Another list and a mek!

First off I wanted to say that the last list I posted was over by about 200 points I think I forgot to add the squad of boyz.  With that in mind I reworked the entire list:

HQ

-Warboss 100 pts

    -eavy armour

    -cybork body

    -bosspole

    -power klaw

-Wierdboy 85 pts

    -warphead

Elites

-Lootas 120 pts

    -3x meks w/big shootas

Troops 122 pts

12 shoota boyz

    -nob

        -power klaw

        -bosspole

    -rokkit

Trukk 50 pts

    -armour plates

    -red paint job

Troops 122 pts

12 slugga boyz

    -nob

        -power klaw

        -bosspole

    -rokkit

Trukk 45 pts

    -armour plates

10 grots 40 pts

10 grots 40 pts

Fast Attack

4 Warbikes 140 pts

    -nob 

        -power klaw

        -bosspole

3 Deffkoptas 135 pts

    - 3x twin linked rokkits

                    

                   Total 999

The list did okay, I won one game drew another and lost the last game.  The tournament had a 1 hour limit which was really short.  The first game was a seize ground game against a blood angels army.  I won mainly because my opponent didn't keep a scoring unit next to his objective and he was too slow to get to mine.  The second game was only two turns and was a draw because it was another seize ground and neither player could contest the others objective.  The third game was an annihilation game against tyranids, they ran across the board  and I kill all but the Hive Tyrant it's retinue and two tyranid warriors.  Thanks to Derick for hosting the tournament, next time I will have to do better!

One of my projects that I have been working on is a mek for my Gorkamorka gang.  Here he is!  I armed him with a slugga and knife.  I didn't think he needed a choppa because he will be driving a trukk.  The next project I want to work on is a Warhammer one.  It is going to be a big...er...large...um giant one!   

1000 pt list and Black Templar

So I have a 1000 point 40k game next week and I thought I would post the list I plan to take so I can get some feedback.  This weekend I managed to try it out and it beat a demon list.  I feel like the list may not have enough scoring troops.  I also think that the nob bikers may not be worth the points for so little and it may be better to just to take regular troops.  So here is the list:

HQ

Warboss
     -power klaw
     -eavy armour
     -cybork body
     -attack sqig
     -bosspole

Elite

6 lootas

5 Meganobs
     -3x rokkit launcha
     -1x scorcha
trukk
     -armour plates

Troop

20 slugga boyz
     2x rokkits
     nob, power klaw bosspole

12 shoota boyz
     x1 big shoota
     nob power klaw bosspole
trukk
    -armour plates

3 nob bikers
    -2x power klaw
     bosspole
     eavy armour

Fast Attack

3x Deffkoptas
   -twin linked rokkits

Heavy Support

Battlewagon
    -big shoota
    armour

Also there was a game played between Black Templar and the Dark Angels, and while the Black Templars didn't far so well I took some pics of the assault terminators anyway.

A day of days – Da Grey Knightz return.

Over the past few months I have been attempting to convince myself to try my hand at converting some Black Orcs into Grey Knightz. My resolve has finally hardened and I have pried myself away from my Dark Eldar long enough to start the conversion process.

The first order of business was to decide exactly what I wanted to convert for the fledgling force. A Dreadnought, a Librarian, a Dreadknight? While all of these would be unique and challenging projects, I was drawn toward another option, the Psycannon. If you are at all familiar with the current Grey Knight codex, you know that the Psycannon is critical to the success of the army as a whole, providing both anti-infantry and anti-tank suppression. As such, devising a suitable representation of the Psycannon was essential.

I played around with numerous ideas in my head, everything from using kustom mega blastas to storm bolters. While pondering this, I realized perhaps my largest obstacle was actually how the ork was going to hold the Psycannon, as opposed to what weapon would be a good starting point for the conversion. The Black Orks I planned to use for the Grey Knightz were not positioned in a way to hold a two-handed firearm. This is when my thoughts drifted back towards my first memories of the Psycannon. In Games Workshop’s Inquisitor (combat focused role-playing game), Inquisitor Covenant had an awesome shoulder mounted Psycannon. I decided that mounting the Psycannons to the ork’s shoulder/backpack was the solution I was looking for, and I got to work.

