291st Death Korps of Krieg

IXX Company: Artillery

2011-11-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

The 19th Company of the Death Korps of Krieg is beginning to take shape. The part you really can't appreciated from this is that I am planning on modelling the crew for each tube. That will give 8 crew per gun. Along with the 40 infantry and 15 HQ and advisers, its a daunting number of Infantry models to build for.

I'm also getting a bit nervous that I am basically building a broken army again. Amongst other things:

- Krieg guns are immobile, the army list explicitly states the guns cannot be moved, in contrast to the main rules which say the crew can drag the guns. So if the guns are completely immobile, how does dawn of war work?

- Death Korps siege masters have apparently never figured out camouflage techniques, so no Camo Netting for the Guns.

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. In other news, I spoke with forge world about the fact that I have something in the order of 7 sets of artillery crew, each with 2 models out of five with arms designed to carry a shell, or a gurney for a shell, but the set contains no shell. This means I have 14 models which I am as well put in the bin.
The nice man on phone sales said he would do what he could to source the shells, but at the end of the day, the description of the product clearly states the pack is to be used in conjunction with the artillery kit. This is in clear contradiction to the 3 pictures on the website which all show the models with shells in hand.

Project Valdor: Part 2 Top coat

2011-10-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

Overall painting plan and method
Preparation and detailing
Undercoat:
Basecoat:
Top coat:
Mapping:
Camo Pattern:
Decals
Chipping:
Matt Varnish
Filters: Burnt Umber; Black
Spot Filters:
General Rusting
Fuel and oil staining
Detailing

Preparation and detailing
This model was washed in warm water with simple green used as the degreaser. It was soaked in the mix for a few hours before the parts were carefully scrubbed with a tooth brush. The parts were then left out to dry overnight on a tea-towel.

I then cleaned off the mould seams where possible. Forgeworld has come a long way since the first models I bought and mould lines are few and small, little to no reconstruction work is required on the detail of this model. The worst mould lines are on the trench crossing rails at the back, where the mould has not line up perfectly. However it's not so bad that filing can't reduce it to manageable proportions.
Nothing that is on a sprue is clipped off. Parts are left on sprues for ease of handling during spraying, and to keep parts together and not lost in my carpet!

I am not doing any ultra detailing on this models as it is already pretty stunning out of the box, besides the Real World^tm, has really done a number on my paining time over the last half year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Undercoat: Halfords Grey Primer
With all of the bits clean and prepped I spray the parts with Halfords Grey primer. This is a car body repair primer and has no trouble sticking to the normally hydrophobic resin used by GW. It forms an intermediate layer between the hydrophobic substrate (the model) and the wetter GW chaos black spray.

Basecoat:
Undercoat as usual with Citadael Spray Chaos Black, working in even strokes 8in from the surface to get a light even coating.

Top Coat:
All of the spray work is done in Vallejo: Model Air colours. It is Basically done in Four stages:
- Top Coat
- Mapping
- Camouflage
- Unit Campaign markings
- Tracks:

Firstly the Tracks (Still black) are masked off with Tamiya Masking tape and the body of the model is sprayed with the top coat of VMS:

Then the Mapping with Vallejo Model colours, Various shades of the topcoat were created using VMA: mixed and thinned with VGC: Pale Flesh; VGC: Snakebite leather VCG:Burnt Umber. These various mixes were painted onto the vehicle in large Continents. The Top coat of VGC was then sprayed over the model to blend in and tone down some of the variations.

Then the Camouflage pattern was sprayed on free hand with VMA: Again in large continents.

The Masking was then moved off the tracks to the body itself around the tracks and the tracks given a coat of VMA: Burnt umber.

Project: Earthshaker

2011-10-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

I'm gonna make me a battery of three EarthShakers, I need to have 2 of these in order to fill out the TOG of IXX Company of the 291st Death Korps Krieg. Thats a total of 6 Tubes This is going to be in aid of an experiment in an "Alpha Strike" guard list using the Krieg Siege Army List from IA: 7

As with Previous planning posts like the Bane Wolf Squadron and the Valdor Heavy Tank Destroyer, I will be looking to provide a short background and look for some context for the model. By doing this I hope to:
- give some direction to the build
- add some flavour to the model.

Like before this is done by asking three questions:
- What is an Earthshaker Cannon;
- Why does the Regiment have one?;
- When are these particular Earthshakers depicted.

What is an Earthshaker?

Well, this is both an easy one and a hard one at the same time. An Earthshaker is the name of the design of the gun itself. At the same time an Earthshaker can also be a generic description of a type of gun in the Imperial Guard covering a myriad of locally produced types and models. Calling a gun an Earthshaker is a bit like saying its a Howitzer. There are many different designs of Howitzer. Big Bertha was a Howizer; Just as the modern M777 in the US Army is a howitzer, but no-one is likely to confuse the two.

Games Workshop website is quite silent on the background of the Earthshaker artillery gun. It just says its mounted on the Basilisk Chasis as a Self Propelled Gun and used to soften up positions prior to assaults.
I will be using the static guns favoured by the Death Korps and not the SPGs from Game workshop.
Imperial Armour has quite a bit more to say:
There are many more of this type of gun carriage in use in the Imperial Guard than the Mobile mounting. They have a range of up to x and the range can be controlled by the number of charges loaded behind the shell. The Guns can be overloaded with higher charges. When this is done the barrel wears out faster, and If it is done too often the Gun becomes inaccurate and can explode. Crews who are found to misuse the guns in this manner without express orders can be shot as punishment for damaging valuable war material.
Earth shakers have a variety of different load-outs including HE; Incendiary; smoke and others.

Why an Earthshaker battery?

It's the Death Korps of Krieg! Do I need any reason? The Death Korps of Krieg specialisation is siege warfare on a grand scale. Think world war one, where networks of trenches and barbed wire, spread 10 miles wide and 500 miles long.

When the 23rd founding of the 291st Death Korps regiment left their home world, the did so founded as a Panzer-Grenadier regiment. But in the GrimDark, even the specialist Grenadiers need Artillery support, and given the preponderance of siege regiments coming out of Kreig , big guns are always in plentiful supply. So when the 291st shipped out, it did so, with several companies of dedicated artillery, and a full regimental artillery train.

When is this Battery of Earthshakers?

The Imperial world of Praxedes IV was Annexed by the Tau early in the 7th centrury of M41. It was slated for re-conquest during the Damoclese Crusade and attached in 742.M41. The Regiment was posted to the crusade late, and became part of the force left behind to continue the seige after the main Crusade forces were pulled out to deal with the Tyranid menace. After the Crusade wound down the World remained devided by continent spanning trench lines with the Tau backed government on One side and the Imperials on the Other. 19th Company spent much of its time dug in and camouflaged 5 to 10 Miles behind the front lines, supplying Artillery support to the front from well camouflaged, pre-prepared dug outs.

I hope to depict these guns each in a small diorama including:

- crew of seven to nine

- Dugout positions Open to the Rear,

- Equipment scattered around

- Camo netting covering the positions to the front and above

The Vignette will aim to depict the Guns carrying out a short three round Fire mission.

Much of Praxedes IV is semi-arid, with a High sulphur content in the soil and water, so all of the equipment will be in desert yellows, Buff or Tan colours. These are static guns so there will be little or no Disruptive pattern camouflage on the guns.

291st Regimental Artillery

2011-10-23T11:12:00.001-07:00

I have started planning and building a siege list along the lines of an alpha strike army. I've been playing an armoured company list from IA: VI for a while now. I've greatly enjoyed glassing areas of the battlefield with a trio of Executioners, but I figure it's time to change up. So far I have started to gather the models for the list. I must admit to being somewhat intimidated by the sheer number of models this will need. In 1750 points I have 9 artillery pieces each with an attached Trojan. Each arttillery tube will have 8 crew the maximum you can have.

So far that's the entire Infantry platoon of fusiliers (Traditional name for Artillery guards), Half of the gunners, mostly with just the bases laid out, the start of the Command HQ squad, and the Engineers squad.
still to come is the 9 Trojans, of which I have parts for 3, and the artillery themselves. I have assembled 3 of the carriages for one unit of Earthshakers and a medusa in its package. Only six more to go.
At the moment The biggest worry is the crew. I have almost all of the crew sets, however despite them being pictured on he forge world site carrying shells, no shells are included in the bags of plastiCrack I have received. I'll be following up with Forgeworld over the next copuple of days to see whats what.

Recovering from the Weekend

2011-05-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Once More the 291st has ventured forth to the Maelstrom Zone. XII Company along with elements of the 501st Elysian Drop Troops became embroiled in the Astartes Civil War which became known as the Badab War. This Last weekend I attended a campaign weekend run by the Tempus Fugitives hosted at Maelstrom Games. The focus of the campaign was the End-game of the Badab War, an Imperial civil war, which embroiled several sectors of imperial space at the end of M41. Effectively it became a Space Marine civil war with many chapters pulled into the conflict taking one side or the other for reasons of their own.

I was again in attendance with the Bromley GCN. Having had no time to paint in and around arranging builders and my own job, I pretty much had to take the same army as last time. When I got there, and unpacked for the first game I realised I had forgotten 10 Krieg infantry and a Vendetta. This disaster meant a quick substitution for models I did have in my case. Out came a tooled up Vulture to cover the missing Vendetta. I had to loose the Lord Commissar to make it fit, and then add every option the Vulture had to make the points work. even then I was a little short. I couldn't fix the infantry thing and had to operate without a Squad of infantry in more than one game.

Overall Result for me was 3 Loss and 2 Wins. Every Game was against a Space Marine army, which i suppose was to be expected in a campaign focused on a Space Marine Civil War, and a bit of a novelty for me as I usually play xenos. They did make for a tough opposition.

Two of My losses were Capture and Control, inherently difficult for my army to achieve and one of my losses was an Annihilation game that ran to time. I had 50 Terminators with storm shields to eliminate in 5 turns! where half of them are deep striking in my face in the first turn. The number of terminators on the board meant even wildly scattering plasma cannon fire hit something. I seriously culled the Deathwing that day, but with over half of them using storm shields and thunder hammers it was very difficult to wipe out a whole squads.

Flush Vat 3041, we need five more Kriegsmen

Highlight of the weekend was the space wolves game, My opponent, Stephen, deployed his his Wolf Riders in view of the Executioner Spam. Fearing them a lot, I glassed the area with Plasma fire. I caused enough damage to force a Morale check, which they failed, then ran off the board! It was a fun game for both sides and Stephens Space Wolves came out with a win despite having lost more than three quarters of his army. One more turn and I would have annihilated what was left, but we ran out of time and he was on an objective.

At the end of the weekend, the Bromleauge imperial guard task force finished in the lower quartile, however one of the other Bromley GCN members romped home with Dark Eldar to win the weekend with a perfect 15 straight wins for a task force of 3 Players, Well done DeathJester!

Once a gain a brilliant weekend put on by the Fugitives.

Into The Maelstrom: Campaign weekend

2011-03-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

I traveled up to the Tempus Fugitives campaign 'Into the Maelstrom' at Maelstrom Games this weekend. This is the opening phase of the much larger Badab War. In these early phases the Astral Claws lead by Lufgt Huron are still loyal to the Imperium .
I attended with the Bromley GCN (aka Bromley Redcaps) with a mixed army of 1500pts 291st Death Korps Armoured Company and 1000pts Spearhead of 501st Elysian Drop veterans. We played a cycle of 5 games in which I achieved: one loss; one draw; and three wins. For me, that is a legendary score! To top of this run, The Redcaps strike force won the campaign for the Imperium, and I got nominated for the 'Best painted army' award. I didn't win it, in the end the vote went to heavily converted Tyranid army.

Overall I had a ball, the weekend was well run and kept to time. The whole thing has re-energised my painting/modelling mojo, and with the majority of the phase one house renovations nearing completion, I may actually get the chance to finish some of the draft blog posts (and models) in my queue.

Bromley Doubles Tournament

2011-01-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

Just played a doubles tournament with 'The Good the Bad the Bromley' My second was Death Jester with his Eldar, me with my Death Korps of Krieg. 1000Points Each. We played three very friendly games:
- Game 1: Imperial Guard - Imperial Guard
- Game 2: Space Marines - Space Marines
- Game 3: Space Marines - Imperial Guard

We won one drew one and lost one. To my great surprise we were first equal with three other teams! When the tie breaker was taken into consideration we were third. To top it all off, we were both voted best painted armies.

The Hardest game and the game we lost was the Guard - Guard Game. They had over two hundred infantry models on the board with three blocks of 45 infantry each. My army was almost entirely anti-tank with 3 Vendettas and Veteran Grenadiers with Melta Spam.

Project: Valdor Part 1: Planning

2010-09-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna make me a me a Valdor Heavy tank. I've never played one on the board so I don't know whether they are effective or not. However , my regular opponent has started to field a Cobra, so I am looking for a cheap heavy tank to counter it. I've had the kit kicking around for a while, so perhaps its time to build it a s a counter to the Cobra.
As with the post on the Banewolf Squadron, I'm going to look for some context for the model in order to try and give some direction to the build and add some flavour to the model. I do this by asking three questions: What is a Valdor; Why Does the Regiment have one?; When is this Valdor depicted.

So...

What is a Valdor
What do we know about the Valdor Tank: The Valdor is an Imperial Guard tank weighing in at 96 Ton 11.6 meter long variant of the Malcador tank. It has a crew of 5, with a Commander; Driver; an Enginseer and 2 gunners. Its size makes it a Heavy Tank in the Imperial guard. It is believed to have been developed in the years immediately afHter Horus Heresy, at time known as the Scouring of the Imperium. There are references in ancient texts to the Valdor being used to counter the Enemies superior numbers of Land Raiders.
Its main gun is a Neutron Laser. This horrific weapon breaks down the material it touches at the molecular level, releasing a massive Elector Magnetic shock as a consequence.

Very few forge worlds now have the level of sophistication to construct the Valdor in any numbers, or even maintain so they are more often seen in the hands of Adeptus Mechanicus forces.
There are three listed forge worlds still producing these tanks:
- Lathe-Het
- Cyraxus II; and
- Mars.
There is no record of these world producing different patterns but given their vastly separated location it seems entirely feasable these machines designs may have shifted over the millennia of separation.

Only a precious few ever make it into the hands of Imperial Guard regiments, and even then they are usually very Venerable and honoured regiments or they hail from worlds with close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Why? and When
Why, why would the 291st Panzer Grenadiers have one? While the regiment may have picked up a wreck from its time as a foot regiment on Vraks, however the campaign on that world is nearly 200 years after the period the 291st is depicted in. 'Now' for the regiment is the Praxedes VI Campaign 747.M41, where the regiment participated in the Imperial attempt to resist Tau annexation of the world. The war ground to a bloody stalemate as neither side was willing to commit the strategic assets to bring the campaign to it conclusion. Two years into the war the Eldar intervened after Necron artefacts were discovered. Eldar had no qualms about deploying strategic reserves to destroy the the ancient foe and anything that stood in their way. Scorpion superheavy tanks were soon roaming the shattered trench works of the Tau and Imperial forces.
This Valdor was readied from the divisional stores and deployed on loan to the 291st Death Korps. The regiment was singled out for the honour after destroying the first of Scorpion with meltas and demolition charges in a sustained close assault, waves of Eldar were thrown at the wreck site in a vain effort to recover ruined hulk. The 291st repulsed all of the attempts and eventually handed over the hulk of the tank to a grateful Adeptus Mechanicus. The Valdor was was re-consecrated to the machine-god in the Desert colours of Praxedes VI in order to combat the Eldar Super heavy tank.
Whilst it has only just been moved out of deep storage, fresh from showers of sacred unguents, the Tank has not been left untouched by the planet. Praxedes VI has a sulphur rich crust. Dust from this world quickly invades any cracks or scratches in the in the protective coatings of a vehicle and begins insidious corrosion of the metal underneath.
This vehicle is a fine example of the rapid surface corrosion that occurs anywhere that the dust can get at bare metal.
The honour of receiving the tank granted the regiment limited rights to place their own recognition decals on the doctrinally approved sections of it holy hull.

Overall painting plan and method
Undercoat: Halfords Grey Primer
Basecoat: Citadael Chaos Black
Top coat: Vallejo Air:
Mapping: Vallejo Air:
Camo Pattern: Vallejo Air:
Decals
Matt Varnish
Chipping:
Filters: Burnt Umber; Black
Spot Filters:
General Rusting
Fuel and oil staining
Detailing

And now the confession: I really Really should have written this first. I haven't, Ive gone straight in and jumped from 'Top coat' to 'Filters' I have just reallised this as I have looked back at the Banewolf Squadron, log and seen what order i did that in.

I'm hoping I can still recover this tank and I haven't just wrecked it like I did the first Desert coloured Vendetta. in that case, i rushed and sprayed the matt varnish before applying the decals. Decals don't stick to spray on matt varnish. I hope they stick to Windsor Newton oil washes.

The Death of Veteran Watchmaster Bastonikov

2010-09-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

Citizens! mourn the death of the great hero of the Imperium, Bastonikov. Victor of Vidighese, Lion of the Shadam Agricomplex, Destroyer of the 'Bismarck' Cobra. The Great Bastoikov has fallen in fierce combat with the Hated Xenos Foe.

Dispatch From the Front!
217.747.M41: Praxedes IV: Battle of Shield station 6. I Battalion , XV Company, smashed the Eldar defences around the derilict shield station 6. By now the xenos lines were thoughly in dissaray and retreating wholesale back towards the Webway gate they had arrived in. Celebrated veteran Watchmaster Bastonikov, as always at the forefront of the fight, was cut down by howling banshees as he rushed to seize the derilict bunker complex overlooking the valley where the void shield station lay. Batonikov Stood his ground as the Eldar witches cut his squad to peices around him. Like the True son of the Emperor he turned at bay and slew 4 of the Xenos scum before they overwhelmed him and the last of his comrades. The Eldar crones stormed into the bunker complex, where they were met by Colonel von Krieg. He revenged his fallen comrade by cutting down the remaining banshees in a hail of Laz-fire.

The actions of Watchmaster Bastonikov and his brothers In arms have brought the war on Praxedes IV within measurable distance of its end.

Prayers will be sent to the Emperor for Bastonikov and his brothers in the great Chantry of 'The Emperors Hammer' at the 3rd quater all this week.

I Btn XV Co I Platoon III Grenadiers (Air Mob)

2010-08-31T01:36:00.000-07:00

1st Battalion; 15th Company; 1st Platoon; 3rd Grenadiers (Air Mobile)

XV Company has been at the forefront of the regiments fighting edge throughout the campaign on Praxedes IV (747.M41), participating in the rearguard after the retreat from Vidighese; the Shadam Agricomplex and the 'Bismark Gambit'. Watchmaster Ignace Kerasky Is a veteran of the 16th Founding being a member of a graduating Sibling company (sibko) transferred to the 291st at the raising of the regiment in 741.M41. He was promoted to the position from the fusiliers when the Artillery unit he was protection was overrun by Tau during the H'Rus incident.

Not shown is the squads Vendetta transport.

I Btn XV Coy I Platoon I Grenadiers (Air Mob)

2010-08-23T22:15:00.001-07:00

1st Battalion; 15th Company; 1st Platoon; 1st Grenadiers (Air Mobile)

XV Company has been at the forefront of the regiments fighting edge throughout the campaign on Praxedes XV, participating in the rearguard after the retreat from Vidighese; the Shadam Agricomplex and the 'Bismark Gambit'. This squad has seen heavy casualties and has been replaced in its entirety 3 times in the course of the war on Praxedes, being reformed each time by veteran survivors from the infantry companies.

Not shown is the squads Vendetta transport.

Colonel Joachim von-Krieg

2010-08-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

I Battalion Command Team

Colonel Joachim von-Krieg

Colonel von-Krieg has been serving with the 291st since the founding of the regiment. He has participated in the campaigns on Praxedes IV (743.M41); the 1st Tyrannic War (743.M41 to 745.M41) ; and the H'Rus Incident under Inquisitor Mateus. He was severely wounded twice during the Praxedes Campaign, Once by the Tau and once during the Eldar incursion onto that world. Colonel von-Krieg continues to serve the regiment and is at present organising the regiments withdrawal from Praxedes IV for redeployment to the Normadius system.

