroot took him down in the Fight Phase. It was the Tau's first points in the whole game so far, but an impressive 120 points and a crushing blow to my army. 

TAU TURN 4.

"Surprise!"

The Kroot, having showed the rest of the Tau how to draw blood, inspired the rest of the Tau to continue to do so. They finished off the rest of my big squad of Legionaires (220 points!) and blasted away the Vindicator (130 points). 

LIONS OF HARLECH TURN 5

It was mopping up time as the Lions finished off The Taus Breachers (95), the Hogziliaries (80 points), the Kroot (84 points) and the last of my units, the Legionaires (215 points). The Lions had this one in the bag, it was just a matter of sorting out the details.

CHAOS SPACE MARINES TURN 5 

(We're dead Dave, we're all dead.)

TAU TURN 5

The Tau got the final kill of the game by taking out a Contemptor Dreadnought (150 points).

"It's coming right at us!!!"

It was a fun game, even though I was tabled I dished out a fair amount of hurt and we had good fun. So here are the breakdown: 

CHAOS SPACE MARINES: 565 Points

TAU: 620 Points

LIONS OF HARLECH: 944 Points. 

Victory to the Lions! 

The stand off.

There's  a lot little things that occurred in this game but I don't recall where they fit into the play-by-play of the game. Things like, I need to keep a guy a alive and he had to make three 6+ saves, he rolled two 6's, I uses a CP reroll and got the third 6. Etc. It's those little moments that make games like this one especially fun. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

More Black Legion Marines (Part 1)

 Yes, more! If you recall back in 2015 I found some of the 2nd edition era Cbaos Space Marines that my  brother built. After re working them a bit, they became my first full squad of Chaos Space Marines. It's time I did some more.

The making of new recruits.

Over the past month I have been tinkering with these things, merging the old kits from the "90s and "00s with some of the bits from the current kits.  

The old kits.

Some of these old models had to be removed from the old bases to the 'new' 32mm ones. A voice in my head was trying to convince me to leave these sprues intact ("They belong in a museum! Or on eBay!") but, me being me, ignored those annoying voices and went on with assembling these traitor astartes. 

2nd edition plastic Chaos marines.

If you've read those older posts, you'll know that half the squad was painted as generic Black Legion while the other half are painted up as the Hounds of Abaddon subtraction. They were originally intended for Kill Team, and I often broke the squad in half and ran them as two units. I have decided to expand each up to a full squad and to make another squad of 5 -10 models. I'm not exactly sure how many models I have to work with. 

Don't worry, they're 'armless! 

The squad leader was based off of the art from the boxed set that these models came from. I think I got pretty close to matching that old art

However he did end up with the trophy rack (it's really just a big spike) to mark him out easier as a leader model. 

Here to lead. 

The newer backpacks not only fit well with these older models but they look great as well. I love the way the banner poles, trophies and alternate top plates slot into the current backpacks. 

A very nice fit. 

The guy with the massive chain gun was a challenge to assemble. I understand the design decision to have the ammo belt be a separate piece but I don't understand why it was decided to make it a two piece part. There was much cussing to be heard. There was a lot of parts that went into this guy, but ultimately I like how he's turned out so far.

Big guns never... maybe I should've led with this pic?

Assembling the rest of the new configurations has been a fun challenge, with lots of kitbashing between the various incarnations of Chaos Space Marine. 

Multiple models being assembled.

One of my favorites of the new upgrade options is the psyker guy with the balefire tome.  He's just got such a thrilled expression on his face. It's like he just won $20 on a scratch-off lottery ticket after spending $50 on a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets. 

"I'm a winner!'

I got all of these new recruits primed and about half of them even got their bases basecoated. And in time to go game with Kushail. The game isn't one we're going to chronicle (for 'reasons') but we did get a few interesting pics that I'll show more of in my next Dreadtober post. But these new additions performed fairly well. The Aspiring Champion for the Hounds of Abaddon squad even faced an Ironclad Dreadnought on his own. Well, after his squad died from it's attacks. He too was ripped apart soon afterwards, but I was still impressed. The guy with the balefire tome was handy also. He managed to inflict some Mortal Wounds via his  Smite psychic attack against some foes during the game also. 

Aspiring Champ vs. Ironclad.

Since we're considering this a practice game at best (because 'reasons') I look forward to getting these guys into a proper game sooner than later! And with more paint on them (hopefully)!

Black Legion Terminator Sorcerer

This one was in the queue for a very long time. Since late 2018 actually. I had a series of photos for the start of a post that was going to detail how I painted the big chunk of marble that this guy is standing on. However my phone died while I was training in Indianapolis for a job I had at the time and I lost everything that was on it. Soured by that situation I let the whole model languish ever since. 

Fast forward to 2022 and with my grimey hands on the 9th edition Chaos Codex I felt inspired to get a few of those neglected Black Legion projects out of the queue. And this guy just jumped out at me and in an inspired burst I got him knocked out. 

Pull yourself together already!

I kept playing around with the positioning of the miniature, and although I preferred this spot I had to lower it to accommodate the cape. Also in this pic is the basecoat of the cape. I used Kabalite Green with a Nuln Oil wash for this stage. 

Kabalite Green was applied again in two layers. I liked how it look at this step didn't take the highlight any higher. 

I used the same Kabalite Green technique on the familiar's robes as also. I thought it's flesh ought to be purple to contrast against that dark greenish color. I used a technique similar  to how I painted my Daemonettes.  However I didn't take it to the highlight stage as I wanted to have it look darker.

