Almost Forgotten, But Not Quite

Yeah, I know- a picture of a tablet.

Woohoo.....

It's what's on the tablet that counts. Yep, I've upgraded. Since my FNSLGS (Friendly Not So Local Game Store) now has a 40k night, and since I have a freshly painted "Not Tau" army, I figure I need to get out and get my game on. In order to do that I will of course need the current rule set- 7th edition, so I broke down and dropped the $60 to get a digital copy of the rules. After finding that the Google book app doesn't read books not stored on the Google cloud, and the storage system won't accept a file larger than 100mb (the book is 130), I had to root around and find an app to read directly off the device. I downloaded a free one, and since Avast didn't go nuts after scanning it, I started my reading.

First up, the file itself. The thing should have been broken down into three files- three books just like the hardcover. Then I could have put it up on Google, and skip the first book which is a flagrant catalog and advertisement for the company. Look, guys- I just bought your book, obviously I'm interested in your toys. Well, except for my Greys... I also don't need the background of the game. I've been playing for 20 years. I think I know it by now. All I bought the book for was the rules, which start 259 pages in. I am honestly baffled as to who thought that this was a good idea.. *Sigh* Oh, GW...

To the rules themselves. Well, as you've probably read elsewhere the system is 6th edition with some tweaks- the Psychic Phase, new missions, slightly different special rules. I've read a lot of whining that this is a rip-off, but let's look back here. There has been no, and I mean NO serious rules overhaul since 3rd edition. Every edition past that has been building on and re-tweaking Andy Chambers' rules. No exception. I can and will side with those who say that this edition was released far too quickly after the last. Two years does not the lifespan of an edition of a game make.

Gameplay. Well, nobody in either of my home gaming groups is willing to get into this edition of the game, so I'll have to reserve judgement here. Hopefully in a couple of weeks (when my schedule clears up) I'll be able to go into this aspect. If you were to push me I'd say that my first-glance impression of the game is that it'll be tighter and brighter for your gaming pleasure.

So, what I'm saying is, despite the disdain toward "Unbound" armies I expressed on Three Geeks to the Wind (a statement I stand by), I hold out hope here. Now let's see how it functions once the rubber meets the road.

A Victorious Victory... Again!

1,850 point Grey Alien army done.

Really, that about sums it up for me. After a false start trying to make an Irken force, followed by insults directed toward the models and their paintjobs, I have completed this army.

Maybe.

Long-time readers may remember the above picture as my first foray into these minis. These fellas still sit in my gaming closet waiting for an opportunity to be fielded in the right skirmish game. Look behind them. See that big UFO? It is not in my Grey Alien army, and that should be rectified. I have already decided to run it as a Razorshark Strike Fighter. Since the model has four landing struts I can use them to mark arcs on a round model. I do run into the problem of possibly not having the appropriate weapons to "count as" the armament of the Razorshark, but with enough work I can probably figure something out.

So, all I need to do now is order a plane flight stand from GW and get another UFO (this time to model as flying). That will take me to exactly 2,000 points- just right for many tournaments in this area. I will post the exact composition of the army later, but be warned- unlike my Dark Eldar these lil' fellas aren't designed to be honed to a razor's edge. This is well and truly a labor of love.

Dusthammer 40,000

This is a short one.

Demitra, having jumped ship on 40k, has proposed something. We like Dust's rules, we like 40k's fluff and minis, so why not put 'em together? This has led to a bit of an experiment: let's apply the rules of Dust to 40k. He has settled on Orks, and I have chosen my usual Chaos Space Marines. He has gone with a horde of Soldier 2 minis, and I have decided that my troops should pretty much all be Soldier 3. I wouldn't have it any other way. So, off to the Dust Warfare force builder. I decided what counted as what and started plugging stuff into the program. Turns out I really couldn't fit in any cultists (just the sorcerer's command section) but I think you'll agree, it has that CSM flavor to it. Since I don't have my "counts as" list in front of me right now I won't list what's what at this point. I will however if this experiment lasts more than a single game. Any way, here's what I'll be running:

Ready to Rock and Roll

Paint pots prepared. Pallet positioned. Aliens aligned. Brushes... I dunno, bristled?

I'll be painting this last Grey squad today, followed by my last squadron of walkers. That means as soon as I varnish them the army is done! Time to get down to business.