Basing Desert Colours

2010-05-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

The First of the second Squadron of Vendettas approaches completion. Time to build the Flying Base. I quite like building the flying bases because they are big enough to get a real diorama onto the base.

One again the Theme is the Campaign for Praxedes IV, an earth like world with a high background sulphur content. The 291st participated in the heavy fighting in around the desert tropics on the main continent. So a desert base for me.

1.0: Gather all of the Fixin's for the Base

Materials:

Flying Base and stand
My Basing Mix (GW Sand: GW Slate chips: GW Slate; Green Scene Rubble Rocks)
Slate Peices
Milliput
0.5mm Brass Rod
Scatter Materials
GW Razor Wire

2.0: Some Preparation
Curl the Wire rod into the Barbed Wire Pailings. These will be pushed into the Putty later on to hold the GW Razor Wire.
Take the Plastic Base cut a hatch into the plastic with a scalpel. This gives the putty something to grip.

3.0: Build the Base
Mix the Milliput and push it out thinly onto the base until the whole base is covered.
Press the mixed basing material into the putty.
For the Large Rocks: Push the putty onto the back face of the rocks, then push the puttied face of the rock onto the base. this ensures adhesion without you having to push the rock deeply into the putty.

Once you have everything pushed on and you are satisfied with the coverage of the basing Mix. Leave to try.
In this case I wanted to show the wire had been recently mortared. So I used the butt of the Citadael Large Brush to press craters into the putty.

Note the Flying base is not yet affixed to the base. It is there only to keep the hole for it in the putty open and prevent the putty from shrinking.

4.0: Spray Chaos Black to fix the Basing Mix
Remove the Flying stand and spray Chaos Black. This helps fix the basing mix onto the putty.

5.0: Spray the Colours of the Earth
I picked a limited palette. These are very similar to the colours used on the Flyer.

I started with the VMA Dark Green, sprayed all over, then the VMA: Khaki Brown, Then the VMA: SAND Yellow. The idea as to create a variation in colour on the base. The Black grey was sprayed into the centre of the craters and on Radial Lines out from the centre of the crater.
The Rocks were also sprayed with a Colour not shown, that of VMA: Yellow Ochre.

In order to bring the edges up and lighten the whole thing off I decided to dry brush with C: Bleached bone. also pictured is the C:Vermin Brown for the Pailings and Razor wire.

6.0: Glue in the Flying Stand
With some glue :-)

Conclusion:
I've Skipped the paining of the detail because I basically haven't done it.. I am unhappy with the corpse of the Mordian. I feel I should be paining it like a regular model. Instead he's basically the same colour as the base with a red uniform. Maybe in the future I'll do something about it when I'm a bit more inspired.

Also I think I should add a little bit of yellow/black flock around the base of the rock to break up the rockiness.

Project: Vulture

2010-04-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well, its done. The canopy has been closed up and the final dusting of weathering powder has been added and its ready to play. The more observant of you will have noticed its already had an outing on the field. With punisher cannons mounted, the Vulture acquitted itself admirably. It was so successful that my usual opposition declared that the Vulture had just become one of his Priority targets when playing the 291st.

Top Down Exploded View:

The whole weapons range is magnetised and includes: Twin linked multi-laser; Twin linked las-cannon; Twin linked Punisher cannon; and Rocket Pods.

Front Exploded View:

I would like in the future to get the all of the weapons to round out the hard point options in Imperial Armour apocalypse, like the missile launcher.

Flying Stand Right Front Quarter:

Flying Stand Left Rear Quarter:

Flying:

There may be some photo shop involved in this picture ;-)

Well that's it. That's the Imperial Navy Vulture No. 23 attached to 15th Company 291st Death Korps of Krieg Panzer Grenadiers. If you have read this far I hope you have enjoyed the photo spread. Next on the workbench is a Vendetta Squadron in the same Praxedes IV colour scheme.

Sunday Gaming

2010-04-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

Back at Bromley battle bunker again, gaming on a sunday because work has precluded any Friday night activities once again.
So today we have a 1750 pt outing against an eldar army by DeathJester. Both of us are trotting out somthing new this time. He has 3 new D-cannon to try and I have the Vulture on it's maiden flight. We rolled for a game in battle missions and got 'Dawn Raid', a dark eldar mission with me as the attacker and DeathJester as defender. Great piece of luck for me with my guard cavalry army list a perfect proxy for dark eldar.
Oh but the Emperor is a busy man. One minute he is giving you the perfect game setup, the next he is looking elsewhere while the perfidious eldar are stealing the initiative after your scout move has put you in range of a battery of D-Cannons. Still he quickly came back and sorted it out so the eldar managed no damage with their first turn.

By the end of the game the eldar had been smashed. They retained 1stunned war walker and a ranger on the field, whilst the Glorious 291st Death Korps of Krieg, 15th Company still had Graf Krieg and his entire command squad, a Vulture, a slightly damaged Vendetta, and Bastogne and his boys. But he had an objective and so did I. So in the end a draw.

PS thius will be my last attempt at an emailed iPhone Blog. This bally aticle took took 4 attempts to get up and in the end I have hooked the iPhone up to the PC and did it the old fashioned way.

Project Vulture: Half way there

2010-04-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

A frend of mine has come over and brought his Cannon EOS 500D. Most of my shots are done using my own, older Cannon EOS 400D with a Macro Lens, so I had to try a few snaps with the new camera as a contrast.

I thought I'd try a WIP of the Vulture in the new Praxedes IV theater colours, and this is the result. This camera is very good! These were taken with the standard 18mm - 55mm lens on autofocus with an appeture setting of F35 and balancing the shutter speed to the available light.

The subject is my WIP vulture in the 291st theater livery for Praxedes IV campaign. At present its waiting decals and chipping before I get stuck in in with the weathering and filters.

For all Vallejo Model Air thin all paints 3 drops colour: 1 Drop Thinner Unless otherwise specified.

Undercoat Coat:
Spray Can of Citadael Skull white.

The Exterior:
Preshading and base colour
Spray all of the panel ines with Vallejo Model Air Black (Tutorial Part 4b: Painting Techniques: BF109 Preshading).

Apply the Basic hull colours by filling in the middle of each panel towards the outer edge.
Top and Side Elevations: 3:1 Vallejo Model Air Sand Yellow to Vallejo Model Air :Ochre
Belly Elevation: (3:1 Vallejo Model Air Pale Blue

Camoflage
Apply Spots of Vallejo Model Air: Burnt Umber in a random pattern

Squadron Markings Colours:
I masked the boom rings and sprayed them VMA:white. Give the white some time to dry and mask off the White Sections with Tamiya 10mm Mask. this leaves a perfect 1 mm strip on either side of the boom rings, I sprayed these VMA: Red to get the red pencil stipes on the outside of the boom.

The Cockpit Interior
Using this tutorial link as as a guide

Base Coat: Black Grey
Panel Lines/ Stains thinned Black /Brown Mix sprayed
Further Panel line definition by Oil wash of Black/brown
Detailing: Lead pencil to highlight the edges of crew contact areas with a metalic tinge

The Crew:
The Crew are a bit stuffed up on this model. I painted citadael Space Wolves grey on the armour with the intention of using Citadael: Badab Black washes to give the unpainted Iron effect used on the Krieg granadiers. But it didnt work very well. The uniforms are VMC: Luftwaffe cam green with with a white helmet.

Key
VMA: Vallejo Model Air
VMC: Vallejo Model Colour
VGC: Vallejo Game Colour
C: Citadael
AOC: Windsor Newton Artists Oil Colour
CW: Citadel Wash

Saturday gaming

2010-03-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

Playing at games workshop Bromley today. I played two games from the new battle missions book. I chose 'War of Attrition' and my opponent (Death Jester) chose 'Pre Emptive Strike'. I lost both games. The first game was a close run thing right up until the end two turns. Turn one I smashed all of the Eldar tanks, wiped out the rangers, shattered the bike squadrion and wrecked half the walkers. At the close of turn 3 every vehicle on the table was a smouldering wreck. The Bailed out Wriath guard wrecked both of the Vendettas with gunfire and assaults. At the end of the game it was grenadiers vs wraithguard, which is not much of a contest. My troops ended up cycling onto the board a couple of times each, guaranteeing the Eldar victory. Without the Bane wolves, getting rid of the Wriath guard was nigh on impossible.

The second game never came together for me. My HQ started the game standing out in the open and was anihilated with extreme predjudice in the first turn. The banewolves didn't turn up on the board until turn five and even then arrived on the wrong flank.

My opponent very skillfully arrived at every fire-fight on the board with maximum concentration of his army, usually facing desultory fire from one or two of my units. Both fun games though and I probably learned slot more from the second game than the first.

New Posting

2010-03-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

The 291st have a new posting! 747.M41 the Regiment arrived on the world of Praxedes IV, a world under seige. Tau symparthisers had invited the Tau empire to annexe the world. This had lead to its inclusion as a target for the Damoclese crusade. With the crusade winding down the 291st, fresh from the withdrawl form the sept world of H'Rus, were redirected to the campaign to retake Praxedes.

Praxedes itself is a brown orb, too close to old father Praxedes to maintain a verdant biosphere, and made up of entirely too much sulphur for full terra-forming.

The Regiment was thrown into the battle almost immediately upon arrival. No time was allowed for theater aclimatisation, or re-equipping for the enviroment. This saw the regiment fighing its first few encounters in the traditional Krieg black. It wasn't until after its first 100 days of fighting that units started to be re-equiped with uniforms more fitting for the hot, barren enviroment of Praxedes IV.

In otherwords, I have decided to go for another colour scheme, a desert colour scheme, and to the releif of my wife, a brighter colour scheme. Fo years she has lamented me "paining things black", so the new buff coats are much better in her opinion.
The method I have chosen it paint these is a hybrid of Airbrush and Brush applied washes. I've seen a few desert painted Death Korps armies around but it was Ishkurs method that caught my eye the most. He had some stunning guardsmen up on his site and a very simple recipie for producing them. He is spraying white basecoat, then , then brush coating them with devlan mud and Grypone Sepia washes to achive some incredible results.
I thought to myself I could do that. I still wanted a darker finish that he is producing, so I varied the method a little.

So here goes:
1:      Pin any grenades, Packs, democharges or other belt equipment to the body of the Grenadier
2:      Primer the body and arms with Halfords Primer "Grey" Spray

3:      Spray GW Black as an undercoat
4:      Pin the arms to the Grenadier
4b:    Superglue the power cable to the powerpack then using a hair dryer on hot setting, blow dry the power cable until it is soft enough to pull into the slot under the hellguun ans superglue in.
5:      Using an airbrush, spray ValejoAir: Sea Grey (Much like C: Astronomicon Grey) from a high angle. this is to try and leave shadowed areas still black
6:      Wash the Steel in CW: Badab Black (4 -5 layers I think)
7:      Wash the Storm coat in CW:Gryphonne Sepia (5-6 layers I think)
8:      Wash the trousers in CW:Devlan mud (2-3 layers I think)
9:      Drybrush the storm-coat with 1:1 C: Snakebite leather and C: Bone White
10:    Paint the leather webbing C:Bestial Brown
11a: Paint the Face plate of the Gas mask C:Astronomicon Grey wetted out 1:1 with water
11b: Edge the Steel with White or C:Space Wolves Grey to get the light glinting of points in the armour.
12:    Wet down V:Blood Red and wash it into the eye peices.

And your done.....
I love this method, I lined up 30 Kreig grenadiers all completely assembled and equiped using step 1 thru 4, then powered through steps 6 thru 9 on all thirty models in one evening. A few more evenings of detailing where it was needed (powerswords and brass work on the Grenade Launcher ammunition etc) was all that was left and I had 30 New Grenadiers!

Applying this to the Drax Method of Army planning you can see I went from a standing start to my infantry compliment mostly complete!

Next, some Vendettas, This will be like Project Valkyrie Rebooted with Desert Colours. I did Finish the Squadron of Navy Grey coloured Vendetta's, but Now I want to re do them in a Panzer Yellow colour.

Friday night gaming

2010-02-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Another Friday Night game and another attempt at real time blogging uisng the iPhone and email functions. I'm having to edit this again because once again the post has lost most of the text. It seems that it chops off any text posted after the first attached photo. Oh well, next time it'll work....

Game XII: The Shadam AgriComplex 0827-Epsilon
Tau vs Imperial Guard 1500pts

High above Praxedes IV things had just begun to heat up in Port Franxs, while on the planets surface, the war for Praxedes IV continued to rage unabated. Imperial forces launched a sudden offensive to recapture the ruined Agricombine complex above the river Shadaut. Cavalry elements of the 291st Death Korps, supported by attached Navy Vendetta's, struck at midday. The assault was timed to strike just as Old Father Praxedes reached his zenith in the sky. Three Vendetta's carrying 20 Grenadiers from 15th Company, deployed by wire line jump into the ruined Administratum building and took up positions on the first and second floors. The Vendetta's having delivered their cargo shot back from the building in order to give long range fire support.

With the arrival of the Necrons, this sector had been quiet for months. The arrival of the 291st in the sector, in their newly issued praxedes summer uniforms, had gone completely un noticed by the Tau. Tau command were caught completely off guard by the sudden stroke. There was little time for planning, they simply had to scramble any available units into the field. The first to respond were a group of Kroot on a patrol through the area.
The Xenos approached from the south directly into the ambush zone outside the by now heavily fortified Administratum building. They fought bravely and even managed a volley of fire before they were obliterated by fire directed by the Forward observer attached to Captain Fustus, and a hail of lasfire from the Grenadiers.

Tau commander squad on ready reaction duty shot over the battle field on a high arc, comming down just behind the Banewolves moving up the right flank to support the Grenadiers. Tau technomagic allowed them to target a Vendetta with a hail of high energy beams and missiles as they came down. In the cockpit of the Vendetta, , alarms screamed and the consoles of the weapons officer lit up like a Emperor Day tree warning of a target lock. The pilot reacted immediatly, jinking just in time to avid the worst of the fire, but it left the ship badly placed to return fire.

The Banewolves however, were left with a perfect opportunity. They slewed around on their treads, and circled the Tau battle suits. Corrosive molecular acids spewed from the turrets of the vehicles, splashing over drones burning through seals and electronics alike, drones and suits alike sparked and burst apart as the acids reduced them. The Tau commander was soon left standing alone and dragging a lump of mettal where his foot actuators used to be.

The Tau commander jumped from the ring of the Banewolves and fired directly up into the rear of the sill jinking Vendetta. One ion bolt flew true a penetrarted the thin armour of the rear loading door, and continued up through the roof of the vehicle into the Jet engines shatetring the turbines within. The Turbine came appart in an angry burst of parts and smoke, slamming the vehicle into the ground.
but the vicory was short lived and the Banewolves sun again and hosed the commander with fire. His suit was speared by Fusion beams and stubbers, finally comming appart and melting into the rapidly deepening pool of molecular acit.

Outside the back quarter of the Administratum ruins, Tau stealth suits struck from the skies, loosing rapid fire energy beams at the squad sheltering in the rubble. Caught completely off guard, the veterans of 2nd Squad bolted, back towards their own lines, firing as they went. Four stealth suits went down, caught in the hail of fire from the retreating guard. 1st SQuad, still in the rafters turned to pour more fire into them and another was killed, it was enough and the stealth suits broke for their own lines. Then Marbiov emerged from the ruins, and charged the stealth suits. Firing into their backs as he came, they were cut down.

The Tau counter attack had failed, smashed by artillery and demo charges, the Tau fell back in dissarray. The Tau tanks only just arriving, had no-one left to support. Turning back for their own lines, one Tau tank took a pot shot at Marbiov frying him before dissapearing out of view.

The Death of Marbiov

Reprise
The old Agricombine complex sat on a hill overlooking a bow in the the river Shadaut. Below it, spread out for miles lay the Tau positions. Within hours of the stuggle to capture it, the Imperium had moved in in force. The artillery opened up all along the line following instructions directed from the combine. Further Tau counterattacks were broken up by precision atillery before they could even get started. Soon the Tau position in the wole sector became untenable, forcing a more general withdrawl.

Imperial Victory!

Friday night Game vs Eldar

2010-02-12T15:38:00.000-08:00

Its friday night and my first friday game of 40K for a while. I have mostly finished painting the Vendetta Squadron, so I thought I'd give them an outing.
The army List was 1 Comand HQ with Creed, two snipers, Medic, and a Plasma rifle, an Astropath and forward observer (Master of the Ordinance); a Leman Russ; a Squadron of three Bane wolves and two squadrons of Vendettas; Carruing 2 Squads of Grenadiers with Demo charges.

Deployment and scout moves went ok right up to the point DeathJester Stole the initiative. Still, with a full round of shooting at my Vendettas sitting in his face, Fortuna was not with him and he missed with everything!
By turn four most of the models of both sides were wrecked or removed as casualties. For me the Vendettas worked great! smashing vehicle after vehicle with Twin Linked laz cannons. I moved them a little too close though as I was trying to put down troops on the objective too soon and at least one of them was trashed by Asurman in close assault. Once he had downed it, he ran up and slotted the poor lone Veteran climbing out of the imobilised vehicle, and my last remaining troop choice.

This was origninally posted from a iPhone and I have had to edit it because somthing has been lost in the translation when it was sent :-(

Project: Valkyrie: The Cargo bay

2010-01-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

Painting the cargo bay. No 'in progress'es here, just the end result. I have been asked in the comments if I am using the IA:Masterclass as a guide. I am in as much as I use it as a source material for some of the techniques, such as sponging for the chips and the plan for the heat corroded metal colouring for the engine. I am not specifically following the colour schemes. I would argue I will end up (hopefully) closer to the Testors Scale workshop effects on the exterior.

Project Valkyrie: Planning for painting

2009-12-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Planning for Painting
I fore-see painting these models taking a long time and being done in many stages, so I think some forward planning might be in order to keep me on track. I have laid out my plan here below for my own reference and I will probably have to up date it as practicalities rear their ugly heads. At the bottom of this post is a list of links to tutorial videos I found on painting using an airbrush. I will be following these quite closely. It is the colour scheme I had in mind anyway (A miss spent youth poring over books on the luftwaffe has obviously left me hopelessly corrupt) so thart was a bonus when I came across the guides.

Assembly:
Assemble the major components:

Undercoat Coat:
Spray Can of Citadael Skull white.

The Cargo bay:
Basecoat VMA: Dark Yellow. Spray all of the inerior and the Inside surface of the doors and the rear cargo hatch.
Mix black VGC:Black and C:Scortched brown (1:2) . Use a sponge to dab the mix lightly to the areas of crew contact. More on the floor less on the walls.

Pick out the buttons in white then paint a layer of green or blue or red on the buttons.
Pick out other details like the stanchions in metalics

Thin AOC: Burnt umber and wash it into the detail on the walls and floor. This adds depth to the detail as well as adding a patina of age to the interior. Once this is dry, add some MIG: European Dust weathering powder to the mix and wash it around the floor.

The Light fittings are oversprayed with thinned VMA: Yellow on the area surrounding the light fittings. This should be very subtle.

The Exterior:
Preshading and base colour
Spray all of the panel ines with Vallajo Model Air Black (Tutorial Part 4b: Painting Techniques: BF109 Preshading).

Apply the Basic hull colours by filling in the middle of each panel towards the outer edge. Then a broad overspray of the same base colour to make the preshading a bit more subtle.:

Side Elevation: VMA: Light Grey
Upper surface: [VMA: Dark Grey]:[VMA: Light Grey] at 3:1

Mottling
For the mottling Use the upper surfcae colour above, but thin to 1:1 pigment to thinners

Squadron Markings Colours:
I masked the Tail aelerons and boom rings and sprayed them VMA:white. Give the white some time to dry and spray the white sections VMA: Yellow.

Tidy Up
Landing Skids - Black and Graphite

The Decals:
Apply the Decals to the last layer of paint! Not after its been Varnished! you muppet (Thats me, not you)!

Engine Cowling:
I am going to go for a heat blasted rust. Start with a base coat of C:Snake Bite Leather. On the rear ring, Paint in C:Chainmail. Add alternate layers of CW: Asuriman Blue and CW: Ball Red across the whole engine cowl. When it starts looking right, wash with thined AOC: Burnt umber and AOC: Black.