So without further ado, here are some pictures showing my progress on the first of the Psycannon wielding Grey Knightz.

Thus far I am pretty pleased with how the model is turning out. I have made an effort to modify the model’s legs such that he does not look so much like a Black Orc with guns. Further, I am working on converting his left hand such that it is empty, using a Chaos Marine powerfist as the foundation.

I still have a lot to do before the model is finished, but thought I would post some pictures and hopefully get some feedback. Any suggestions of things you would like to see on this model or future Grey Knightz? What do you think I should do about the model’s right hand? Is there a particular type of weapon you think he should be holding?

Failcast

Ever since the rumors began surfacing about the shift towards resin and the introduction of 'Finecast', I was worried. My experiences with resin models (mainly through Forge World) in the past have been pretty underwhelming. Casting and resin quality vary widely. Nearly all of my purchases from Forge World start out with excitement and shift towards disgust as I discover a host of miscast models. This ultimately leads to the models being tucked away in a box with all my other Forge World models, not to be considered for months or years (a sad turn of events for such nice models…).

Despite my reservations, I decided to give 'Finecast' a chance with the new Dark Eldar haemonculus. After going to two stores and looking through the five haemonculi they had available, I was upset to find that all of them had subtle miscasts and air-bubbles. I finally settled on the one that seemed to have the fewest overt miscasts and air-bubbles.

After returning home and taking a closer look at the model (particularly those areas not visible from the packaging), I was shocked at the downgrade in quality. The bottom of the haemonculus's cloak was awash with countless air-bubbles. Air-bubbles continued along the length of his spine and fingers. The bottom of one of the model's hands and his entire chin are simply non-existent. The 'crisper' and 'enhanced' detail that 'Finecast' bring hardly seem relevant when a good portion of the detail is simply missing due to air-bubbles and miscasts.

Judging by the quality of the 'Finecast' miniatures I have seen, it critical that you examine any 'Finecast' miniature before purchasing (and this doesn't even assure a good cast). This essentially prevents one from purchasing any models that are packaged in a box (such as the Wracks, Mandrakes, etc.) and online purchases because you cannot see the cast of the models. Speaking of which, Wayland Games, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of tabletop miniatures is currently not selling ‘Finecast’ miniatures after randomly examining their supply, discovering over 50% of them had noticeable flaws. If interested, you can read more on the matter on their website.

I can’t help but think Games Workshop made a mistake with this shift to ‘Finecast’, or at the very least have put their worst foot forward in the transition. If these ‘Finecast’ models are capable of being nice, I have yet to see it. While I acknowledge metal miniatures were difficult to deal with and often required lengthy periods of time to successfully remove mold lines and pin components, these new resin models bring a host of new issues that are equally time-consuming. Now in addition to removing mold lines and flashing, one has to fill in all of the holes introduced via air-bubbles and re-sculpt missing details.

To Games Workshop’s credit, they obviously acknowledge there is a problem with the current range. After calling customer service and briefly telling them about the miscast model, they agreed to send out a replacement free of charge. Regrettably the replacement model was little better than original haemonculus I purchased, but at least they tried to remedy the situation.

We will have to wait and see if the quality of Games Workshop’s ‘Finecast’ models improves with time. I would be interested in hearing thoughts and options on the shift towards resin. Any good or bad experiences?

Dead man walking

 Here is a little update of what I have been working on.  I finished another death kultist using the mask that I previewed before.  Not too much other special stuff was done other than using some fantasy orc legs.  

In other news I got the ogre kingdom swords I plan on using for the strike squads and the purifiers.  I hope to get some work on them and post some results soon.  

Hell, it's about time.

This is a big day for 'Ere We Go. Finally, it is moving to something more relevant to 40k as a whole. Space Marines. It is also a major day because now almost all the people who read this blog post on the blog. And finally it is important because of the following pictures:

This is the pinnacle of Space Marine tanks. It is also possibly the best tank in the game. This is the WHIRLWIND. Brad’s days of winning with his orks will finally come to an end now that this will be rolling onto the field.