And... FTW!!!

 

After a long, devoted day of painting her it is. The big stompy robot. Now I'm but a single Alien squad and a pair of "Broadsides" away from acrylic completion. Then varnishing of course, but one step at a time. Soon(ish) my invasion force will crush the lesser species beneath their boots of doom!

Blue -> Silver

 

Done with the blue, onto the silver. All of it will eventually be metallic purple, so stay tuned as the robot develops!

Step Two: The Blue

 

Now I'm on to the next step, the blue bits. I'm starting to run a bit low on blue, so I'm getting concerned. It's also a bit frustrating using an old large-ish brush to apply this layer. I really can't use a medium brush (and retain my sanity) so if I slip up I get blue onto the magenta. Next I'll be adding some white to the blue, or maybe I'll add the black stripes. That way if I slip up on the black I can add highlights to cover the bits that go outside the lines.

First thing's first however. a bit of blue ink in the seams.

The Long Slog Begins

 

Today I'm starting the second "Riptide" for my Greys. As you can see I've basecoated the exposed workings with magenta. As of just now I inked the gubbins, and the "mini" (if you can call it that) has been set aside to dry for the next 40 minutes or so. I'll get back to the retouching of the magenta soon. I'll update throughout the day as I make progress.

Another Day Another Squad

One more squad closer to the finish line! Yep, my Greys have yet another squad ready to hit the battlefield (barring varnishing). this means that I have only one "Riptide", one "Broadside" squad, and one last alien squad to go before the army is fully painted. Once everything is done I'll need to strike out into the world and see if I can get a game in. I'd probably enjoy taking these lil' fellas out to a tourney, but...

1) They're not Citadel Miniatures.

2) Tournaments are pretty much exclusively held on Sundays around here (a day I must be at work).

3) Being as they're small some jerk would most likely accuse me of MFA (Modelling For Advantage).

4) I would totally need to get the TO's approval before bringing these fellas.

5) They're all "counts as" (NOT proxies- there is a difference) and this may confuse some people.

6) Tournaments around here are usually 2,000 points, and this army is only 1,850.

The list goes on and on. This basically relegates them to a "friendly game only" status, which is fine, I just need to get some friendly games in.

Tomorrow I'll be starting on the second of the big robots. I'm not a fan of painting these suckers, so I want to get it out of the way before I run out of steam again. With only three units to go until completion of the army however, I'm pretty sure this is a project that I'll get done soon.

Grey Alien Kick in the Rump

 

More painting of Grey Aliens. I finished my first two heavy robots (Broadsides). As you can see the minis are designed to fit on 50mm bases, and there are no GW bases of that size, so 60mm bases it is. I went ahead and put a Grey next to them to show their size (in comparison to an admittedly tiny mini).

 

 Now the figure case is looking much more full. There's a missing squad off to the right there, which is normally occupied by the squad pictured below. They are my mission for today, but as you can see in the horribly out of focus picture below I have a fair bit of work ahead of me. 

 

Ever onward and upward. Next: blue armor. Then grey, black, purple metal, and squad markings. Back to the grind!

Take Me To Your Leader





Well, there he is. My "Ethereal" is complete. I was probably a bit bold using my general as my test mini, but luckily he turned out just fine. Here's the color scheme in a nutshell:

Exposed cloth or gizmos are magenta.
Armored areas are blue.
Gloves, boots, eyes, antennae, and robot claws are black.
Metallic areas are the purple metallic I bodged together.
Skin is, of course, grey.

For the magenta I started with Vallejo Warlock Purple over a black primer, and then inked it with some Magenta Ink I found (from the days when GW made such things). I then gently wetbrushed the areas with the original Warlock Purple., From there I added a dab of a nice bright pink, and carefully added the final highlights. The blue is Ice Blue, a dab of Blue Ink in the recesses, touchup with Ice Blue, and then I added a bit of white to the blue for nice bright highlights. The skin starts with Cold Grey, which gets a Nuln Oil shade. Next I coat everywhere but the recesses with another pass of Cold Grey, and then a highlight of Fortress Grey. Finally, the purple metallic. This is simply Leadbelcher as a base, wetbrushed with Silver, and then a coat of Purple Ink. After touching up the areas that remained black, the minis are ready for basing. I used the same green I have been using for... Pretty much everything lately. Over that goes a drybrush of  Scorpion Green. Finally, I hit the rims of the bases with green, and there you go.