Exterior Weathering:
Thin AOC: Burnt umber and wash it into the details. This adds depth to the detail.
Spray VMA: Dark Yellow onto the areas heat damaged by the engine exaust and Laz cannon mounts. The Dark Yellow is thinned with Model Air thinners 2:1 instead of the usual 3:1.
Spray VMA: Black onto the center of the areas heat damaged by the engine exaust. The Black is thinned with Model Air thinners 2:1 instead of the usual 3:1.

The Cockpit Interior
Using this tutorial link as as a guide

Base Coat: Black Grey
Panel Lines/ Stains thinned Black /Brown Mix sprayed
Further Panel line definition by Oil wash of Black/brown
Detailing: Lead pencil to highlight the edges of crew contact areas with a metailic tinge
Orange plastic control surfaces

The Crew:
The crew will be wearing a tan uniform (VMC: Khaki) and green armour plates (VMC: Luftwaffe cam green) with with a white helmet.

For all Vallejo Model Air thin all paints 3 drops colour: 1 Drop Thinner Unless otherwise specified.

Tutorial Index
From Testors Scale Workshop
Full list of Testors Tutorials

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Introduction: Tools
Part 3: Introduction: Aribrush
Part 4a: Introduction: Painting
Part 4b: Painting Techniques: BF109 Preshading
Apply a Body Colour to top and sides
Apply an Upper surface Colour
Apply the lower surface Colour
Part 5: Painting Techniques: BF109 Masking
Part 6: Painting Techniques: BF109 Masking Techniques and Mottling
Part 7: Decal Tools and Techniques
Part 8: Compare to Real Thing
Part 9: Panel Line Washes

Interiors: Part 1
Interiors: Part 2

Post Shading: Part 1
Post Shading: Part 2

Chipping and exaust stains

Applying a Flat Coat to a scale model

Applying Future to Clear plastic Parts

Final Report

Building a Flying Stand

Key
VMA: Vallejo Model Air
VMC: Vallejo Model Colour
VGC: Vallejo Game Colour
C: Citadael
AOC: Windsor Newton Artists Oil Colour
CW: Citadel Wash

Project: Valkyrie Squadron Part 2

2009-12-28T02:33:00.000-08:00

Constructing the major components
I have finally had some time to build the major components (Yes I fall into the 'Build Paint it as components' school of thought) ready for painting. After having glued the components together however I realised I should have glued the other half of the nose section to the body. This would have allowed me to magentise the weapon mount before painitng, as it is I will have to paint the model to the point I can fit the crew module before glueing on the side panel and fitting the magnet.

Not shown here are the wings. I plan to magnetise the wing hard points so they remain un-assembled.

The next step will be to paint the interiors on the three hulls at the same time. I will be undercoating the interior with citadael white. Then using my newly aquired airbrush I will be painting the interior a tan base colour.

Project: Valkyrie Squadron Part 1

2009-11-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

We played a scenario the other day that forced my army out of its ususal transports, Chimeras (Chugs) and into a Deep striking Flyer goodness mode. I picked one Valkyrie/Vulture for the force as the Anti-Tank component, principally because I only have one Valkyrie model built. I picked up a few forgeworld Resin models years ago, painted and assembled two of them and only one has survived the ravages of the gaming table. So off to the table I went with one of the New Fifth Edition Vendettas in my army list. And it Rocked! It kicked A$$. It took names.
My Tau opposition didn't know what to fire at first, the Three twin linked Las Cannons on the Armour 12 Chassis Vendetta, Or the Three Bane Wolves bearing down on his army full of multi melta goodness! Mmmm confusion in the enemys targeting computer, just what the doctor ordered!
So with the Banewolf's off and kicking Tau around the table top, a squadron of Vendettas seemed a good choice for the next Project.

Part 1: Planning
I'm gonna make me a squadron of three Valkyries. These Valkyries will be operating with the Imperial Navy contingent on Praxedes IV.
Construction will include magnetising the hull and Wing hard points for quick swaps of weapon load outs .
To keep them stylistically the same as the Death Korps they will be painted in a Grey/Dark mottled scheme. I'll be painitng with an airbrush and I have also found a series of painting guides for using an airbrush to paint a Messershimtt ME 109 in a very similar colour scheme to the one I have in mind, so I'll be following that series quite closely.
I hope to use the forgeworld decal sheets for detailing.

What are Valkyires?
What do we know? as usual I'm going to start with a visit to the Librarium Lexicanum. The Valkyrie is a heavily armed airborne armoured assault carrier with VTOL capabilities, used to ferry special forces infantry units such as Storm Trooper Squads and Drop Troop Regiments such as the Elysian Drop Troops to and from combat zones.
The craft has two door mounted Heavy Bolters for door gunners to operate. This combination of weapons allows Valkyrie pilots to stay on station once their cargo has been dropped and provide limited air-support to the troops on the ground. Valkyries carrying extra fuel are capable of carrying modified Drop Sentinel, Cyclops and Sentry Gun instead of troops. In most cases, the Valkyrie, like most of the Imperium's aircraft, is piloted and operated by the Imperial Navy, and are provided in joint operations for use to the Imperial Guard on a need basis.
The Primary modification is reinforced armor with extra armor added to that to reduce the chance of damage and force of heavy weapon impacts. This extra weight reduces the Valkyries max flight altitude and speed, but allows the crew to use it's VTOL capabilities to the maximum potential with improved survivability.

The Vendetta Heavy gunship are Valkyrie's which have been attached to Imperial Guard units and received the increased armor, and then equipped with 3 Twin-Linked Lascannons, and used as a tank hunter after dropping off any unit being transported by it. Further more, it still retains the ability to mount 2 Heavy Bolter door guns. It may also replace the 2 hardpoint mounted Twin-linked lascannons on its wings for 2 Hellfury incendiary missiles instead.

There are ten known patterns being made by seven listed forgeworlds including Lucius, the forgeworld that produces the Number 98 pattern lasgun for the men of Krieg. However the differences between the patterns are not known.

Some Images for reference and Ideas

Remembrance Day

2009-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

At the Going down of the sun, and in the evening

We will remember them

11/11/1918 11:11

Project Banewolf: Postscript

2009-11-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

I was crusing through the Warp and came across the Banewolf done for the 14th Grand Company, a Chaos Traitor website. This is an outstanding treatment of the tank, blood red with a good use of weathering, not too heavy, not too light. What really caught my eye was the green bubble filled glass like tube. I was wondering how to do the chem nozzels on my Banewolves. Leaving metalic just seemed a bit boring. This is most definately one answer.
At the moment the Banewolves are stored elsewhere so, this is more of an aide memior until I can get me, some paint and the Squadron in the asme place at the same time.

Cudos to the folks over at 14th Grand Comany for a lovely BaneWolf!

The Ragnarok

2009-10-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

I kinda sorta finished painting the Ragnarok a while ago. I just never got around to Photographing the thing. Mostly because I never got around to painting the stowage. I painted it using the method described in the Forgeworld Masterclass book for the Artillery peice.
Anyhow, on friday I arrived too late for the game, so camera in hand I shot photos left right and center (But not stowage) of the Ragnarok. So here it is, surrounded by Vostroyans from the CCCLII Firstborne:

Project: Bane Wolf squadron: Part 3 Painting

2009-10-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

1.0: Camo Base
Codex Grey and Battle grey in stripes

(At this point I chould have done some colour variation mapping)

2.0: Campaign Marking Banners
Mask off the front left panel then Spray a white stripe White with Scab red pinstripe.
(I should have do new the chipping method with hairspray and sand grit.)

3.0: Decals
Red small eagles onto the bannersVehicle numbers; Ammo Storage; Krieg labels

4.0: Chipping using a sponge.
4.1 For the Battle grey stripes, Sponge on codex grey chips across the stripes concentrating on the areas where the crew comes into contact with the hull.
4.2 Then the darker, older chips are sponged on with a mix of 2:1 Scorched brown:Chaos Black.
4.3 Using a brush, join some of the chips
together to make a larger chip. Use Fortress grey to put a thin line below the larger chips to highlight them. Helps create the illusion of peeling or worn paint.

5: Seal with matt spray

(At this point I should have done some selective Filteres with Acrylics to create rain streaks.

6: Rivet filters
6.1 Using Black Oil paints, tin it down with white spirit to a wash. touch a wet brush to the rivet
head and let the surface tension carry it around the rivet. Don't over do it.
6.2 wait for it to dry.

7.0: Hull Rust
Flick Mars Red or Rust Red oild paints onto the hull from an old dry brush. Spray on White spirit to soften and difuse the rust.

8.0: The Tracks
I was going for well used dusty tracks.
8.1 Paint the Tracks a mid-brown colour
8.2 Grind some Graphite and rub it onto the tracks to highlight with metalic.
8.3 Edge highlight with mithril silver
8.4 Go over the Rubber road pads with Vallejo German Panzer grey.
8.5 Dust on 'European dust' and 'Industrial dirt' and fix it by driping on white spirit.
8.6 When it dries dust off the excess.

9.0: Charing on the battle damage
Light airgun spray Chaos black on areas of battle damage

10:0 Stowage
I hate doing stowage. Its one of the last things I do before weathering and I hate it

10: Pipes
Principally a weathering task. Paint with oil paints in a patchy manner with different reds. Dust on weathering powder and fix with white spirit, touched on and allowed to spread.

11: Stubber and Melta
11.2 grind some Graphite and rub it onto the tracks to highlight with metalic.
11.3 Edge highlight with mithril silver

(I should have done somthing more here. perhaps the brown through black sprays for the carbon scoring
on the muzzel would have been better).

12: Lenses
Painted using layering technique. Starting with Chaos Black; Scab red; Blood red; Sunburst yellow. Then a dot of white in the corner furthest away from the yellow highlight.

Enemy at the Gates

2009-10-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Tau gunline holds the outer perimeter of the prison.

Necron Gauss Weapon Effects

2009-10-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Using Jascs Paintshop Pro version 8.0
1 Select the Glowing Bars
Open the basic Image. Use free hand select tool to select the rods which will glow:

I did not select the very distant bars.

Promote Selection to Layer
Once the Selection was complete I Promoted the Selection to a new Raster Layer:

Setup the Core
Rename the new Layer to 'Core'. Set the Colour Selector to the bright colour, I use an off white towards green.

With the new colour, select the paintbrush tool. The Necron glass bars on the 'Core' Layer should still beselected. So Select the Core Layer and Paint the new colour into the selection.

Dupicate the Core Layer two more times and set the colour to the Eerie Green Glow.

Selecting each Layer in turn: Paint each layers selections with the new colour.

Adjust the the Gaussian Blur

For each Layer, adjust the Gausian Blur from the tool bar. I often have to play with the values but in general the 'Core' layer is the lowest blur and the upper layers are a higher blur number.

The Final Result is below:

Game VIII - Assault on Outpost Theta 220 from the Death Korps

2009-10-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

I lost the toss and was given the attackers role. Looking at the secenario, I decided to change up my usual list:

5 Man Grenadier teams would use Storm Trooper rules
All Chimeras were dropped from the list
Leman Russ (Jagd Russ) would be replaced by a Vendetta
Bane wolves would be un-squadroned

HQ:
As everything could deep strike I was not going to need Creed - (Kurtz), who is usually there to get the Banewolves outflanking. So out he went to make way for Iron Hand Stracken (Colonel Stahlin). This was going to be a short range assault, making him the obvious choice to lead the 5th Company assault.The was teamed up with a Lascannon (Hind sight - Bad choice); Astropath; Master of the Fleet and Forward Observer (Master of Ordinance); and a body gaurd (I had 15 pts spare).

Elites:
Anything that could Deep Strike Normally was allowed to Assault out of deep strike, so out went the ususal Veteran Grenadiers, in came the Storm trooper Grenadiers. In hindsight I probably should have kept the Veteran Grenadiers, less points per man for basically the same load out, and I didn't end up using the assault option anyway.

Also keeping with the deep strike -Assault, I used Marbo (Watchmaster Steiner). Again being un used to the combo, he deployed by deep strike, too far away to affect anything. Then ran about the board only getting into a combat in turn 4 whereuppon he killed 4 kroot and promptly died in the counter attacks. Bit of a disapointment. My bad though not the rules.

Troops:
Two units of Grenadiers Veterans remauined in the lis, they lost their ususal chimera rides and deployed by deep strike instead. They got to keep their lascannons and in addition were given Demo charges, with woked a treat late game, murdering a Squad of fire warriors who had just tumbled out of a wrecked transport, and half a dozen kroot.

Fast Attack:

Three single unit squadrons of Bane Wolves - These could be deployed by deep strike so I didnt need Creed (Kurtz) to out flank them. The roster aloowed up to 6 fast attack so out went the hated squadroning and they were deployed as individual units. Unfortunately for me two were imobilised in the inevidable face off with the broadsides (who died! muahhahahaha!) and one threw a track on a crater as it entered the board! They were ignored the rest of the game, even though the Multimeltas kept up a punisjhing fire on the Tau vehicles.

Vendetta: I forsee many more of these things in my fututre. They rock pure and simple. One soaked up most of the Taus anti tank fire for te game while destroying two tanks and purging a unit of firewarriors! Fear the Vendetta!

Heavy Support:
None!

Game Play:
The Game was great fun, it see-sawed back and forth on almost a turn by turn basis. First turn saw the Bastion's void shield poped, then The Bastion itself was destroyed, followed by most of the Tau vehicles deployed., surely leaving rhe Imperium ascendant Then the Bane wolves were immoblised, leaving the Tau looking in a good position.

Guardsmen started dying in droves, then Tau, then more Tau vehicles poped by Meltas and Multimeltas.
Colonel Stahlin and his HQ made it into the crater and took a charge from the Kroot. It looked all over for the Tau with an Imperial win, but in an impressive (and throughly Wilkinson like) set of dice rolls a single Kroot was left in the crater and a dice roll ended the Game. One more turn and theTau troop choices and HQ,s would have been exterminated or at least held out of the crated by Assaults. Overall a Very fun game! and a Win for tyhe Tau, Leaving Billzard Wolf (Tau) in the lead on 3 VPs for the campaign with one each for Death Jester (Necrons) and CommissarHarris (291st Death Korps of Krieg).

Project: Bane Wolf squadron Part 2

2009-09-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

Part 2: Super Detailing on the First Tank
Assemble the components
Start by assembling the tank from the kit. I have left the three gun nozzles unattached so I can change the tank model from a bane wolf to a hell hound etc.
Leave the turret base plate unfitted. This will make the adding the lifting hooks on the turret much easier.
Leave the pipe run, the back door and the vats out as well.

Physical scratches and chips
Once the hull and turret are complete, take a scalpel blade and carefully make nicks and scratches and gouges on the hull and turret. I pay special attention to the base of the side plates and the area at the base of the front and back of the tank These are areas that will be bounced off and scuffed by stone, brick re-enforcing trees etc. First the Turret.

Hatches with Hinges and Handles
Drill the turret hatch barrel all the way through with a 0.8mm hole. Fit the hatch into the hatch hole and drill the turret hinges. If it goes well the drill bit will find the hole in the hatch and guide it through to the other side.
Once you've got the hole, cut a length from a paperclip and push it through the hole. Trim to fit. Touch a super glue brush to the sides of the hatch hinge, capillary action will carry the super glue into the hinge.
There would be an inner handle to let the crew pull the hatch shut. I fitted this with a small bit of 0.6mm brass wire, bent as best i could with a pair of pliers.

Turret Casting Number
This Turret is casting run 2-P6. The letters are cut from a games Workshop sprue. I changed up the scalpel blade for a fresh one just for the task. Carefully slice the letter or number off the sprue, trying to take just the number and not any of the surrounding material.

Once all three letters and the dash were cut off, I puddled some plastic cement in my palette and used tweezers to pick up the letter and gently touch the letter to the puddle of cement. Then put them on the turret. I used the butt of the scalpel to push the letter onto the turret. The idea here is to stick the letters on without leaving large glue smears on the turret plastic.

Turret Lifting Hooks
There are three lifting hooks fitted to the turret, two on top at the front and one on the side at the rear.
Lengths were cut from a paper clip and bent over a the neck of a GW sculpting tool to give a small radius U shape, with one short leg and one long leg.
With an 0.8mm bit, drill a hole in the turret where the first hook will go. Push the long leg of the hook into the hole. Mark where the short leg lands, and drill the second hole. Superglue the hook in from the underside of the turret. Repeat for the other two hooks.

Pintle Mount ring
The Pintle mount is mounted on sliding rings rather than fixed to the turret hatch ring. This is made from a 1mm sheet of plasti-card cut into a strip 3mm wide, then glued carefully to the step on the turret hatch ring.
The mounting arms are from the GW tank accessories sprue. A slot is cut into the end of the arm to allow it to slot over the pintle mount ring. The Guns themselves are from the Death Korps Grenadiers special weapons kit. These have been pinned to the Pintle arm in an 'at rest' position.

Then on to the Hull
Hatch Handles and crew access handles
I added a paperclip wire staple (a piece of wire bent into a 'C' shape) to the engine maintenance hatches on both sides of the vehicle. I also added a smaller staple to the shoulder of the vehicle just above the hatch. The theory is the crew can stand on the engine hatch handle and hold on to the hand hold on the shoulder and swing themselves up.

Fuel Cap All vehicles need em. I have fitted some after market resin fuel caps to the rear vat cover on the left hand side. The cap hinge was drilled out on one side and a length of 0.5mm rod bent into an "L" shape and pushed into the hinge as a primitive return spring to close the hatch again if a crew member leaves it open. Extra Amour?

Sand Bags?
Not today

Smoke launchers
A smoke launcher comes from the Imperial Guard vehicle Accessory sprue I cut off the ends of the some of the smoke launcher tubes and drilled out the tubes to simulate smoke rounds that have been fired and not yet replaced by the crew.
The Launcher was then fitted to the tank above the Melta cannon. Three 0.5mm have been drilled into the hull and the into the smoke launcher. Telephone exchange wire was used to show the firing wires for each smoke tubes.

Track Guards
Track guards have been fitted in various states of damage to the tanks. Thin the edges that are exposed using a Dremel and needle files. Remember these are often not much more than pressed tin mudguards, and as such are definitely way too thick for the scale of the model. Carefully thin spots along the length of the mudguards until they are translucent. You can then push holes through the translucent but to simulate the track guards having been damaged by something heavy coming off the tracks in motion.
I also sometimes take off the rivet heads on the banding and drill out where the rivet heads were. Then carefully cut back the fixing strip where it has come away from the track guard.

Battle Damage
Melta /Gauss damage
None today

Laser Damage
None today

Shell Strikes
This Bane wolf has been in action for several years and taken a few hits from High Tech Tau, solid rounds. These have been simulated thusly:

Take a Brass rod 1.2mm thick heat the end over the Gas hob.
Find a spot you would like to damage and dig it in and twirl it around a bit.
Heat the rod again and scratch some lines away from the point of impact.
Then get the scalpel and randomly cut away wedges from the 'moosh' that squidged away from the poker. You want a rough edged hole with only a little bit of 'moosh' left.
I also used a Dremel to add a few more gouges radiating away from the hole.

Stowage
- Unditching Gear (Shovels, Picks Blocks Tackle Chains, Tow Wire, Lumber)
- Personal Gear
- Spare Tracks

Shrapnel Damage, Embedded Shrapnel.
None today

Next time I do a tank...

Headlights
Vision Block guards
Drill out the base plate in line with the earth mover blade, and fit 6mm magnets to both the blade mountings and the hull.

Project: Bane Wolf squadron Part 1

2009-09-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Planning
I'm gonna make me a squadron of three Bane Wolfs. These babies rock! Get them outflanking with Lord Creed, and as a fast vehicle they can move 12" and fire all their weapons! Also, armed will hull mounted Multi meltas, they are fearsome Anti Tank units.

Lets start with the What?
What is a Bane Wolf, what do we know about the Bane wolf? very little directly. There is a lot more written about the Hell hound, so a lot of this discussion will be based on the Hell hound. The Hell hound and by extension the Bane Wolf are infantry support tanks. A weapons platform designed to work in close tandem with infantry during assaults, providing self propelled, armoured heavy weapon support.
The Hell hound is a flame-thrower tank and the Bane Wolf is a chemical/bio weapons tank. Given their specialist nature they are rarely deployed in company formations, but rather spread across infantry units as independent vehicles of squadrons.