I altered my recipe for the gilding and trim. The basecoat is still Tin Bitz but I now use Retributor Copper as the mid coat. I top this with a highlight of Shining Gold. 

All of the eyes that appear all over this model were painted in blue. This contrasts nicely against the coppery tones of the gilding. I originally thought it would've been awesome to paint them like the burning eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings but color theory won out in the end. 

The blue was done by using Citadel Caledor Sky as a base and Thousand Sons Blue on top of that with a subtle highlight of Fenrisian Grey. 

I put the yellow and black stripes on the chain blade because I wanted something to contrast against everything else. But really, I just thought it looked cool and it's easy to do.  Also the irony of a warning symbol on an instrument designed to kill (and kill brutally) was too ironic to pass. I can totally see now the appeal of the Iron Warriors scheme.

I mounted him to his big chunk of rubble and assembled him after that. I wasn't sure how well the cape was going to work so I had to mount the body first to make sure. 

The  center of blue eyes on this miniature had a black cat-like pupil drawn on them using a Micron Pen. They were given a coat or two of 'ard Coat to give 'em a wet glossy look. 

And that's essentially it! Hopefully I can get him into a battle sooner than later. Maybe he can earn a name at that point also. 

Dreadtober Black Legion Hellbrute (Part 5)

 Thanks to Marc over at the main Dreadtober site for allowing a deadline extension up to Friday November 6th to get our projects done. And with a bit of focus I pulled it off! 

Finished!

 All I had to do was some highlights and few details which I was able to pull knock out when I found the time. 

The obvious difference those of you who read the last post may spot is the addition of the grass tufts on the base. This was particularly fun for me as my 5 year old son was fascinated with watching my application of these tufts. And yes, my modeling stuff does have locks on them when I am not present. (Thank you foresight!*)

And the fallen Space Marine's helmet did indeed belong to a Dark Angel. Dark Angels, as you probably know, are fun to kill. 

So, this guy is done! Or as done as I want him to be. As a wrap up to this thing, here is a buddy pic with the Bloodbrute , his Khornate counterpart. Hopefully the next time they appear together will be in a battle report stomping their way through an enemy line (oh, let's be honest, they'll probably get nuked on the 1st turn! LOL!). 

Friends will be friends.

Thanks again to everyone who encouraged me during this project and for everyone who participated in Dreadtober! Emperor willing, I'll see you in October 2011! 

*Forsight? More like memory. When I was 4 years old, my Dad had a 1977 Chevy Blazer. He loved that thing. So much so that he bought a scale model kit and was painstakingly painting that kit to look like his actual truck. There were some rednecks that lived up the street that drove an old car that was painted in a lot of different colors, with the main color being primer Grey.  Four year old Neverness thought that was the coolest thing ever. So much so that when my Dad went to take a nap (and foolishly left me unattended) I got his paints opened and started to paint his Blazer model like that redneck car. Considering that my Dad has always been something of a Testers paint purist, the fact that I was able to unscrew those glass jars is impressive when I think back on it. Anyway, I didn't get too far into "improving" my Dad's model when he soon checked in on me. If I recall, I think it's the first time he ever spanked me, and it was the last time I ever messed with his models! 

Dreadtober 2020 Black Legion Hellbrute (Part 4)

 It's getting down to final days of the month and it looks like I am going to miss the deadline by a few days. Not wanting to do a rush job and confound what I think is turning out to be a good paint job so far, I have decided to just do what I can do but concede that I won't make the goal. But darn it, did I get close! After painting those areas I was far enough along that I felt that I could finally attach the front plate; an act which completes the construction of this beastly machine.

Almost done...

Since the previous update, I highlighted the black armored bitz, and painted shinning gold on the trim. Also basecoated the eyeballs using Firy Orange as I am going for an Eye Of Souron vibe with the eyeballs. 

Still not done though...

The only things left to do are to finish those burning eyes, the pistons and metallic bits, the fuel tanks, flamers and that Space Marine helmet (I did manage to start on it's eye lenses however). Hopefully I can get this finished next week and not be too late on my deadline...

Dreadtober 2020 Black Legion Hellbrute (Part 3.5)

 Due to the technical issues I was having last time I wasn't able to share all of my progress pics. Hopefully I get them to you today. 

So creepy I had to use this pic twice.

This first pic is the Reikland Fleshwash step over the Bugman's Glow basecoat.  

Reikland Fleshwash.

Bugman's Glow was reapplied again, but not too much as to leave the fleshtone wash showing near the recesses. 

Bugman's Glow layer.

Next, Cadian Fleshtone was strategicly applied to those fleshy bits. 

Cadian Fleshtone.

The next step was a highlight of Kislev Flesh.

Kislev Flesh.

Druchii Violet was used at all of the grooves and recesses. According to our man Duncan this will make it appear as demonic flesh, although my version seems brighter than their example, but I like the way mine turned out so...yeah. oh, and the tentacles bursting out from the side of this thing was painted using the steps GW advised in the Fear No Evil book (which I also recently used in my Death Guard Experiment.).

Daemonic Flesh complete and gutty tentacles.

Then came the gluing, where I finally went about joining the main parts together. It was all about the head of the beastie, as it has to be placed prior to assembly and I was only satisfied with the original Hellbrute (AKA Bloodbrute) headand found it to be a challenge the first time. I like the way this guy is turning out so far and I made sure to push him a bit more forward if you will, as it gives him more of an "erupting" look. 

A bonding experience.

Ok, those were the missing bits from the previous post, I should (hopefully) get this guy finished by the end of the month. Hopefully.