To make it even better, the top can be removed to allow it to be the humble rhino.

Quick update

After reading some of the comments I made some changes to the Death Kultist. He now has more skulls!




Also here is an idea I have for a mask for the next Death Kultist. I think it could work but let me know in the comments.


After reading some comments here is the change I made to the first death kultist.

Lets Go Pens!

So here are some more pictures. I more or less finished another halberd and a guy with a pair of falchions! I think they have turned out pretty good. Both backpacks may be a little suspect, but with a few more bitz they should be alright.

I also got to work on a death kultist. I used another warhammer starter orc. I really like the poses and they are a snap to trim and assemble. I didn't do too much to really make this guy look like a kultist, but he does have a skull! I would love to hear some ideas people have to make the kultists stand out. I think one will have a tombstone strapped to his back.

Grey Knightz Update

First, I want to apologize for the picture heavy post(and mostly for the blurry ones) but a lot of progress has been made and needed to be documented. So I have taken some of the comments I have gotten and have taken them to heart and updated the power armour grey knightz that I have been working on. I started giving them stikkbombs and i felt that giving them backpacks would make them feel a lot less than just black orcs with gunz. So far I am pleased with the results. I now have a looted wagon/rhino courtesy of my friend Eric, who spent a lot of time this weekend to finish it.

Da Grey Knightz!

Currently around the internet, there has been a growing dialog on the use of counts as armies. There are typically two groups of people, ones who love the idea and those that loathe the idea. So if you fall in the latter group I am sorry this post is not for you.

The Plan

In the ork codex there are many great legendary waaaghs and warbosses. One such figure is Tuska the deamon-killa. He is a warboss that takes special delight in killing deamons (the bigger the better). Well as it happens a new codex has been released for the Grey Knights, and now seems like a good time to jump on the bandwagon and make a Tuska counts-as Grey Knights army.

Tuska will be represented by the stats of Lord Draigo. Since we are using Draigo it seems like I will have to include some Paladins using mega armour nobz I figure that I will include at least one henchman squad that will have some death kultists possibly some mystics or deamonhosts to represent the wierdboyz that Tuska is described to have. I also want to run some purifiers (I hear they are good) as black orcs to represent the tougher, power armour orks. After that the sky is the limit. I really don't know the best way to mak

e Tuska, but I am sure that something will come up.

The Pictures

So I am aware I do a lot of talking and not a lot of doing on this blog so before I made this proposal I wanted to have a prototype model ready to show off to prove I am not crazy(well the lazy crazy anyway). Without further ado here is the first purifier:

I am really looking for feedback, do you think this will work? Does the bolter look ok? Am I a traitor to ork-kind?

Battlewagon Blitz

So this week has been pretty busy, my friend Eric and I played a game of Warhammer 40k at the local hobby store. I played my Orks(obviously) against his Deathwing army. Unfortunately the game went poorly for the Orks, the lootas never feel like firing more than one shot and the big mek with shock attack gun decided to teleport himself into Belial's squad instead of shooting at it. However, the loss cannot totally be blamed on poor dice rolling. I exposed my Nob Biker squad thinking the 4+ cover save and feel no pain would be enough to keep them alive for the first turn(at least), but Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminators would obliterate all but one nob. To top it off the nob squad on foot never managed to get into combat and was ineffective the entire game.

To help fix some of my army's deficiencies I purchased a Battlewagon, and Eric and I spent this weekend trimming and assembling it. Its primary use will be to transport boyz or nobs into combat, so it doesn't need a Kannon, Zzap gun or 'Ard Case. The seems to be very nice and it was very easy to assemble. I am excited about some of the leftover bitz as I have big plans for some of them.

I also finished an old ork bike recently and attempted to modernize it a bit. I had to get a little creative to fit the orc command boar legs to fit, but with some plasticard it turned out pretty well. My one regret is that I didn't bother spicing up the gunz but all in all I think it looks fine.