There are three known patterns of Hell hound:
Mars Pattern:

Artemia Pattern:

Graia Pattern:
And one other, the new unknown pattern:
This unknown pattern most resembles the Graia pattern in body and turret design it . So I will be basing this discussion on the specifications given for the Graia.
So from the specifications given in Imperial Armor Vol IV, there is a crew of 3: Commander; Driver; and Gunner.
As far as I can see the vehicle has two crew hatches, one on the turret for the commander; and one at the front of the vehicle for the driver, although this may really only be a vision hatch that can be opened when not in combat; there does not appear to be a third hatch, meaning the gunner must enter and exit the tank from the tank commanders hatch (Sux to be him in a firefight!). There is a possible hatch to the left of the turret. This hatch is however, blocked by the turret almost throughout the traverse, leaving it at best an escape hatch and not an entry point. Why am I banging on about the crew? this will play a big part when it comes to weathering the tank. Paint work on vehicles tends to get most damaged where the crew comes into contact with the vehicle. So knowing where they get in and out is important. Also, knowing the number of crew may affect the volumes of stowage a tank may carry.

Then we have the Why?
Why would the Death Korps use a Bane wolf? It seemed simple to me when I read the description. Its a chemical weapons thrower! What could be more perfect for the Death Korps to use! Given the Krieg preference for infantry assault, coupled with the gas masks they never take off it seemed the perfect weapon for them!

Lastly the When?
291st Death Korps of Krieg arrived on Praxedes IV in the middle of the Imperial year 745.M41. At this time the regiment had 33 Bane Wolfs on the manifest in various states of repair. With three of the functioning vehicles attached to the 17th company of the regiment.
The regiment arrived with many of its vehicles still painted in the city fight livery of the Ixus V campaign. Many remained in this colour scheme, although some vehicles were repainted in a yellow tan colour for the summer campaigns in the sulphur rich environment.

More to follow....

Nerf Bolt Guns

2009-08-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

Surfed over to Mordian 7th Regiment and found a post on a nerf gun converted to look like a Bolt pistol. This piqued my interest, I like this as an idea so I immediately jumped on Google anf found some of the Nerf community he hinted at. So I don't loose this once I get the chance to take up this as a project I have collected some links here as to what I found:
The Bolt Pistol:
Possible materials

The Bolt Gun
Possible Materials

Many layers of awesome here. If I ever get around to building it there will of course be a how to.

Big Shout out to the Mordian 7th for this marvelous idea!

Game V: Rise of the Necrons

2009-08-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Malvairn heights - Praxedes IV 109.747.M41

Game: Anihilation
Result: Necron Minor Victory.
Factions:
- Blizzard Wolf H'Russ Sept Codex: Tau Empire 750pts
- DeathJester, Codex: Necrons, 1500pts
- CommissarHarris 291st Death Korps of Krieg; Codex: Imperial Guard 750pts

Imperial Armour IV: The Seige of Vraks Part III

2009-08-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

My signed copy of the Imperial Armour IV: The Seige of Vraks arrived in the mail today, completing my set of these books.

It comes with an attractive box to hold the set, and I have already packed the two older books away into it. I have temporarily put down my other modelling projects to read it. I do enjoy this series, but as an amature student in history, I do find the descriptions of the tactics of the Death korps mildly upsetting. As siege-masters go they are a bit rubbish. In 11 years of conflict on Vraks they continue with the early WWI tactics of massed infantry assaults in light order drill against a well dug in fixed positions with modern rapid fire weaponry.
Why are they not using the tactics of late war WWI German or British formations, using infiltration tactics; small heavily armed units trained for independent thought and movement, supported by sharp heavy bombardments or box barrages? The German Operation Michael and the British 100 Days offensive which ended the war were so successful in their own rights, not because of exhaustion nor the part of one side or the other, nor because of new wonder weapons, but because of changes in the tactics employed.
The Men of Krieg appear doomed to repeat the mistakes of the first years of the 1914-18 war, clinging to outmoded doctrines of Napoleonic Heavy infantry tactics in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Seige Masters my A$$.

Still an entertaining book and a must buy for any aspiring Gene-Master of Krieg. Its comes with some interesting army lists. The one I may try is the Nurgle incursion. I have always liked the imagery of the shambling horde of the dead, supported by a few Nurgle Space Marines, and perhaps the occasional demon engine. I built 90 odd zombies some years ago but never really had a functioning list to use them with. With blight drones and Plague Ogryns in the mix all that has changed!

Game IV: Retreat to the Malvairn Heights

2009-08-16T04:03:00.001-07:00

Malvairn heights - Praxedes IV 109.747.M41

Game: Anihilation
Result: Imperial Guard Major Victory.
Factions:
- Nandoo Codex: Tau Empire 1500pts
- Harris 291st Death Korps of Krieg; Codex: Imperial Guard 1500pts

8 Praxedes IV days had gone past since the fall of Vidighese, 8 Days to retreat 40 odd Clicks to the next practicable defence line at the ridge known as the Malvairn heights. Locals with the regiment knew the place from their legends. It had an evil reputation as a place of monsters, where the dead walked at night and picked off the unwary. Then military expediency had never taken much account of local tall tales.
For 8 Days the Regiment had executed a text book withdrawal from the town, leap-frogging the 40 miles back to the Massifs, each Kompanie taking turns forming a rearguard while the regiment passed through the line. In the van of the column, Regimental and divisional artillery had kept up a harassing fire on their pursuers. Shoot and scoot fire missions of mixed smoke, nerve agent and White Phosphorus rained on the pursuit in order to break them up and blind their night vision. It had been a textbook withdrawal.
Now the Regiment had reached the Heights, it was time to turn, stand and face the pursuers. When time came to stand, the 17th Kompanie was in the line as blocking force.
They had stopped just outside ruins of a bombed out refinery and begun fortifying it.

Wind whipped up dust devils around Major Kurtz where he crouched in the crater just beyond the walls of the ruins. Kurtz had come down to the forward positions of 17th Company to personally supervise the destruction of their pursuers. And that destruction would take place very soon, already wired auspex units, carefully laid beyond the screen of Willie Pete and smoke, had reported the Tau approach to the factory. At any moment they would clear the screen and the Auspexes would light up with targets. But Major Kurtz had not come down here to passively sit on the defence, waiting for the Tau to attack, no that was not Kurtz. When the Tau breached the smoke screen they would be met head on, the 17th Company would advance from their bunkers and destroy the Tau Vanguard.
Sensing the Moment was approaching, Kurtz Raised his hand; to his right, Kompanie commander Lande of the 17th, noted the gesture; to his left Platoon Commander Leutnant Shutze readied his men for the assault; Watchmaster Zung, Commanding the Jagd-Russ shouted into his boom mike and the great engines of the heavy tank roared in response.
With impeccable timing Kurtz dropped his hand just before the first Tau infantry broke through the smoke screen, and all hell broke loose.
Fire streaked out from the Imperial lines, bright beams briefly connecting with the dim shapes of the individual Tau fire warriors. The great vanquisher cannon of the Jagd-Russ boomed, its shell smashed into the front glacis of a Tau Tank, skipping of the sloped surface and sending the vehicle skittering of course on its grav cushion.
All along the line Firewarriors scattered, making for cover, some headed up into the ruins of the Refinery, others scattered into the dubious shelter of a rock formation just in front of the Imperial lines. For many this would be a fatal mistake. Kurtz had had his Ordinance Master pre-register the rock. Just as the scattering Firewarriors reached the safety of the rock, the first salvo slammed into their shelter. Bodies and parts of bodies flew skyward, riding the expanding globe of the shock waves. Artillery shells screamed in a stream of High Explosive pounding to rock formation and the survivors of the first rush, All the survivors could do was crawl further into the cracks in between the rock and hope for survival.

Off on the right flank Firewarriors had scattered into the ruined buildings of the refinery, taking up positions in the ruined galleries of the first and second floor. Behind the refinery, Chmeras of the Grenadiers revved their engines and leapt forwards, dashing across the open ground in between them and the ruins, turning at the last minute to flanking positions at the rear of the building. The Back wall of the building had been demolished in an earlier unknown conflict, leaving the building open to the sky. One of the Chmeras slid to a halt and popped smoke to cover the dismounting Grenadiers. The other continued on racing towards the waiting Broadside suits.
Hypersonic slugs from the waiting Tau broadsides streaked on rods of ionised air aimed towards the Chimeras. One smashed into the turret of the still moving Chimera, penetrating the armour of the turret, spraying the narrow compartment inside, killing the turret gunner outright. More importantly it passed through the auto loader mechanism as it it were cardboard, shattering it irreparably.
The Watchmasters signalled back to Leutnant Shutze they were in position as arranged. Shutze confirmed this and ordered the Grenadiers to open fire with maximum fury. The Fire warriors, who were slow to react to this new threat, were cut down by a hail of Las Rifle fire.
Survivors of the Firewarriors returned a spattering of fire at the Grenadiers wounding two and Killing one. But the damage had already been done and the Tau scattered down out of the ruins and back the way they had come.
Tau return fire began to take its toll, 1st platoon was forced to take shelter from Tau small arms fire, while hypervelocity crowbars from Rail guns streaked passed the JagdRuss.
Three battle suits arrived of the port quarter of the Jagd Russ, decending from the sky on a column of fire. Their leg shocks had barely finished recovering from the impact before they had opened up with a co-ordnated ballet of fire at point blank into the side of the Jagd Russ,Paint chips and armour fragments flew from the flanks of the great metal beast. One Fusion beam struck the barrel of the Vanquisher cannon, super heating the metal in an instant, shearing off the barrel at the base and exploding the shell in the breach. The veteran crew, reacted quickly, slewing the tank around and opening up with the hull mounted heavy bolter, point blank into the battle suits. They could hardly miss. Mass reactive bolt rounds hosed down the suits cascasing off the Tau suit armour in a great arc into the sky. One suit staggered under the weight of fire, explosive bolts findinging, then enlarging gaps in the plates before detonating in amongst the delicate machinery behind the plates. The suit poped and fizzed before toppling to one side inert and unresponsive.
From behind the suits landing site, Leutnant Shutze led his command squad in an assault on the remaining suit. Firing as they came the two melta gunners turned the ravening beams of their weapons on the cluster of suits One struck the already falling suit, the other smashed a second Tau suit onto its face as the powerplant on the back of the suit came apart under the lethal carress of the meltas beam.
Thumbing the control on his Power sword he leapt across the gap between the rocks and the tau suit. He landed hard on the remaining suits shoulder, scrabbling for purchase with his freehand, he drove the tip of the powersword down into the neck joint of the sensor array, cutting through armour, electronics and and flesh alike.
By now, all along th line the men of Krieg were advancing. The Tau Hammerhead lay burning in a heap where Grenadier meltas had cut away a nacelle and caused it to crash. The remaining firewarriors sheltering in the in the rocks had been winkled out of their refuge with the baonette, and even the Broadsides had died under the guns of a Banewolf, Hidden on the flank of the Tau advance.
With the Deaths of the Broadsides, the Tau vanguard had been smashed. Major Kurtz and the 17th Kompanie had stopped them cold, and bought the time needed by the regiment to solidify their new defensive line.

Photos By James

Game II: Downtown Vidighese

2009-07-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Town of Vidighese - Praxedes IV 071.747.M41

Game: 1000pt Capture and Control
Result: Draw (Imperials and Tau contest one victory point and the other is uncontrolled)
H'Russ Sept 1000Pts
291st Death Korps of Krieg 1000pts

For those who don't know, our group plays every Friday night (GMT). Last Friday was a painting day, where we all got together to help each other paint armies and work on terrain and modelling projects(keep an eye out for the Kroot with pink Hair!). So no game. This Friday there wasn't going to be a game either as a few of us had evening commitment in the real world. But rather unexpectedly we did manage to get a game in doing the day instead!

Four Imperial standard days later, the Tau made a move to push the Imperials further out of Vidighese. Tau H'Russ sept met 291st Krieg Patrols in the center of town.
A squad of Fire warriors had occupied the upper floors of an Imperial shrine, establishing a forward observation post overlooking an intersection close to the center of town, not far from the Imperial Front line.
The OP allowed Tau forces a clear view of an imperial strong point. It was not long before harassing fire from Tau artillery and Fire warriors became intolerable, and an Imperial response became imperative.
The forward line was reinforced with equipment and troops quietly, then on the morning of 071.747.M41, Men and machines all along the sector moved up the jump off tape awaiting the whistle to commence the attack. Unfortunately on the right flank a unit of dismounted Grenadiers were spotted by a Tau Piranha team supported by Kroot. All along the line Tau forces opened fire into the Imperial positions.
The Imperial response didn't take long to kick off. Pre-designated artillery called in by the Master of ordinance smashed into the building opposite. Las-Cannons added to the devastation carving chunks out of the masonry with bright flares of energy. then the Bane wolf opened up. The scream of superheated air could be heard across town as the multi-melta in its hull scored a hit on the Tau observation post vaporising the corner of the shine. Even the stone built shrine of the Emperor couldn't take that kind of punishment and the whole building fell in on itself carrying all of the Tau down to the ground with it.
The Tau preempting fire had not come without consequences, on the right flank, Tau Piranha's accounted for two of the Veteran Grenadiers.

Over on the Left flank a Kroot kindred that had been infiltrating into the Imperial lines looking for weak points, took the opportunity to rush the men of Krieg, hoping to destroy the heavy weapons teams wreaking such havoc on their Tau allies. They burst through the doors of the ruined hab-block as the Mortar teams finished a fire mission, smashing the Kroot kindred supporting the Piranha's. Mortar men and LasCannon crews looked up as the aliens burst through the doors behind them wielding their deadly double headed rifles.

Crewmen dropped their heavy equipment and rushed to engage the Kroot pouring through the door. Within moments, 4 Kroot bodies lay dead surrounded by 10 dead Kriegers Leutnant Kluge-G7772-9 could see the slaughter from across the ruins. Making a quick decision he leapt from his position shouting for his staff to follow him. Commissar Lord Nero had also seen the threat on the left and leapt up from where the company command had been directing artillery on the Tau OP and sprinted into the melee.
The Leutnant's squad together with the Commissar Nero struck like a lightning bolt,laying about themselves to great effect. They were too late to save the last of the heavy weapons teams , instead the wreaked bloody revenge on the Kroot kindred felling over half of them and driving them back towards the doorway of the hab.

Over on the right flank of the Krieg line, the veterans of the Death Korps Grenadiers fought out their duel with the Tau Pirannas. The nippy Tau vehicles sped around the corner of the Imperial chapel as the Imperials tumbled into the cover of the same building. Two men carrying Melta guns were left outside the lintel their squad mates had clambered through. They turned as one and sent screaming beams of energy into the side of the passing skimmer gutting it from stem to stern. The stricken machine smashed into the ground spilling parts and blood as it went. Angry drones from the Piranha's spat at the grenadiers trying in vain to exact revenge for the destruction of their ride.
Its twin sped on, cutting open the rear of the grenadiers parked chimera with plasma beams, smashing through the track guards and splintering the tracks. The shattered tracks unspooled behind the chimera immobilising it as it continued to hose down the survivors of the Tau Fire warriors in the collapsed shrine.

The Commissar Lord cut down the last of the Kroot Kindred on the on the Left flank and took a quick survey of the battle field though an up-link into his ocular implant. The Tau on the left had collapsed. on the right, they had been stalled and the Imperials retained controls of the field. In the In the Center the Tau OP had been smashed into ruins and a squad of Korpsmen had launched an assault across the road, into the ruins seeking to dominate the ground. Nero could feel the crisis of the battle was approaching. Across the piles of shattered plascrete and flak board, Hauptmann Alder remained hunched over the map board directing the progress of the battle. If the battle was to be won it would be done in the center. Nero flicked his power sword clean of Kroot blood and turned to each of his surviving colleagues holding their gaze for a moment he shouted:
"For your Emperor" and charged out of the building into the street.

Game I: Counter attack at Vidighese

2009-07-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Game: 200opt Capture and Control
Result: Tau Victory (Tau control one victory point and contest the other. )
H'Russ Sept 2000Pts
Vostroyan CCCLII Firstborn 1000pts
291st Death Korps of Krieg 1000pts

The Town of Vidighese - Praxedes IV 058.747.M41

The Town of Vidighese was silent now. For the last few days it had been a scene from hell. For two days Artillery from LCXI Division down to regimental level had pounded the town with every calibre they had, smashing buildings, parks, manufactories alike in an effort to break up the Tau defenders in the Town. The barrage lifted as suddenly as it had arrived. Dazed Fire warriors scrambled from basements to the ruined town above, clutching pulse rifles ready for inevitable assault. On the outskirts of town men of the 291st Death Korps of Krieg had assaulted the ruins and soon swept them from the town.

That was two days ago. Korpsman Drusus Keppler-A5031-7 stood squinting into the growing light, in what remained of the second floor of an Imperial Hab-block, in the very same ruins where two days before, Tau Fire warriors had struggled him and his squad mates in a nightmare of close combat.
Now he stood waiting. The counter attack would be soon. Tau always counter attacked at dusk or dawn. He had overheard one of the officers commenting that it was because the Tau had superior technomancy in their helmets and tanks. Korpsman Keppler didn't know what to make of that, but then he didn't really care either. The Keppler gene-coda that made up his sibco batch had not been selected for its curiosity trait.

Keppler raised the optic visor to his eye pieces and took in the outskirts of the town in which he stood. Increasing the magnification he zoomed in on a Las-Cannon emplacement manned by guardsmen from the Vostroyan CCCLLII Firstborn. They had moved up during the night and taken over the right wing of this sector of the line, allowing the men of Krieg to consolidate into a smaller section of the line.
He zoomed the magnification back out and swept the optic visor across the hills overlooking the town. Without light intensifiers there was not much he could see, but the Watch master had told him to stand here and watch the hills and the watch master was his older brother, so he must obey.
When the first salvo lanced out from a Tau rail gun , Keppler was still standing looking out over the darkened hills. The shot struck a three story building down the street, causing Keppler to flinch back behind the lintel of the door he was sheltering in. The Vostroyan Las-Cannon teams responded almost immediately, quickly followed by the Death Corps own Las-Cannons emplaced in the highest ruin.

Tau tanks sped through the gloaming, men of the CCLII Vostroyan and Death Korps rose to meet them head on. In the center of the line, conscript replacements receiving a lecture on discipline from Commissar Khutuzov surged up full of zeal. Throwing themselves out of the building with abandon, they ran directly into the guns of a Kroot pack who had infiltrated a wood land copse just out of town. Young Kriegers fresh from the sibling companies ran into a wall of fire.

Behind them the Captain of the recruit platoon urged on the recruits, the Young men of Kreig, conditioned from childhood required little urging from the Commissar or Captain to throw themselves out of the building. The first wave out of the ruins paid a heavy price, as Tau built Kroot rifles and air burst fragmentation rounds cut them down before they could take more than a few paces.

In the ruins further to the right of the Imperial Line, Korpsman Keppler slithered down from the first floor of the ruins to join the rest of his squad on the ground below. Over at a hole in the rock-crete wall, Watch-master Leor was peaking out at the advancing Tau tanks. One had made the mistake of nosing into the street between him and the Building housing the recruits. Looking Back at Keppler and the others he communicated his orders with a few quick hand gestures. The squad would assault the tank with grenades as it passed.
Keppler scrambled over the blocks of fallen masonary to a shattered and empty window. As the tank passed the squad rose as one and rushed into the dust cloud raised by the passing anti-grav wave. Men scambled up over the tank , some went to the back hatch looking for weak spots there. Keppler had barely had time to toss his own grenade into the left hand impeller pods of the Tau tank when he was blinded by the actinic glare of the Watchmasters melta bomb detonating on the hull. The whole tank lurched violently to one side. then seemed to bulge from the inside as secondary explosions ripped through the hull. the tank nosed down and slashed into the street, shedding composite armour fragments in all directions. The Tank slid for a few few yards before coming to a halt.
Keppler opened his eyes and levered himself up from where the explosion had tossed him against the building he had just recently vacated. He blinked in a daze at the ruin of the Tank before him. Great steaming fissures had opened in its hull, leaving torn bundles of fibre hanging from the great rents in its flanks. He watched as a long thin box was pushed through one of these gaps from the inside of the tank. He was still trying to determine what it might mean when the first burst from the Tau pulse rifle shattered the rock-crete above his head. Instinct and gene-bred reflexes took over, Kepplers body bucked and threw itself up and spun around in an attempt to get over the wall back into cover. The second burst from the Tau rifle was better aimed, corrected by its machine spirit. It followed his movement, strafing the walls and catching him a glancing blow on the meat of his thigh as he tumbled back over the lintel of the window he had assaulted through. While not enough to kill him, the wound was enough to stop him moving much faster than a crawl. For Keppler the Battle was over.
Later when he woke up in the Medicae tent he would learn that the Tau counter attack had succeeded in throwing the Imperium back into the outskirts of Vidigese. 80 Guardsmen had been wounded killed or gone on the missing roles including almost all of the replacement sibco.

Building a Ragnarok

2009-05-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

A while ago, when rumours of the Death korps of Krieg first started circulating, I thought I'd get ready for the release by building Krieg's own tank: The Ragnarok.

The Ragnarok tank was developed by Krieg loyalists during the Civil war. The loyalists needed a cheaply made, easy to mass produce tank capable of replacing the horrendous losses inflicted in the civil war. Anything simpler than a Leman Russ must be very simple indeed!!

When the Death Korps range started to be released it soon became clear that this quintessentially Krieg tank would not be included in the range
I initially planned to build a squadron of three, Constructed from a mix of kits including the Leman Russ and Chimera along with a few sheets of Plasticard. The basic hull is a chimera, lengthened with an extra panel.Photobucket" border="0">

The turret ring on the hull and the base of the turret are a Leman Russ, as is the engine bay. The tracks are double linked and all based on a double wheel set. I bought quite a few Chimera road wheels sets for the Hunting Russ. That tank used only the large Chimera road wheels, which left me a large number of small road wheels left over!
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The central span of the hull and the turret itself are entirely plasticard. the back of the turret is modelled on the Russian KV-1 , which IMHO is the inspiration for the Ragnarok in the first place.

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All of the rivets on the tank were cut from plasticard rod. All of this is much simpler construction than Ultrawerk's master piece, but I remain quite proud of it none-the-less.
shortly after I finished construction of the prototype shown here was completed, the tread head phase I was in fated away, and the tank languished at the back of my painting table for a very long time with only the black undercoat you see it in above.
Eventually I vandalised it with a rush paint job to get it on the table for a tournament at SELWIG. With the release last year of Games-Workshop's spray gun I got inspired to paint it properly, When I get back to the UK I'll have a go at getting some photo's up.
I'd still like to have a squadron but that might take a lot longer.

Gaming in NZ GW

2009-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm over in New Zealand on holiday and had occasion to drop in to the Games Workshop in St Lukes shopping mall with my Son for a one-on-one game. Very different from the UK stores which are my princial experience of these things. They had a single table other than the 4x4 demo table. This was set up for an Apocalypse game of Orks vs Imperial guard using the shop armies, they would then invite people to use these in varying numbers to play an Apocalypse. We played two games one as Orks and One as Guard. The gurard won both games. This was my first and second ever Apocalypse games. Playing guard I had control of both of the Super heavy tanks: A Baneblade and a Shadowsword. It was interesting using the super heavies. The sheer weight of fire they generate is scary enough, but it was the independent targeting that made them truly impressive units. Being able to Hammer the Ork Stompa while the twin linked heavy heavy bolters reaped a terrible harvest of Ork boys. The Stompa was also quite scary, but appeared to be a bit squishy at the end of the day. That might have been because it was one super Heavy vs two tho.

I didn't enjoy playing as Orks. That probably had more to do with the fact I have no experience of playing with them and no idea of their rules.

Hello old friend

2009-05-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Came across an old web site I used to frequent, Dr Faustus Painting clinic. I used to follow this like a zealot, the getting started guidelines are brilliant, clearly written and detailed with good instruction on all the basic techniques. I thought the website had died a long time ago, so imagine my delight when I came across it again.

Raising a Regiment: 5th Edition Style

2009-05-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

We have been travelling a lot in the last few weeks so it's taken me a while to get hold of the new 5th Edition Guard Codex. Yesterday I got the chance to make it into the Sylvia Park mall in south Auckland to pick up a copy. A short version of my impressions thus far is: Lots of fluff; well organised rules section; almost no hobby section.

This last point is a bit of a downer from my point of view, I have always looked forward to the hobby tips and views of gorgeous conversions to emulate. Still you can't have everything, and I am more than happy for the good folks at games workshop to use the room to Stuff the codes with new units and codex creep the old ones!

Fourth Edition 291st

I always start with the theme of an army before ever picking any army list. sometimes this Starts as fascination with a particular model around which I build the army Sometimes with a range of models and sometimes with a theme from the real world.

The 291st is a blend of two of these Ideas:

Firstly: I once saw a player in 3.2 Edition play an entirely motorised Imperial Guard army, which he used to great effect, wiping the floor with my Adepts Sororitas.

Secondly: I love the Death Korps of Krieg Ever since I saw the first picture of them in the now defunct Armageddon campaign website.

When the Forge World models came out I knew I would end up with a unit of them. I was initially Disappointed with the idea this were infantry horde army specialists, however after reading Imperial Armour Volume Five - Siege of Vraks it became clear that Krieg produced a wide variety of units, it was just that they were best known for the Siege regiments.

With this the 291st Panzer Grenadiers were born. The regiment would be raised as a Motorised Infantry Grenadiers formation. Fast moving, able to concentrate or disperse quickly anywhere on the board. Having a Large number of transports the Chimeras would Supply the heavy weapons and the infantry inside would carry all of the antitank weaponry. Supported by Leman Russ for long range anti tank work.

In Fourth Ed. this failed horribly, there wasn't nearly enough variety to give targeting dilemmas created in the opponents mind. My principal opponents Quickly figured out a formula for annihilating my forces:

Pop the transports;
clean up the troops at range; then
worry about the tanks Last.

Games became a monotonous round of losses and I was unable to figure out a way around it. I will need to find a way to fix this in the fifth Edition list.

Wow!

2009-04-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Got my hands on a new imperial Guard codex on Monday! I am astounded! one of the few time the Imperial Guard have been subjected to the new codex syndrome and really benefited! I may be playing Tyranids at the Moment but I am In serious Jeopardy of reverting back to the Imperial Guard with DKoK models. Check out BoLS for a more intelligible analysis of the upcoming codex!

By order of his Imperial Majesties Most Holy Inquisition

2009-02-25T00:48:00.001-08:00

By order of the high council of Terra and by the will of His most Holy

Majesty, the God Emperor of Mankind,

It is here by ordered and decreed that Lord Solomon Mateus,

being:

* a member in good standing of His most Holy Inquisition;
* and a faithful servant of Humanity,

and having been found:

* Diligent in the pursuit of the demonic
* Ruthless in the execution of his manifold duties;
* Steeped in the doctrines of faith and purity,

Shall henceforth be granted:

* the Title of Lord Inquisitor, Malleus Persuivant along with all

the rights and privileges thereof.

Inquisitor, Lord Solomon Mateus is hereby burdened with the sacred

duty for the protection of Mankind from the multitudinous heresies of

the Mutant; the Heretic; the Alien and the Demonic, that beset him

from all sides.

Let none who are loyal to the Emperor of Mankind deny him of any

succor or any aid on pain of death and eternal damnation, be it

physical, material or spiritual that he may request or demand of any

Imperial citizen be he lord or labourer, for to deny him is to deny

the Emperor.

By order of the Lord Echelisarch and the most holy Church of the

Emperor Ascendant, it is here by ordered and decreed that Inquisitor,

Lord Solomon Mateus shall be granted Absolvo Dei Imperator Perpetua

for any and all actions he may deem necessary in the execution his

duties.

Campaign 2: Invasion of H'Rus

2009-02-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Introduction

The goal of the campaign is basically the same as the previous campaign The H'Russ incident':

To keep the book keeping to a minimum;

to have a definitive end in a reasonable space of time;

provide a framework to tie games into a narrative whole.

As such we are broadly keeping the same rules as that campaign, while addressing one or two concerns that rose during the course of the games.

It was felt at the end of The H'Russ incident, that the experience System re-in forced success too much, and that the restrictions on changing your army list were punitive.

In order to address these concerns the following Campaign rules are proposed for the Battle for H'Russ.

Victory Conditions

the first player to Reach a total of 6 victory points.

Victory Points

Gain One victory point per game where the player was on the winning side.

Factions

this campaign contains the following factions:

Sword of Varshar (Eldar)

H'Russ Exodites (Eldar)

- Hive Fleet Leviathan - Germanicus tendril (Codex: Tyranids)

- 13th Penal Legion (Codex: Imperial Imperial Guard)

- 287th Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers (Codex: Imperial Imperial Guard)

- H'Russ Sept (Codex: Tau Empire)

All factions except Tyranids may form alliances.

All alliance members gain the VP' s and Cp's for a game played where they had figures on the field.

Campaign Points

Campaign points (CP's) replaces Unit experience points. For each game played a player may accumulate CP's based on the result of the game. CP's can be redeemed for Veteran Skills or points bonuses in a single game.

Win = 2 CP's

Draw =1 CP's

Loss = 0 CP's

Regular Tyranid players (me anyway) gain an extra CP for any game they do not participate in. This is to simulate the absorbtion of biomass elsewhere on the planet and the growing tyranid menace.

Redeeming Campaign Points

CP's can be used to buy a roll on the Veteran Skills table at the following rate:

- 1CP = Preliminary Bombardment

- 4CP = 1 Random Veteran Skill (Roll once on the veteran skills table E5:p263 and add it to the army list)

- 6CP = 15 % points bonus for one game

Army lists

games must be played with a valid army list and you must have it available for inspection by your opponent at time of play.

An army list may be changed at any time during the course of the campaign with no detrimental effects.

Using veteran skills

Veteran Skills are gained by a player for their faction by spending CP's. Roll once on the veteran skills table E5:p263 and add it to the army list.

The veteran skill can be applied to any legal unit in the army for a game.

The unit carrying the Veteran Skill must be declared to the opposition at the beginning of the game or it cannot be used for that game.

If a unit carrying a veteran skill is completely destroyed (or the vehicle explodes) during a game then the Veteran Skill is permanently lost and is removed from the players faction.

Good Hunting!

H'Rus Incident Reprise

2009-02-23T00:55:00.000-08:00

The Campaign to recover the Artifact (most likely a C'Tan item or old ones tech) has come to an end with an Eldar victory. The Imperials came second (mostly because of meeting the fluffy objectives while being largely massacred at the same time) with the Tau left wondering what the hell just happened.
The Eldar player demonstrated a masterful command of his army list and while starting a little roughly came to dominate almost all the games he played.
The Imperial Player (Me) never really got the hang of his army list and limped along. My list did mostly OK against the Eldar particularly early Campaign, but against the Tau player all but one game was a massacre, after much talk the conclusion was that the army needed more Las-cannons, basically somthing to create targeting dilemmas in the oppositon, I had hoped to replace the Las-Cannons with mounted melta-guns, but it didn't really work.
The Tau player was kicked around the field by the Eldar player but all through the Campaign demonstrated superiority over the Imperials. Later in the campaign when he started to apply all of the rules for the equipment he had forgotten he even started to challenge the Eldar player, but it was too little too late.

Future for H'rus
All of the players of the campaign got together to discuss the next campaign, and decided to keep it on H'rus. The plot hook is somthing like this:

Imperial:
An elite strike team has been left behind (as well as those who did not make it back to the departing ships of the Division) to locate the Artifact and will pop up from time to time. This is a new player and not me. He is playing a small last chancers army, and makes a horrendous journey to get to where we play. So he will only occasionally be around to participate.

Eldar:
The truce on H'rus between the Tau and the Eldar has been broken, worse from the Eldar perspective the Tau have allowed Imperials on the planet which has almost cost them the Artifact. The Biel Tan Seer Councils have consulted the skeins of fate and have decided the Tau must go. Genocide is the only answer tot he Tau question.

Tau:
The betrayal by the Exodites of H'rus is unconcionalble and cannot be allowed to stand. They must join the Greater good as some of their kind have done before or regretfully they must be destroyed.

Tyranid:
I am taking a break from the Imperials for a while to play Tyranids. Somewhere hidden on the Division fleet is a genestealer cult. When the division left they left behind a cell of their hidden hitchhikers. As the Hive Fleet approaches they are becoming more active. Native flora and fauna are changing and becomming more agressive the vanguard of the great devourer is waxing on H'rus!

Fighting outside my little group of friends

2009-01-18T13:20:00.001-08:00

Had my first game in a long while down at the Bromley South Battle bunker. Took a pickup game using the roster I put up last week. It was a most enjoyable game, the atmosphere was much friendlier than I remember. I don't know if it's because they have let the Kids up, or because the staff now play games up there where they didn't before, but I got a walk on pretty quick and was surprised by the level of sportsmanship vs gamesmanship.

The game was tough, and I was comprehensively drubbed by a Tyranid Player.

I made several mistakes during the game from setup to finish.
In Dawn of war I chose to remain off board until my first turn, allowing the Tyranids a free turn of movement before I came on.
I placed my line of tanks hard up in the left hand corner of the board, allowing his outflanking Genestealers free range when they arrived.
I mis-targeted on Gaunts that were in cover rather than the ones out of cover :-(
I hit a group of rippers with an Inferno Cannon and caused 4 wounds. This should have removed 8 stands (double wounds on a swam from Blast / Template; S6 Instant kill) instead only one stand was removed as the other player argued that only Blast Templates get the double kill. I didn't look it up, so only one stand was removed. The rippers went on to wreck 3 Vehicles :..-(
I forgot half of the upgrades on the vehicles like +4 save against immobilised and Shaken reduced to stunned, leaving the vehicles unnecessarily immobile when being attacked by rippers.

In my favor I nailed the winged Hive Tyrant in the first turn, with several Meltas to the face!

I will know for next time. I have also looked at my list and made a few changes. I'll post them up when I get the chance.

Battle Log

2009-01-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

Campaign	Date	Adversiary	Mission	Points	Result
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Eldar	Capture the Flag	500	Victory
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Tau	Anihilation	750	Loss
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Tau	Anihilation	1000	Win
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Eldar	Seize Objectives	1000	Win
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Eldar	Seize Objectives	2000	Draw
H'rus Incident	742.M41	Eldar	Seize Objectives	1500	Heavy Loss
First Tyrannic War - Ixus V	743.M41	Tyranids	Dawn of War	1500	Loss

291st Krieg Panzer Grenadiers Roster

2009-01-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Not quite the H'Rus Roster, but close

I know this is not quite valid (too many Armoured Fists), but until I can pick up another Grenadier squad, I'd rather be WISIWIG than 'Valid', besides it not a tournament army.

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard - 291st Krieg Panzer Grenadiers

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard Roster - 291st Krieg Panzer Grenadiers

HQ: Command Platoon (6#, 241 Pts)
0 Command Platoon @ 241 Pts
0 Command Squad @ [241] Pts
Hardened Fighters; Centaur
1 Heroic Senior Officer @ [85] Pts
Hardened Fighters; Plasma Pistol; Power Weapon
3 Guardsmen @ [71] Pts
Hardened Fighters; Master Vox-Caster; Lasgun (x1); Plasmagun (x2); Frag Grenades
1 Medic @ [23] Pts
Hardened Fighters; Medi-pack; Close Combat Weapon; Plasma Pistol; Frag Grenade (Squad)
1 Centaur @ [70] Pts
Extra Armour; Extra Armour; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Heavy Stubber

Troops: Grenadiers (11#, 247 Pts)
9 Grenadiers @ 247 Pts
Vox Caster; Hellgun w/targeter (x7); Meltagun (x2); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chimera
1 Sergeant @ [10] Pts
Close Combat Weapon; Hellpistol; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Chimera @ [122] Pts
Extra Armour; Pintle Heavy Stubber; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Twin Linked Heavy Bolters; Hull Heavy Bolter

Troops: Grenadiers (11#, 247 Pts)
9 Grenadiers @ 247 Pts
Vox Caster; Hellgun w/targeter (x7); Meltagun (x2); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chimera
1 Sergeant @ [10] Pts
Close Combat Weapon; Hellpistol; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Chimera @ [122] Pts
Extra Armour; Pintle Heavy Stubber; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Twin Linked Heavy Bolters; Hull Heavy Bolter

Troops: Armoured Fist (11#, 190 Pts)
9 Armoured Fist @ 190 Pts
Hardened Fighters; Vox Caster; Lasgun (x8); Meltagun
1 Sergeant @ [6] Pts
Hardened Fighters; Laspistol & CCW
1 Chimera @ [100] Pts
Pintle Storm Bolter; Autocannon; Hull Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) (1#, 220 Pts)
1 Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) @ 220 Pts
Extra Armour; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Coaxial Storm Bolter; Vanquisher Battle Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Veteran Crew
1 Veteran Crew @ [20] Pts

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) (1#, 220 Pts)
1 Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) @ 220 Pts
Extra Armour; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Coaxial Storm Bolter; Vanquisher Battle Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Veteran Crew
1 Veteran Crew @ [20] Pts

Fast Attack: Hellhound (1#, 135 Pts)
1 Hellhound @ 135 Pts
Extra Armour; Rough Terrain Modification; Track Guards; Inferno Cannon; Hull Mounted Heavy Bolter

Notes:
Need to buy more Grenadiers to replace the Armoured Fist. And some Centaurs with extra Armour

Total Roster Cost: 1500

Created with Army Builder
Copyright (c) 1997-2006 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved.

Painting Death Korps Power swords

2008-12-21T08:57:00.001-08:00

Starting from the Black undercoat and using the limited palate I have decided on in other posts.
I hope to do a pattern close to a Tesler tower with sparks climbing cross ways up the length of the blade towards the tip. The edges will be bright but brightest where the sparks hit the edge.
This is the same method some folks used to use on Gemstones, comming up from black to light.

1) Start with Spacewolves Grey and line those points and edges where the power sparks will be brightest. Include the cross ways sparks.

2) Thin Blood Red to watery. Add it in many thin layers concentrating on the areas around the Spacewolves grey area. I am seeking a 'Gausian Blur' look. Continue at least until the Spacewolves Grey lines cannot be discerned.

3) Thin Sunburst Yellow to watery. Mix a little of this with the watery Blood Red to get an orange. Using this, add highlights on the powersparks and edges where the sparks hit the edge.

4) Mix a little of more of the Thin Sunburst Yellow with the watery Blood Red to get a brighter orange. Using this, add smaller highlights on the powersparks and edges where the sparks hit the edge. This is where I stopped.

The H'rus Incident Game 3

2008-12-03T03:24:00.001-08:00

All over the planet Tau Firewarriors scrambled from their barracks to defend thier installations from the Eldar Exodites, with whom they had been friends for so long. As they now understood it, their Human trade partner had been attacked without reason in the wilds. Worse still, the Eldar had tracked the happless human back to the Trade Enclave in the principal city, and made a brutal thrust into the heart of the city to get at him. Many Tau of all castes had died. Now they must be vigilent, defending their posts long enough for the Ethereals to organise the defence.
The attack, when it came, was not from the direction of the wilds as they expected, but from the city behind them.
As the Sword of Vashar fought pitched battles with Exorcists Marines in the streets of the Trade Enclave, the IX Company, 291st Death Korps had emerged from the hold of the bulk trader the Inquisitor had arrived in.
Before the rest of the Division could land the Tau orbital defense ordinatus needed to be put out of action. Marines may be able to weather the storm of fire from the Defensive batteries, but the Divisions landing craft could not.
Wasting no time, Colonel Paulus sent strike teams into the surrounding plains to seek and destroy Tau orbital defence facitlities.
The first contact with the Tau occured when elements of IX Company met the Tau in a valley leading up to a command bunker of the planetary defence batteries on the outskirts of the Principle city. A IX Company column of Grenadiers in Chimeras, stumbled into a Tau patrol. After the inital shock, who knew the Humans had such forces on the Planet, the suprised Tau quickly recovered their composture. Imperial chimeras fell easy prey to the Tau guns and before long the valley was littered with burning vehicles.

The Secret was now out, word flashed around the Fire-warrior command net, not only were the Eldar Exodites turning against them, but the very Humans they were trying to protect had stabbed them in the back. Before long the stiuation for the Tau of H'Rus was to be come much worse.

9031st Imperial Guard Division

2008-11-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Initially formed as a re-enforcement for the Damocles Crusade, the division participated briefly in that campaign until, like many other units of the crusade, it was withdrawn to counter the more pressing threat posed by Hive Fleet Behemoths thrust into the Eastern Fringe.

Composition:
Imperial Guard
95th Imperial Rifles
291st Death Korps of Krieg
CCCLII Vostroyan First Born
CXXI Spartan Penal Legion

Space Marines
Exorcists, III Company

Sororitas
Ark Angelis

291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers

2008-11-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

Background

Before the Fall:
The world known as Krieg, in the Segmentum Tempestus, is shrouded in rumor and dark myth, much of its dreadful history has been obscured and lost. The wilderness of ruined cities that span this blasted poison choked world, point to krieg once having been a thriving hive-world, a trading and manufacturing center populated by billions upon billions. The rulers of this world - the council of Autocrats, bloated with wealth and corrupt with indolence, petty vendetta and vice became increasingly insular and debauched. The Autocrats' paranoia over outside threat that could shatter their dictorial rule caused them to plough vast resources into strengthening the defenses of their hive cities, building private armies and further surrounding their world with an d ring of steel. Worse, the Autocrats grew to resent the Administratum on 'their' world and in particular the heavy tithes levied on them on them by the Departmento Munitorium taking resources they proclaimed were vital to their own defense. The citizens of Krieg were sadly ignorant of these slowly spiraling events and terrible ruin the misrule of their leaders was about to be brought down on them.

The Revolt:
For Krieg, the end came in the year 433.M40 when the High Autocrat of Krieg largest hive, the council chairman and the de-facto planetary governor, (a man so hated that his name has been purged from all records), declared a planetary wide martial law and seceded his world from the Imperium. Civil war had come suddenly and violently on Krieg. Much of the world had been quickly capulated to the rebel's power. After the rebel's initial attacks only hive Ferrograd remained under loyalist control, because the 83rd Krieg imperial guard regiment, under the command of Colonel Jurten, was in the final stages of being mustered at Ferrograd

In response to the revolt, Colonel Jurten moved quickly to take control of the hive city from its vacillating rulers in a military coup. With the veteran Colonel at its helm, Ferrograd rapidly became the rallying point for the remaining loyalist factions.

But the situations for the loyalist was dire; the rebel forces had numbered in millions and Ferrograd was soon cut off and besieged. To make matters worse, the loyalists were on their own; the planetary defenses were under the traitors, control, and strong enough that a full scale fleet action would be required to breach them. Jurten had been informed in no uncertain terms that a fleet powerful enough to invade Krieg was simple not available. Colonel Jurten's orders were to resist with all means at his disposal, to engage the enemy, to punish their treachery and emerge victorious - whatever the cost. So faced with the horrific odds stacked against him, Jurten came to the fateful decision that the world Krieg would belong to the Emperor, or it would belong to no one...

Deep below Hive Ferrograd was a secret Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility, and Colonel Jurten with his loyal Adeptus Mechanicus ally, Archmagos Greel, moved to unlock the facility and unleash the forbidden ancient weapons within. Whilst outside the siege ground on, within Ferrograd's walls the defenders laboured a desperate plan.

The Purging:
On the feast of the Emperors Ascension Jurten unleashed his long planned counter-attack. Scores of long range missiles roared forth from the heart of Ferrograd. The traitors helplessly watched their augers as
Jurten's rockets arced high into the planet's stratosphere before detonating in blooms of blinding light, and unleashing tonnes of lethal isotopes which blanketed the entire world in deadly fallout. For days the atmosphere became a sea of nuclear fire. Under Jurtens attack the planet's eco-system failed. The air was poisoned and Kriegs climate collapsed into storms that spanned continents. The raging fires blocked out the sun and a nuclear winter engulfed Krieg. As a results untold billions died. Those that did not perish took to thier fallout shelters and began a new subterranean existence. To future generations who would live terrible consequences of the atomic attack, Jurten's plan would come to be known as the 'purging'. Krieg might have been wrecked, but the purging evened up the odds. The loyalist had been well prepared for the attack, and the traitors would suffer terribly. But the civil war would go on...

Krieg's nightmare had only just begun. To the Imperial authorities Krieg was a prize no longer worth saving, its fate a red mark in the ledgers of the Administratum. Krieg became a man-made death-world trapped in the freezing grip of a radioactive nuclear winter. The war between the secessionist and loyalist developed into devolved into a pitiless bloody war of attrition across a planet where every inch of ground grew to be littered with trench work, rusting razor wire and shell craters, in a deadly landscape where drifting fallout ash shrouded the numberless bones of the unburied dead.

It is doubtful that the full truth of those long and terrible centuries of the civil war will ever be known. Jurten finally perished, how, it is not recorded, but the descendants of those that followed him but the descendants of those that followed him lived on, and became as fearless as they were callous. War was all they would ever know, men were raised from birth to fight. The men that advanced great-coated and vapor-masked through the rad wasteland blasted cities became known as the Death Korps. They existed only to endure a hellish planetary surface, in order to do their duty and to kill in the Emperor's name. Through fifteen generations of terrible bloody attrition, the loyalist slowly re-took their blasted world in the name of the Emperor, trench-by-trench and tunnel-by-tunnel with bayonet, brutality and when needed atomic fire. After more than 500 years of the most nightmarish warfare imaginable and an incalculable price paid in human life and suffering Krieg belong to the Death Korps.

Recruitment:
Krieg Korps men are grown not bred. This is how Krieg maintains its output of human fodder for the Emperor's endless wars. Each Korps man is vat grown and implanted with enough experience to function at a basic human level. They emerge from the vats a the mental age of approximately eleven years of age but a physical age of Sixteen years. Newly emerged Korpsmen are organised into companies of siblings by batch called a sibco and begin rudimentary training almost immediately.

Equipment:

Organisation:
The organization of the 291st is quite standard for Imperial Guard regiments. The smallest official unit of organisation is the squad of 9 troopers lead by a Wachtmeister or a Feldwebel. The squad will almost always include at least one Weapons specialist, a senior korpsman entrusted with the squads special weapon. The squad is often unofficially broken into two fire-teams of 5 with the Wachtmeister leading one and the weapons specialist leading the other. In addition the Squad can sometimes include a two heavy weapons specialists, in which case the heavy weapon equipment and ammunition is distrubuted amongst the korpsmen making up the squad.

Two to five infantry Squads are grouped to form a Zug (Platoon), lead by a Command team of 5 which includes a Zugfuhrer(Platoon leader), normally a Leutnant. Three to Nine Zugen are grouped under a headquarters Zug to form a Kompanie (Company). A Kompanie is normally lead by a Hauptman or Feldwachtmeister, but can often be lead by the senior Leutnant of the attached Zug where no more senior officers are available. Attached to the Kompanie HQ Zug is all of the companies support and specialist assets. These assets can vary widely Kompanie to Kompanie given the Kompanie'e role and current mission. The 291st has 32 Kompanies of its establishment 40 companies giving the regiment approxmately 3000 fighting Korpsmen and 6000 support personel.

The 32 Kompanies are grouped under the Regimental HQ commanded by an Major. Attached to the Regimental HQ are the regimental support; armoured; cavalry; artillery and specialist assets. Like the Kompanie support assets these will vary according the regiments current mission with assets either attached for missions to Kompanies throughout the regiment or in reserve under the command of the Major.
The 291st also has attached as part of its establishment strength a Divisional HQ company led by a General-Oberst. This special unit is intended to provide the special skills needed command to multi regimental groupings of Imperial Guard.

Doctrines:

Motorised Infantry
Grenadiers
Iron Discipline
Hardened Fighters
Special Weapons Squads

Notable Figures:
Gen. Steiner - H'Rus Incident
Col. Paulus - H'Rus Incident
Major Kurtz - Malvairn Rearguard, Praxedes IV
Hauptmann Alder
Commissar Nero - Down town Videghese Praxedes IV
Korpsman Drusus Keppler-A5031-7 - Counter attack at Vidighese, Praxedes IV

Command Rank Structure:

General	Brigade/Divisison
Colonel	Regiment/ Brigade
Major	Company
Hauptman	Company
Leutnant	Platoon
Ensign

Vet. Watchmaster	Platoon/Squad
Watchmaster	Squad
Corporal	Section
Guardsman

Timeline:

433.M40 The Autarch of Krieg seceeded from the Imperium and Renounced His Fealty to the Golden Throne.

949.M40 the 500 Year Civil War on Krieg comes to an end.

741.M41 9031st Imperial Guard division is formed as a reinforcement for the Damocles crusade against the Tau. The 291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers are included on the roster

742.M41 Damocles crusade comes to an end. The Division is initialy retasked to assisst in holding worlds from the thrust of Hive Fleet Behemoth. During a lay over for refit, the division was requisitioned by +++ PURITY SEAL++++, to take part in the H'rus incident, A punitive expition against an outlying Tau colony

743.M41 9031st Imperial Guard division arrives on Ixus V to take part in the forlorn defence of that world against a Hive Fleet Behemoth tendril.

745.M41 Hive Fleet Behemoth is destroyed ending the first tyrannic war.

745.M41 At the beginning of the year the 9031st Imperial Guard division is finally transfered to the Damoclese Crusade 10th Army operating on Praxedes Qunitus. The division loaded quickly, translating through the warp to arrive on the surface of Praxedes IV 6 Imperial months later. The Damoclese Crusade itself had been over for three years. Operations had continued on the surface of this world at the behest of the Administratum.

058.747.M41 Tau H'Rus Sept launch a counter offensive, recapturing the outer suburbs of the town of Vidighese on Praxedes Qunitus.

071.747.M41 Inconclusive Fighting continues in and around down town Vidighese on Praxedes Quintus between the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment and the H'Rus Sept.

093.747.M41 Tau finally break the Imperial line in the town of Vidighese. A Company of the CCCLLI Vostroyan broke under sustained Tau assault. With the Tau in positions overlooking the main highway into the city from the south, the Imperial position became untenable and the withdrawal began, with the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment covering the retreat.

109.747.M41 Imperial forces around Vedighese fell back to wards the next defense line based around the defensible feature known as the Malvairn heights. At the foot hills the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment turned at bay and utterly smashed the Tau vanguard in hot pursuit. Imperial forces had lost 15 km of line and the town of Vedighese had fallen, but the line was re-established

903.M41 19th Founding of the 291st Death Korps of Kreig as an Infantry Regiment

912.M41 The regiment is pulled out of the line on Lausanne and rotated to garrison duty on the Troika Magnifica, a civilised world where the Munitorium could rest and refit the regiment back to full book strength.

934.M41 When the nation of Demezines on the third continent of Troika Magnifica revolts, the 287th Krieg Panzer Grenadiers Move swiftly to counter the traitors.

925.M41 Tau expansionst policies in the Damocles Gulf have mean't almost continuous low level conflict with the Imperium of Man. The regiment is posted to the Damocles Gulf Ready reaction force, Posted to Feyda Arakeen to counter Tau raids; Then rapidly pulled out and retasked to bolster PDF forces on the agriworld of Lausanne hard pressed by Tau sponsored rebels.

Imperial Inquisition

2008-11-16T09:22:00.001-08:00

Imperial Inquisition

Inquisitor Mateus

Inquisitor Palatine

The H'rus Incident Game 2

2008-11-16T04:55:00.001-08:00

The Eldar persuit was close, but Inquisitor Mateus had made it back to the Trading Enclave. Despairing that the Artifact Might Leave the surface of their world, the Eldar launched a vigorous assault into the Human trade enclave deep in the heart of the Tau settlement.
The Tau caught unawares put up no resistance to the first eldar thrust, and soon the Eldar were ranging unchecked through the Trade Enclave.
Mateus, with all avenues cut off, played his trump card. En-route to the world of H'rus, the Inquisitors ship had run across the 9031st Imperial Guard Division, redeploying from the Damocles Crusade en route to counter Hive Fleet Behemoths thrust into the Eastern Fringe. Using his Rossette, Inquisitor Mateus had diverted the fleet carrying the division, and it was now he chose to reveal a part of it. On his order the Strike Cruiser of the third company of the Exorcists, the Lux Imperator, dropped out of the warp to deliver its payload of Marines directly onto the Enclave.

With the Eldar roaming freely through the ruins of the Imperial Quarter of the City, it wasnt long before the two hosts met.
The Feircest fighting took place around Hab Block XVI. Eldar and Marine forces clashed head on in and around the ruined hab block.
An Eldar force patroling the perimeter wall met an Exorcist force using breaching charges on the Enclave wall to enter the city. With the bulk of their troops caught still dispersing from the recently created Breach the Marines had little time to react to the Eldar counter attack.
Swift footed as ever most of the eldar managed to avoid the bolter and lascannons aimed at them with the Marines only managing to bring down an Eldar Falcon, forcing the Dire Avengers to tumble in dissaray from their flaming transport.

Eldar scattered everywhere as marine firepower ranged down on them, Some running into assault while others took up firing positions in the surrounding buildings. Eldar return fire was withering, with many of the brothers caught out on the street, still clearing the breach, the Eldar inflicted heavy causalties.
Further into the enclave, the fire was less effective. Marine Jump troops and Terminators ranging ahead of the main party at the breach swung around to meet the Eldar and sweep them from their buildings before they could get settled.

Assault Marines Swept out of the buildings into the street. The first Eldar to die were the Bikers , swept from their rides by Bolter and chainsword. The Terminators tramping through the ruins of the Hab Block beyond them sent supporting fire streaming over their heads into the Eldar Guardians sheltering in the building opposite.
The Assault Marines made short work of the Jet bikes and swept on to the guardians position.

Over on the street the Eldar rush struck the Marine Line Fire Dragons leapt from their Falcon and opened up on a nearby Devastator Squad. Playing their Fusion Blasters over the Marines, they took a heavy toll. Marines, their flesh superheated in seconds exploded inside their ceramite armour.
The remainder of the Squad along with the rest of their Brothers on the Street remained fixated on the approaching Banshees and Dire avengers. The Bansees charged a Marine Tactical squad, their power weapons accounting for many Brothers. Unfortunately their charge had been shattered by Bolter and Plasma fire as they had run up the street. Too few of their number had arrived at the point of impact to have a decisive effect. The Marine counter assault finished the job, killing or incapacitating the last of the Banshees.

Over in the tangled ruins of the Hab, the Assault Squad paused briefly to spin their chain blades clean and jetted over the heads of the Guardians, landing on the shattered tiles behind them. Guardians caught by surprise by the maneauver were systematically butchered. It was over almost before it had begun, Guardian corpses lay dismembered, scattered all around their erstwhile shelter.

As Soon as the fire-Dragons were reported on the field, Brother Captain Vorenus, leading the Terminators determined that the The Fire Dragons could not be allowed to live. Ordering his squad to punch its way out of the Hab block the Terminators stepped out onto the veranda on the flank of the Fire dragons on the Street. Storm Bolter fire echoed down the street, almost drowned out by the ripping sound of the Assault Cannon carried by Brother Nosferus. Fire Dragons came appart under the onslaught, leaving none standing.
All down the street knots of Marines and Eldar swirled in melee killing each other with wild abandon.
But the balance was tipping, fewer and fewer Eldar stood to carry on the fight.

High above it all, ancient Marius emerged from the lift on the roof of the Hab Block and maneauvered his Dreadnought Sarcophagus to the edge of the building. From this position He was able to range on any target on the field.
Eldar Dark Reapers in the building opposite franically fired up at Ancient Marius trying to dislodge him from his perch. Missles flew wide or bounced from his ceramite shell.
He chose the remaining Eldar heavy jet bike, shattering it with a well placed Las cannon shot. Its Death pyre signaled the end of the Eldar will to fight. They tumbled back down the road in headlong flight.

The Exorcists had won the victory but at a heavy cost. Many Battle Brothers had fallen in taking the breach.

The H'rus Incident Game 1

2008-11-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

GAME 1
500 Point Game. Eldar Anihilation, Imperial Capture the Flag, ended in an Imperial Victory.

Biel Tan forces were still only beginning to gather on the H'rus. Not enough of the Warhost had arrived to lauch a an overwhelming strike on the Inquisitor. But if the Eldar were to stop the Artifact falling into the hand of the Imperium, time was running out. The Eldar knew however that a small force applied at the right moment can have a far greater effect than a larger force applied too late or too early. The Fates were read and the Time judged
as just after the Imperials killed their Tau Hosts.
Cresting the brow of the Hill overlooking the temple the Host began firing before the body of the last Tau Water Case fell to the ground.

Inquisitor Mateus, looked up from the Ruins and saw the Eldar warhost comming over the hill. Immediately seeing the danger he grabbed the artifact and ran for his Personal Scout Rhino. Swinging up onto the Footplate, Inquisitor Mateus voxed a warning to his bodyguard. They were to hold back the Eldar, at all costs.

In the forrest surrounding the ruins men of the 291st Death Korps of Krieg, dropped their disuises and readied their weapons. The Inquisitor had ordered and the Korps would follow his orders to the letter. The Xenos would not pass and would be made to pay a high price for their presumption.

IX Company 1st Platoon HQ Squad were the first to engage the enemy, opening Fire on the advancing Eldar bikes from the trees, brining two of them crashing down with Melta and Plasma Fire. Eldar retaliation was swift and brutal. Shuriken fire stripped leaves and bark from the the sheltering trees. Within seconds almost everyone in the command section was down, wounded or killed. Only Specialist Korpsman Kurgen was unharmed.

With nothing left to loose He rushed from the trees firing his Melta as he came, and charged the Monstrous Eldar Revenant construct. The Eldar Wriath Lord seeming slightly confused by the suicidal Human, barely paused in his stride as he cut the Korpsman in two.

The Eldar continued their headling rush at the Imperials. But they could see already it was too late. The Inquisitor escaped with his retinue, still cluthing the Artifact.
They had thrown the Dice in a gamble and lost. Now the War would have to continue. Many More would have to die before it was over.
The Eldar Host swept passed the Death Korps Lines still in the Trees and set off in pursuit of Inquisitor Mateus.

The H'rus Incident Campaign

2008-11-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Coreward of the Andronicus Sector, On the Edge of the Damoclese Gulf, the Tau empire settled a world in 646.M41. This world was unusual in that it had a substantial population of Eldar Exodites. The Eldar lived largely peacefully alongside the newcommers, keeping to themselves. choosing to remain largely hidden in the vast wilderness of H'rus.
One hundred years after the Tau settled the world, a Rouge trader by the name of Sinja Crafts re dicsovered the world for the empire and against the Laws of the Imperiaum began a regular trade with the Tau on the world, Shipping bulk minerals in exchange for Technology and artifacts for the bored rich of the Imperium. When the trade inevidably came to the attention of the Emperors Inquisition, Inquisitor Mateus, seeking an Artifact he knew to be on the surface of the planet, decided to use the trade station as a cover to steal the Artifact. Under the cover of a routine trade deligation Inquisitor Mateus asked to be allowed to travel to the interior. Members of the Tau Water caste arranged the expidition and the Inquisitor was duely given a tour of an Ancient Ruin. The Farseers of the Exodites of H'rus, reading the skiens of the Warp were fully aware of the purpose of the Inquisitor, and his interest in the Ancient Artifact from the downfall. Deeply disturbed by the possibility the Inquisitor might recover the artifact for the Imperium, they moved to protect the site.
At a signal from the Inquisitor the disguise maintained by his body guard was dropped a dozen Tau were executed before anything more than a single garbled message could get out.

GAME 1
500 Point Game. Eldar Anihilation, Imperial Capture the Flag, ended in an Imperial Victory.

Biel Tan forces were still only beginning to gather on the H'rus. Not enough of the Warhost had arrived to lauch a an overwhelming strike on the Inquisitor. But if the Eldar were to stop the Artifact falling into the hand of the Imperium, time was running out. The Eldar knew however that a small force applied at the right moment can have a far greater effect than a larger force applied too late or too early. The Fates were read and the Time judged as just after the Imperials killed their Tau Hosts.
Swinging up onto the footplate of his Scout Rhino, Inquisitor Mateus voxed a warning to his bodyguard. They were to hold back the Eldar, at all costs. In the forrest surrounding the ruins where the Artifact had lain, men of the 291st Death Korps of Krieg, dropped their disuises and readied their weapons. The men of Krieg spend their lives freely slowing the Eldar advance while the Inquisitor fled.

Game 2
2000 Point Game. Eldar vs. Marines, Anihilation, ended in an Imperial Victory.

The Eldar persuit was close, but Inquisitor Mateus had made it back to the Trading Enclave. Despairing that the Artifact Might Leave the surface of their world, the Eldar launched a vigorous assault into the Human trade enclave deep in the heard of the Tau settlement.
The Tau caught unawares put up no resistance to the first eldar thrust, and soon the Eldar were ranging unchecked through the Trade Enclave. Mateus, with all avenues cut off, played his trump card. En-route to the world of H'rus, the Inquisitors ship had run across the 9031st Imperial Guard Division, redeploying from the Damocles Crusade en route to counter Hive Fleet Behemoths thrust into the Eastern Fringe.
Using his Rossette Inquisitor Mateus had diverted the fleet carrying the division, and it was now he chose to reveal a part of it. On his Order the Strike Cruiser of the third company of the Exorcists dropped out of the warp to deliver its payload of Marines directly onto the Enclave

Game 3
750 Point Game. Tau vs Imperial, Anihilation, ended in an Tau Victory.

All over the planet Tau Firewarriors scrambled from their barracks to defend thier installations from the Eldar Exodites, with whom they had been friends for so long. As they now understood it, their trade partner had been attacked in the wilds. Worse still, the Eldar had tracked the happless human back to the trade enclave in the principal city, and made a brutal thrust into the heart of the city to get at him. Many Tau of all castes had died. Now they must be vigilent, defending their posts long enough for the Ethereals to organise the defence.
The attack, when it came, was not from the direction of the wilds as they expected, but from the city behind them. As the Eldar fought pitched battles with Marines in the streets of the Trade Enclave, the 291st Death Korps had emerged from the hold of the bulk trader the Inquisitor had arrived in and assaulted the command bunker of the planetary defence batteries on the outskirts of the principle city.
The Secret was now out, word flashed around the Fire-warrior command net, not only were the Eldar Exodites turning against them, but the very Humans they were trying to protect had stabbed them in the back. Before long the stiuation for the Tau of H'Rus was to be come much worse.

Game 4
1000 point Game. Tau vs Eldar, Anihilation Draw.

Out on the plains, beyond the outskirts of the city, the Tau fire caste had formed defensive line. Thousands of firewarriors stood ready to repell their once peacfull neighbours. Word had not yet reached the front of the Imperials treachery and little did the Tau know they were about to sell their lives for a Lie.
The first Eldar Stike came directly east of the Principle city when a Tau tripwire patrol stumbled against the sharp edge of the Swordwind and the first cut and the city was blunted, but a great cost. The patrol was cut to peuices and fell back in dissarray. But they had served their purpose, delaying the Eldar long enough to buy time for the main line to come to readyness.

Game 5
1000 point Game. Tau vs Eldar, Anihilation Eldar Win

The cutting edge of the Biel Tan assault may have been met and slowed, but the full weight of the following Sword Wind, would not be so easily stopped. Eldar and Tau forces clashed decisively just outside the outskirts of Principle City.

Game 6
1000 point Game. Tau vs Eldar, Anihilation Eldar Win.
Tau Face the Hammer blows of the Biel Tan Sword Wind.

Game 7
1000 point Game. Tau vs 291st Panzer Grenadiers, Anihilation Imperial Win
Tau face Imperial break out of enclave 1000pts

Game 8
1000 point Game. Eldar vs 291st Panzer Grenadiers, Objectives, Eldar Victory.

Eldar Break Thru the Tau cordon smash into the Trade Enclave for a second time. 291st are thrown at the Eldar to blunt the assault. Eldar brush them aside.

Game 9
1000 point game. Eldar vs Tau. Annihilation, Eldar Win
With the Cordon broken, the Garrison Shas'o decided to go on the offensive, he hoped to pinch off the Eldar advance into the city before the attack could develop. With minimal forces left holding the Line the garrison Shas'o threw a pincer around the Eldar spearhead catching a picket force of Biel Tan in the rolling hills around town.
The two arms of the attack however were mistimed and struck in an uncoordinated fashion. The Eldar soon broke up the attacking Tau forces.

Game 10
2000 Point Game, Eldar vs Tau & Imperial Allied, Draw

General Oberst Steiner was monitoring the situation from his Command bunker. He was becoming increasingly concerned, the Strategium on his staff had estimated that the Tau would hold up the Sword of Vashar for far longer than they had actually managed. The Tau inability to block Biel Tan progress into the Principal City was threatening to disrupt plans to evacuate the artifact.
Steiner chose that moment to demonstrate the unorthodox methods that he would become famous for. He decided to contact the Tau to offer an alliance.
The Tau quickly accepted the offer. There would be no love lost on the Imperials but with the line broken and their forces badly out of position the Ethereal, were desperate and saw no other choice but to ally.
The combined force met the Biel Tan Spear head on the outskirts of the city. The Tau, deployed on the left flank of the

Game 11
1500 Point Game, Tau vs 291st Panzer Grenadiers, Dawn of War Tau Win
With the The Eldar stalled in the outskirts outskits of the city, the allies of convienience soon fell out. Fighing began shortly after Vashar pulled back from the suburbs to reorganise. Tau fired the first shot, and overran the suprised Kriegers after a short and bloody battle.

Game 12
2000 Point Game, Witch Hunter vs Eldar, Dawn of War Imperial Win
The Eldar counter attack took everyone by surprise. They had regrouped much quicker than either the Imperials or the Tau thought possible after the blooddy nose inflicted on them after their assault on the outskirts.
This time the lightning assault over-ran the pickets and thrust towards the Imperial Trade quarter again. Inquisitor Mateus was forced to order the immediate evacuation of the city. Placing his reserves of Sisters of the Ark Angelis in the path of the Biel Tan attack he hoped to buy enough time to load the artifact and escape the world.
Meeting in the streets of the Encalve itself, the Inquisitors forces succeeded in blocking the main thrust of the Swordwind, and the Inquisitor retreated with the Division in good order towards the Enclave Starport and lifted off intact.

Campaign Ends Eldar Victory!
Not all the transports lifted off safely, a few were hit by Eldar and Tau Anti-air batteries and one or two crashed back to the planet. In the confusion, no one noticed that one of them had been the one carrying the artifact until after the fleet were boosting to the Warp transit point. Inquisitor Mateus was enraged by this, and despatched an elite force back to the planet to infiltrate the wilderness and relocate the item. His team would find it or die trying. He had been forced by the downing of the Artifacts transport to play a long game, He would be back....

IX Company, Chimera D2

2008-11-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Chimera D2 is a Games Workshop Chimera Kit with Detailing and a Forgeworld Turret.
The Turret is the Autocannon Turret from Forgeworld with some extra detailing:

Bracket for the Pintlemount
Made from a brass Bracket on a 1/38th scale detailing pack for a Panzer mk 4

Turret Stowage
Made from brass rod bent to shape and yet more detailing brass to form the wire basket

The Hull had a little extra detailing as well :
Glacis

Road Wheel and Gas Cap

Rear Hatch

So the finished chimera looks like this:

Front

3/4 Right

Right

3/4 Left Rear

Raising the Regiment

2008-11-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well they are here at last. GW/Forgeworld have finally released the Death Korps models. Never mind the squeaky clean America-Mom-And-ApplePie image of the Cadians; dont give a thought to the Rambo-esque square jawed over muscled semi-mutant Catachans; forget the muffled hordes of Valhallans; I first saw them in the Armageddon website and fell immediatly in love. I later saw the full body sketch in the third ed C:IG and was even more in love. The death Korps look like what war is. a Hard, gritty,dirty, bloody business. Having waited so long for these MoFo's to come out I am desparate to make a good job of them, I have held off painting partly to see what the rest of the community comes up with; partly to do research; partly to clear the back log of projects off my desk (which I have failed to do) and partly because of real life intruding in my busy painting Schedule.

IX Company, Autocannon I Battery

2008-11-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers

IX Company, I AutoCannon Battery

1st Gun

2nd Gun

3rd Gun

IX Company, Bolter I Battery

2008-11-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers

IX Company, I Bolter Battery

1st Gun

2nd Gun

3rd Gun

Imperial Commissariat

2008-11-02T12:28:00.001-08:00

291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers

IX Company, Commissar Krieger

IX Company, Commissar Kharkov

IX Company, III Platoon

2008-11-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

291st Death Korps Panzer Grenadiers
IX Company, III Platoon

Company Command Section

III Platoon 1st Squad

III Platoon 2nd Squad

Imperial forces defend the township of Sato Vox against an Eldar incursion!

2008-10-30T04:04:00.000-07:00

Determined Biel Tan raiders attacked the subhive through a box barrage laid down by regimental artillery, despite heavy losses and a feirce fire fight, Eldar forces pushed through imperial tripwire defences.
Pictured here is a command Salamander of the 297th Krieg Grenadiers. This Salamander was destroyed in the fighting.
Losses on both sides were heavy. Inscrutable Eldar withdrew a few hours later.

Campaign Ideas

2008-10-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Goals

Free Flow
Book keeping kept to a minimum
Story/narrative to give it meaning.
Three Way Tau; Imperial (IG mainly); Eldar Biel Tan
Clear Ending

Rules
1. Register an Army List made up of 1500 points with a subset of 500 points and 1000 points picked out form the 1500
2. Experience follows the Unit, so if a unit in the army list is changed (even to drop a bolt pistol!) the unit that was changed is considered a new unit and looses all experience and traits.

3. If the Unit Survives as a scoring unit (4th Ed rules) then it gains an XP point for surviving.
4. If it does not survive then it looses an XP to a min of 0. Record at the end of each game on the army list.
5. +1 for Unanimous Man of the Match!

Or use 4th Ed pg 242 Experience rules

At [three] XP roll on the veteran table and record the result.
At [Six] Roll a second time on the veteran table.
Lose below Three/Six loose the trait.

Possible future Expansions is an Emperors Tarrot stle modifications to change the field of play:

Abandoned Front line Bunkers;
Civilians in the Way
Arctic Conditions (Cold, Night Fighting)
Ambush
Supply Problems
Fleet overhead - Free Orbita Bomardment

Victory Condition
First one to 5 Victories

Narrative Idea 1
World in the Damoclese Gulf Overrun by the Tau as the Gue'la pulled out in 742.M41. 200Years later 997.M41, the Administratum organises a limited offensive to recover some of the Worlds lost to the Tau. Eldar, who have been maitaining a vigil on an artefact, decide the risk of Monkeigh Psykers returning to the world is too great and move to sweep both off the world before they activate the artifact.

Narrative Idea 2
994.M41 Tau found a new world on a seeming Paradice world. The Mechanicus Exploratium corps has had this world staked out as a potential colony world for several centuries and are not pleased to discover the Tau squatting there. Mechanicum organises a crusade in 998.M41 to cleanse the world before they become too well established. Both sides feed more and more troops into the conflict. Biel Tan attention is eventually drawn to the world as the Maiden world is scarred by the conflict. Eldar raiders open up a long forgotten web way portal and awaken the Sword Wind to kick them both off. First Eldar Raiders appear 999.M41

Narrative Idea 3
Tau settle a world in 746.M41 which has a substantial Eldar Exodite population. the two species agree to divide the world equitably and live in peace. A Rouge trader discovers an artifact on the surface during a routine trade deligation. When this is reported to the Inquisition, Ordo Xenos move to aquire the artifact in Tau territory by stealth. Eldar Farseers sensing the danger, move into Tau teritory to prevent the Imperials from gaining access to the Artifact. A firefight results in the Imperials being destroyed. The Tau, missinterpreting the Eldar intervention as an act of War move to retailiate, and use it as an excuse for a Massive Response. The Eldar Exodite commuinty in desparation calls on Biel Tan to unleash the Sword Wind on the world.
The Inquisition, having failed to aquire access to the Artifact through stealth, call on the Hammer of the Emperor.
An Imperial Guard Division, en route to counter Hive Fleet Behemoths thrust into the Eastern Fringe, is diverted to capture the Artifact by Coup-De-Main.

Cleansing of Cygurdsin - The Hybrid Revolt begins

2008-10-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

COMMIT TO: Imperial Data File Inq/16787/DTH CROSS FILE: Inquisition into the Adeptus Astartes INPUT DATE: 0153002.M42	AUTHOR: Inquisitor Palatine TRANSMITTER: Astropath Secundus Ariel RECEIVER: Astropath Prime Joshua
SUBJECT: Cleansing of Cygurdsin - The Hybrid Revolt begins, After Action Forensic report	THOUGHT: In the beginning there was the Emperor, All else follows Him

Specialist Thorvelt carefully checked the safety catch of his Sparta pattern grenade launcher was on, then braced it against the rough bark of the tree. He lowered his head and squinted over the open sights at the collection of dilapidated buildings in the farm yard below. Satisfied he was ready for whatever it was the Lt thought was likely to happen, he risked a glance in the commanders direction. He was looking down at the farm house with a pair of occulars and talking with Commissar Gortmann when he jerked back a pace and turned to face back down the line. Surprised, Thorfelt looked back down at the farm house below and almost dropped his Grenade launcher. From his vantage point the view below had transformed. Gone was the peaceful peasant farm, instead the outhouses were vomiting black chitinous bodies. The very fabric of the building seemed to bulge and heave as genestealers and hormagaunts poured out of every orifice in the buildings. The voice of Leftenant Bates shouting orders to open fire brought Thorfelt back to himself. He hefted the grenade launcher and nestled the but back into his shoulder and squeezed the trigger arcing a grenade into the pack mass of aliens in the farm yard.

BATTLEFIELD:

The Terrain was made up of light woods. These trees provided a 5+ cover save in the undergrowth but did nothing to block line of sight or slow down movement.
DEPLOYMENT - 2/3rd Platoons 2nd Coy 109th Cygurdsin Millitia:
The PDF formed up in roughly two lines with Blue Platoon and Platoon HQ on the left and Yellow Platoon on the right. Anvil Squads were placed on the ridge where possible and Hammer squads between the farmyard and the ridgeline. Mortar section was placed on the extreme left in a gulley.

DEPLOYMENT - Hive Fleet Germanicus
12 genestealers were deployed in the South western corner behind the PDF positions, under the cover of light forest. A biovore lumbered into position in the south eastern corner.

In the farmyard, 12 Scythed genestealers spilled out from the farmhouse and took shelter behind the farmyard wall, along with 12 Hormagaunts. 3 Warriors stalked out from behind the farmhouse.
TURN ONE - 2/109th Cygurdsin Militia
1st Leftenant Shouted down the line to open fire then turned to check the rear, He was horrified to see the evil shapes of more genestealers flitting through the trees. He drew his power sword and shouted to his command squad to turn and take cover on the rear lip of the ridge ready for the oncoming storm. 2nd leftenant Gromil of Blue Platoon HQ had the same Idea, quickly realising the danger from the rear he turned his command squad and scrambled off to block the infiltrating genestealers in the rear of the platoon.

On the other side of the ridge, however both Hammer squads advanced at the command of their sergeants and surged forward to the edge of the forest. They slid into cover and opened a withering fire on the scythed genestealers gathering behind the farmyard wall.

The mortar section went into action raining shells down on the farmyard, while the anvil sections poured chattering bolter fire into the chittering mass of aliens. Within a few seconds 7 scythed genestealers and 2 hormagaunts were blasted or shot to pieces.

Unknown to the squaddies in the rear of the hill, the three headquarters squads fired into the infiltrating genestealers killing 2 in their mad scramble to close with the PDF men.

TURN ONE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
A spore mine screamed overhead and landed in amongst the rocks near to Command HQ squads position. The Scythed genestealers and the hormagaunts sprang across the farmyard wall and advanced into the teeth of the PDF's fire.

Behind the wave of hormagaunts leaping the fence the Warriors advanced, one firing the venom cannon it carried. The poisoned barbs finding a resting place in the back of one of Platoon HQ 's guards as the re positioned to face the infiltrating genestealers.

The aliens struck the PDF line like a whirlwind, the Scythed genestealers swept away 6 guardsmen in as many seconds leaving no-one alive within reach. The hormagaunts tore into Blue hammer one on the left flank killing another 4. In a scant seconds the 'nids had devastated the front rank of the guards leaving 7 men in Yellow hammer one and only the sergeant and two other ranks in Blue Hammer 1.

The shock was too great and Blue hammer one reeled backwards towards the remainder of their platoon on the ridgeline. The hormagaunts gave them no chance sweeping over them slaughtering the fleeing remnants to the foot of the ridge.

On the right the scythed genestealers turned and moved up the line of Yellow Hammer 1 to clash with the squads remnants who were standing firm despite shocking losses amongst their comrades in Blue Hammer 1.

Behind the ridge in the forest, the Genestealer infiltrators closed the gap with Blue HQ and charged. They barely paused in their forward momentum to slaughter 2nd leftenant Gromil and his entire squad before moving on towards the mortar section.

TURN TWO - 2/109th Cygurdsin Millitia

Leftenant Bates seeing Blue platoon HQ move to block the genstealers in the rear he turned the men of his squad back towards a closer threat - the rampaging hormagaunts - Firing as they came.
Down in the hollow the Mortar section however had seen the destruction of Blue platoon HQ and had hurriedly gathered up their equipment to move up to the position just vacated by Bates.
Once they reached their new position they took turns to pot shots over the heads of Bates' Company HQ squad into the hormagaunts killing 2.

Blue Hammer 1 on top of the ridge opened a rapid volley fire into to hormagaunts at the bottom of the ridge, harrowing the remaining aliens with las beams and holy promethium fire.

On the right flank, The remnants of Yellow hammer 1 closed up with the scythed genestealers ready to take revenge for their dead comrades, but the genestealer mutants were too fast, killing 2 more PDF squaddies in the swirling combat.

Behind the ridge Yellow Platoon HQ supported by Yellow Anvil 1 continued to pour fire into the advancing skirmish line of genestealers. The preternaturally fast creatures dodged in and out of the sparse cover offered by the light forest, avoiding all harm.

TURN TWO - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

The first spore mine drifted out from the rocks into the gully recently vacated by the mortar section. A second one screamed down out of the sky landing amongst Yellow Anvil 1. It burst on impact, fragments scything through the air downed 2 squaddies.

The genestealers behind the ridge changed direction and continued their inexorable advance, now aimed at Blue Anvil 1 on top of the ridge. They struck with unparalleled ferocity leaving none of the Emperors servants in Blue Anvil 1 alive.

In the farmyard the Warriors strode over the farmyard wall and set off towards the Company HQ squad. The Warrior holding the venom cannon symbiote fired at the flitting shadows of Bates' squad catching one of the squaddies with a diamond hard stream of poisioned barbs, ripping him in half. Then the Warriors charged. Warned by the short scream of the unfortunate squaddie, Leftenant Bates and Commisar Gortmann had a only a few moments to brace the squad to recieve the charge. But a few moments proved to be enough. Bates and his Company HQ squad took the Warriors charge pushed them back onto the defensive and and even succeeded in wounding two of the brutes.

The Scythed genestealers of on the right flank made short work of the remainder of Yellow Hammer 1 loosing only one to the chainsword of the heroic Sergeant Lokizon - All that was left of the squad.

TURN THREE - 2/109th Cygurdsin Militia

With the mortars now set up on the knoll at the end of the ridge, The crews begin a rapid bombardment on the genestealers consolidating further along the ridge. 2 of the nightmare creatures are caught in the open, the blast spattering ichor over the bodies of the recently slaughtered guardsmen. With the loaders pouring out a torrent of mortar shells, the gunners were close enough to take up their lasrifles and add their fire to the conflagration. Their sniping took down another genestealer.

At the other end of the ridge the heavy bolter crew of Yellow Anvil 1 sat on top of the rocky outcrop. They worked feverishly to spin their gun around and pump belts of ammunition along the ridge into the genestealers sheltering from the conflagration enveloping them. Yellow platoon HQ added its fire as well knocking another genestealer from its feet.

In the gully below the sweating mortar men, Leftenant Bates and Commissar Gortman fought the Warriors to a standstill wounding one of them while the beast bent down to skewer a squaddy.

Sergeant Lokizon, all that was left of Yellow Hammer1 fought on to the last. But standing alone against four mutant Scythed Genestealers, ther was little he could do. The creatures took him apart, leaving him behind as little more than strips of flesh and fragments of bone and equipment.

TURN THREE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
The spore mine - perhaps sensing the nearby labours of the mortar men, or pehaps directed by the hive mind - drifted into their midst almost unnoticed and detonated. Lethal, razor shards of the mines carapace scythed the head off a PDF specialist.

A second heralded its arrival with a scream of tortured air. Its trajectory had drifted in flight and instead of landing on the mortar men it fell like a comet amongst the combatants at the edge of the forest. Its blast knocked one of the remaining warriors from their feet and ended the lives of 2 PDF troopers. The last Warrior recovered quickly and lashed out with a claw, catching Leftenant Bates unawares and Spearing him through the thigh. Commissar Gortman, lashed out with is power fist, punching through chittin and bone to rip the spine from the warrior, avenging his fallen officer.

The genestealers on the ridge took quick advantage of the brief respite from the mortar fire and exited the ridge top. They headed for the valley floor and moved along the ridgeline, smashing into Yellow Platoon HQ. Two guardsmen went down struggling with the genestealer foe, and the leftenant stabbed another as it ran onto his power sword it its eagerness to close with him.

The Scything genestealers barreled into Yellow Anvil 1 killing the sergeant as he rose from his cover and two nearby troopers.

TURN FOUR - 2/109th Cygurdsin Militia

The mortar men scrambled back to their tubes, there was a flurry of activity resetting them upright then the mortars spoke again, the shells arced high and headed down towards the distant biovore. But the crosswinds that had deflected the sporemine earlier now deflected the counter fire. The mortar shells fell well behind the biovore's position.

Commissar Gortmann surveyed the ruin of his command and made a decision. The news that Tyranids were operating on Cygurdsin must get out. The Commissars first duty was to take the news to the planetary authoritaries and the Imperium. He set off at a run towards the hedge row.

Over the back of the ridge Yellow Platoon HQ were still engaged in a desperate struggle for their lives. The genestealers pulled apart another squaddie in a shower of gore, but remained impervious to all the troopers efforts to kill them.

Nearby Yellow Anvil 1 broke and ran after a brief struggle with the Scythed Genestealers, leaving three more troopers lying in pools of their own viscera and severed limbs.

TURN FOUR - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

The Biovore lobbed return fire at the mortar section again and again the cross wind above the forest deflected the trajectory, causing the mine to come down beyond the intended target.

The Scything genestealers, determined not to let Yellow Anvil 1 get away, charge the still fleeing men. Briefly their courage returns and they turn to face the charge. It did them no good as the 'stealers shreded them.

he Leftenant of Yellow Platoon HQ has more luck, he fends off the attentions of all three remaining genestealers all by himself. after a brief flurry of blows, the Leftenant looked around himself and found the was the only living creature left standing. He did the only sensible thing he could think of. He ran.

TURN FIVE - 2/109th Cygurdsin Militia
The Leftenant sprinted as fast as he could towards the mortar section screaming into his vox mike for a covering barrage.
Worrying more about counter battery fire the, mortar men put three shells down and bracketed the Biovore, shrapnel from blasts too far away rattled harmlessly off the thick chittin of the beast.

TURN FIVE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

The Scythed genestealers, hearing the receding footsteps of the PDF Leftenant, turned and loped off after him as the Biovore sent another spore mine screaming over their heads to land harmlessly beyond the mortar team.

TURN SIX - 2/109th Cygurdsin Militia

Commissar Gortmann clambered over the hedge into the farmyard and ran. Behind him The young leftenant formerly of Yellow Platoon HQ was all that was left of his now destroyed command. He too was running. The mortar section, seeing him comming through the undergrowth, finally adjusted their fire and placed 3 shots squarely onto the remnants of the scything genestealer pack that was tracking him. All three of the remaining mutants were caught in the blasts and tossed like broken dolls through the undergrowth.

TURN SIX - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

The Biovore sensing there was nothing left for it to do here made ready to lumber off into the woods. It paused and almost as an afterthought belched out one last spore towards the Mortars it had been dueling with. The mine fell out of the sky directly on top of the mortar section. A whirlwind of fragmenting chitin scoured the position, but as the blast cleared, all five specialists of the section got to their feet and stood amazed to have survived. Many many more of their comrades had not. As the the guns fell silent over the battle ground they began to hear the moans of the wounded.

Cleansing of Cygurdsin

2008-10-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

COMMIT TO: Imperial Data File Inq/16787/DTH CROSS FILE: Inquisition into the Adeptus Astartes INPUT DATE: 0126002.M42	AUTHOR: Inquisitor Palatine TRANSMITTER: Astropath Secundus Ariel RECEIVER: Astropath Prime Joshua
SUBJECT: Cleansing of Cygurdsin - The Hybrid Revolt begins, After Action Forensic report	THOUGHT: Honour the Dead, You will join them soon enough

Trooper Svart squatted low into the ice covered undergrowth and gazed disconnectedly into the tangled bracken ahead. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck until it met the fur lining of the upturned collar of his great coat. He had been born in the uplands of the north, far from this place but somehow, strangely the same. He had spent many a season as a boy and then a youth hunting in forests just like this. He loved the way the blue tinged light of the Day-Star turned the delicate snow crystals a deep turquoise, How the icicles in the trees tinkled musically in the slightest breeze. But today the forest was different. Today there was something wrong. Something was turning the cool blue shade under the canopy of leaves into a chilling darkness. A shockingly fast movement in the shadowy undergrowth ahead jerked him back from his reverie. It had been so fast he barely believed he had seen anything. He halted and droped to one knee. Some distance behind him he could hear the stealthy movements of the rest of his squad followed his lead. Ignoring them he swallowed and turned his head slowly this way and that, looking at the bush with is unconscious mind as he had learnt as a boy. Waiting to see if his brain could pick out a pattern that didn't belong, or a movement that was not a part of the forest. When the alien thing curled out from the branches barely 2 meters from his head he could hardly believe his eyes. It appeared as if growing out of the very bark of the tree. It paused completely motionless for a split second staring at him, its glass hard black eyes reflecting his own image back at him. Svart barely had time to scream as it struck.

BATTLEFIELD:

The Terrain was made up of light woods leading to an open groxx paddock in the far northern edge. These trees provided a 5+ cover save in the undergrowth but did nothing to block line of sight or slow down movement.

DEPLOYMENT - 109th Millitia

The Patrol was stretched out in column of march when the Cultists backed by a fragment of Hive Behemoth called to the world by the siren of the cult hive mind. Red platoon hammer squad 1 was in point followed the rest of red platoon then Green platoon and finally 1st Company HQ accompanied by Commissar Matilda.

DEPLOYMENT - Tyranid xenos

We have determined from surviving battle ROM that a brood of hormagaunts deployed in line on the right flank in parallel with the line of advance. To their right a brood of warriors kept a tight control on their activities.

Warriors anchored the hormagaunts on the eastern ridge line, forming the center of the xenos formation.

The box was held shut by the Magus and his retinue of fanatical heretic bodyguards.

Sat in a field beyond the forest surrounded by disinterested groxx the monstrous Tyranid Biovore readied its self to rain spores over the battlefield.

TURN ONE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

The 'nids sprang the ambush as 1st Leftenant Andiemann led his column into its killing zone. The Hormagaunts moved forward after dispatching the scouts, easily outpacing the larger warriors in their eagerness to close with the column.

The first sign of the oncomming avalanche of chittin and claws for most was the piercing shreik of a mycetic spore arcing across the azure firmament and landing with a squelch dead center of Red Platoon HQ. Four men were completely coated in the sticky green ichor which issued from the spore. Men knocked over by the concussion staggered to their feet and gazed curiously at the substance. Then the screaming began as they saw their own limbs and those of their comrades rapidly begin to melt into red-black puddles.

The Warriors, with the advantage of height saw the column first, sighted up Red Anvil 1 squad and blasted one trooper into chunks with a stream of crystalline tipped barbs.

The Hormagaunts rounded the gap in the ridgeline, their chitinous plates rustling with a light susurration. As soon as the first of the 1/109th came into view they leapt forward with unnatural speed closing the remaining distance in a single bound landing in amongst the green PDF troopers.

Even veteran troops would have been hard pressed to stand up to such a sudden assault by so feared an enemy. Red platoon who had been leading the patrol stood no chance. Three good men died immediately without ever having a chance to raise their weapons in self defense. Tyranids clawed their way over the bodies of the fallen in an effort to close with new meat. For the men of Red Anvil 1 the shock of the attack and horror of the foe was too great to face and they broke and ran.

TURN ONE - 1/109th Cygurdsin Millitia

1st Leftenant Andiemann wasted no time ordering his defense. Even as he heard the screech of the incoming spore mine, he ordered the Mortar teams to deploy and return fire. with guidance from the radio operator of Red Hammer 1 they were soon shelling the advancing Warriors at the cusp of the valley, blowing chunks off of one of the beasts and wounding it severely.

Meanwhile Green platoon had pulled back from the combat swirling to their front and taken up positions in the undergrowth. Only then had they begun returning fire into the only target they could see. Lasrifles and heavy bolter fire reached out to the oncoming cultist body guard, stripping the foliage from around them and punching one from his feet. The rest of the zealot cultists and their wicked master dove for cover and readied themselves for the next rush.

Red Hammer 1 squad continued its desperate mêlée with the Hormagaunts. Two more soldiers of the Emperor lost their lives, butchered by the enemy. But these doughty men were not beaten easily just yet. Having recovered from the initial shock they turned their rifle buts and bayonets on the hormagaunts clubbing and stabbing the foe.
Trooper Vallent overcame one of them, splitting its exoskeleton open in several places with his lasrifle on auto, then repeatedly plunging his bayonet into the cracks until the thing stopped twitching.

TURN TWO - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus

Under the shadows of the cool forest canopy on the far side of the ridge, ominous noises could be heard. They weren't the noises of the normal forest day as all of the animals nearby had fallen quiet, hiding fearfully at the bottom of their burrows. They could sense a new predator in the woods. Under the cover of the confusion caused by the hormagaunts, the first of the pure strain genestealers sped across the forest floor. Across the valley floor the Warriors continued their march towards the hormagaunts feeding ground.

In the next valley over the Magus and his bodyguard of insane human dupes leapt from cover in another short rush to close with the enemy. The covered their attack with wild blasts from their riot guns hitting nothing but making plenty of noise.

In all of this confusion the shrieking arrival of the second spore mine went almost unnoticed. This mine landed well short of the PDF line coming to rest in amongst the rocky outcrop at the head of the valley.

The hormagaunts, urged on by the approaching Warrior brood went into overdrive. Frenzied attacks first drove the men of Red Hammer 1 back then finally overwhelmed them in an avalanche of angry bugs. With a taste for human flesh the bugs rushed forward heedless of the guns now hastily being re aimed in their direction.

TURN TWO - 1/109th Cygurdsin Millitia

The PDF position was resting on a knife edge. The Mortar men had changed targets at the request of the grenadier of Green HQ, who - having scaled the ridge between the two valleys - had reported seeing something moving in the cool darkness of the next valley over, but their shots had failed to find any mark and had done nothing but churn up leaf mould.

Sergeant Pultroon of Red Anvil 1 dove into cover and rallied his squad around him. Taking only a few moments to re organize he set the remaining trooper of the heavy bolter team to reset his weapon while he and the remainder of the squad provided covering fire hoping to suppress the cultists now rushing towards his new position.

Green Platoon turned their guns on the advancing Hormagaunts punishing the slayers of Red Hammer 1 with lasrifles, many went down but still they came on. Heavy bolter fire from Green Anvil 1 swept across the onrushing xenos chopping up 'nids and branches alike, but still they came on.

Mere yards from the front rank of Green Hammer 1 squad Trooper Lionst opened fire with a carefully timed douse of flaming promethium, neatly enfilading the hormagaunts charge and coating them all in flames. A few 'gaunts, carried forward by their own momentum and trailing fire like small meteors made it to the 1/109th line but were easily dispatched as they collapsed.

The grenadier from Green HQ saw the mortar round fall lighting up the darkness with blasts of High explosive and his eyes widened in horror as a mountain of oily black chitin and claws reflected the light back at him. screaming frantically for the mortars to adjust he lobbed his own shot into the densely pack ranks of genestealers. Shrapnel whickered through the air shredding foliage but the pure strains were seemingly unaffected.

TURN THREE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
The Genestealers continued their advance towards the ridge. More genestealers infiltrated quietly through the woods to the right of the original infestation, and to the left a small group of hybrids armed with a motley collection of arms moved up stealthily, in the direction of the mortar teams.
The Warriors picked their way almost delicately through the viscera and body parts that was all that remained of Red Hammer 1 Squad. The Warrior paused as though in thought. It cocked it head curiously at the humans scurrying about in the forest a head and sent a burst of poison flechette out from the venom cannon it carried in its lower limbs. The diamond hard rounds scoured the undergrowth around Red Anvil 1 punching through roots, leaves, ballistic cloth and flesh. When Sergeant Pultroon glanced around after the firing stopped two of his men were convulsing in poison induced agony while a third was frantically patting at his uniform to pull out a barb that had lodged in the ballistic cloth.

Overhead a by now too familiar scream of rent air heralded the arrival of another spore mine. It landed in the rear of the packed ranks of Green platoon and once again the men of that platoon were coated with the clear sticky acid of the spore. Three PDF'er from Green Anvil 1 were caught when the acid filled the shallow scrape they were sheltering in and they barely had time to scream as the pool of acid turned red black with their residue.

The Magus and his body guard leapt forward once more, once more firing a cloud of shot as they came. This time their charge carried them straight into Red Platoon HQ. 2nd Leftenant Dagenhad drew his powersword and lunged into the fray, determined to take the strangely clad leader down, he angled his counter rush to bring him face to face with the Magus.

He was halfway through a back handed swing that would have decapitated his opponent when his gaze met the magus's eyes. His mind struggled for only a brief moment before his mind snapped and all that was Jamis Dagenhad fell into the abyss that was the Magus's gaze. What replaced him belonged body and soul to the all-father. The platoon Grenadier was the first to notice. Seeing the leftenants sword arm fall slack at this side, he turned on his heel and ran, soon the whole of Red Platoon HQ was running back towards the guards lines. Quickly taking advantage of the situation the Magus spurred his bodyguard on, straight into Red Hammer1.

TURN THREE - 1/109th Cygurdsin Millitia
1st Leftenant Andiemann, raised his head above the tangle of roots behind which he was hiding to survey the scene. Red Platoon was gone. Hacked down or dissolved in only a few minutes of combat. He could see Red Platoon HQ , all that was left of 25 men and women, streaming back towards his lines. The only thing left for him to to was by space and time to out gun these abominations. He dropped back into cover, grabbed the handset from his vox operator and began issuing the necessary orders.

The rest of Green Platoon HQ moved up to the top of the ridge to fire down onto the advancing purestrains.
Grenades Lazbeams and plasma beams strobed out into the gathering darkness of the forest seeking out the advancing horrors, but none went down. The Mortars added their weight of fire and this time managed to drop 3 Genestealers with shrapnel. In the valley behind them Green Hammer 1 opened up with lasfire on the advancing Warrior 'nids. A cheer went up when the fearsome bug with the venom cannon shuddered, staggered and fell, punctured by many wounds.
Red Hammer 1 couldn't face the fight with the Magus's bodyguard and, after a brief indecisive bout of hand to hand, broke and ran.

TURN FOUR - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
The Magus and his bodyguard, still brimming with confidence with their run of luck continued their headlong rush toward the Guards positions, firing as they came. Behind them the two remaining Warriors advanced as well.
One of the guardsmen of Green Hammer 1 stepped out from behind the bole of the tree he was using as shelter and caught a cloud of shot with his face and collapsed screaming with what was left of his mouth. His screams blended for a few moments with the telltale screech of an arriving spore mine which landed directly in between the bodyguard and the PDF line. An eerie quiet draped itself across the valley floor as both sides wondered what the Poison Spore would do. Then the Magus, assured by the hive mind imperative to kill the unbeliever whatever the cost, Lunged into the guards followed by the lunatic dupes sworn to his protection. Another of the PDF leadership cadre fell to the will of the Magus as Green Hammer 1's sergeant lost a battle of wills.

On the ridge overlooking the PDF position the situation turned from bad to worse, the pure strains crested the ridge and within a few brief moments had reduced the four men of Green Platoon HQ into steaming piles of viscera and body parts. then just as quickly consolidated back behind the crest of the ridge. Behind them the Scythed Gene stealers were closing ground quickly.

TURN FOUR - 1/109th Cygurdsin Millitia

The remains of Red Hammer 1 fled into the woods behind the PDF positions. History will show that this display of cowardice served the men of RH1 little, none ever made it from the boundaries of the forest alive nor would history every be able to identify their final resting place. The Remains of Red Platoon Headquarters however turned in flight and flung themselves into combat with the Magus.
It was to be of no avail though 2nd Leftenant Dagenhad hacked down three of his former comrades. The body guard with the eviscerator added to the tally by splitting trooper Karris messily in half. In the confusion the Magus hypnotised the squad vox operator and with that last horror both Red Platoon HQ and Green Hammer 1 fled the fight.

Behind the ridge the genestealers walked into a barrage of mortar fire. Three gene stealers walked into the curtain of fire and were flayed by fragments while concentrated fire from the remainder of the PDF force swept the ridge top killing the few genestealers to slow in falling back with their brood brothers. In a few seconds the brood was reduced to 3 healthy pure strains in cover behind the ridge. Andiemann scrabbled up to the top of the ridge with his command squad in tow. At the top of the ridge he was stunned by the level of carnage. He quickly dispatched a wounded 'stealer and took up a covered position where he could observe valley opposite. All he could see was genestealers, pure strain genestealers.

TURN FIVE - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
On the far flank the cult hybrids advanced again pouring on fire from their motley collection of weapons. Up on the ridge the three remaining genestealers from the purestrain brood supported by the scythed Genestealers bounded back up the hill and buried 1st Leftenant Andiemann along with two of his command squad in a scrum of clawing chittinous bodies. Commissar Sainte immediately rallied the squad and plunged into the fray.
In the valley behind them another spore mine landed in the middle of the PDF position noisily dissolving 2 men. The remaining Warriors continued their march towards the fight.

TURN FIVE - 1/109th Cygurdsin Millitia

By now the battle was lost. The Mortar crews continued without guidance to pour fire onto the reverse slope of the ridge killing two Scythed Genestealers .

The remains of Green Hammer 1 squad charged the cultists in the vain hope of selling themselves dearly. But their heart wasn't in it and after a brief flurry of blows they broke and fled the field. But not before the Magus had wiped another mind for the hive.

Commissar Sainte stabbed at the genestealer trying to tear out her bowel with her power sword and ripped the blade upwards severing diamond hard bone and muscle with equal ease then turned to face the next foe. She was all alone on the hill as all of what was now her command squad had been cruelly torn to shreds.

TURN SIX - Tyranid Hive Fleet Germanicus
The brood of hybrids advanced once more and formed a firing line. They raised their weapons and executed all but two of the Mortar crews. They were the lucky ones as the remaining two became the playthings of the two remaining Warriors who had final joined the fight. On the hill Commissar Sainte lived only slightly longer before the purestrains overcame her. The field belonged to the Cult.

There were no survivors.

95th Imperial Rifles Stand To!

2008-10-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

On a grey morning outside the city of Leto, 95th Impoerial Rifles manning a quiet sector of the cities defences, execute the monings Stand To! exercise.