Once the basis for the army was determined, I went on to the first of my squads. It's kind of annoying that there are only five poses plus the commander, but it allows me to get into a rhythm better. You can't really see it in the picture, but their right shoulder pads are all purple (the color I was originally going to use for the armor) and I'm going to keep doing different colors as the army rolls along in order to distinguish squads (relatively) easily.

Next up is one of my "counts as Riptides". I'm doing all the exposed internal workings in magenta, all the armor plates in blue, and then a few black touches here and there. The purple will be on the sword arm as well as the barrels of the gatling gun. This is a pretty big model, and it will take several coats to eliminate the streaking left over from the brushes, but I'll try to post some work in progress pictures as I go since this will probably be a time consuming process. After that another squad, then another robot (or group thereof) and I'll keep alternating until the army is done.

I may break things up with another Super Dungeon Explore mini here and there, but I'd really rather not break up my momentum again, so we'll see.

Crusher Crushin' and Robots... Robotin'?

Let the hero crushing commence!

Well, after a struggle with Blogger's... interesting interface, I had to delete my last post and start all over. On Monday I finished up Crusher (above) and took a quick break from Super Dungeon Explore.

I went ahead and hit Michaels for beads to convert my minibots into scouts, and hit gold. I went ahead and snipped the heads off of all my lil' guys, glued the beads into place, and took a step back. The robots now had the look I wanted, but they had holes in the tops of their heads. I could either; A) fill the holes with green stuff, or B) get creative. As you can most likely tell from the image, I got creative. Looking for the more cheesy sci-fi approach, I snipped off little pieces of paper clip and glued them into place to look like antenna. Now, not only did they look more goofy, but they could relay the positions of enemy troops back to their Grey Alien handlers as well. More in line with them being used as marker drones n the table. Now for primer.

I did a poll of my wargaming buddies and asked what colors I should use for their suits. The unanimous decision was purple. I'm going to go ahead and take a tip to break up the purple with a nice icy blue. The models will have a "cool" coloration from head to toe, which leads me to wonder if I should paint their bases red (like my Chaos Marines) to offset the mini, or brown (like my Dark Eldar) for a more neutral color, or to come up with an entirely new color (dare I say green?) to branch out my painting.

Priming is soon to come, and following that the first drop of paint will hit the minis. I hope to have everything sorted by then, rather than waiting for the muse to take me. Time is running out though, acceptable priming weather is (supposedly) on the way.

Grey Aliens Walking Tall(ish)

"Missilesides"

Arrayed for conquest.

Another shortish post. So far today I have put together my Grymm walkers, to represent Broadside Suits in my "not Tau" army. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have decided to go with the "missileside" option for my heavy walkers. The gatling guns will use the High-Yield
Missile Pod stat line, as it's pretty close to the "baby Assault Cannon" look they sport.

Unfortunately it's 15 degrees outside, and it just snowed, so I can't prime them. That's okay though, as I have Super Dungeon Explore stuff to paint. Later on I'll try to post my next Rock Top Gang minis. After that, I think I'll roll a die to determine which hero to paint next.

Super Dungeon Explore Hobby Bonanza

Flame on!

A fair bit of hobby news to report today. I have finished all of my Burning Gels and Fire Gels. For the most part I'm happy with how they turned out, bit the big fellows above could have had better looking eyes. It's hard to tell in the above photo, but the white paint didn't come out perfectly smooth. It's a little streaky, a little textured, and it goes outside the lines a touch.

 

Lil' squirts.

The little fellas came out much better, but as you can see in the picture above, somehow the mini in the middle of the front row got scratched twice above his eye. It may be hard to see, but I know it's there. It annoys me greatly.

 

Getting ready to roxor your soxorz.

I also picked up some white primer yesterday. This means I was able to prime the rest of the models for the Caverns of Roxor...

 

Heroic heroes.

...As well as prime my heroes and the small mini-bosses. I'm going to finish the turtles I started in the picture of the Roxor box above, but once they're done I'll paint one of the heroes to break up the monotony of painting the Rock Top Gang, I'm torn between Nyan-Nyan, Princess Ruby, and the "I sear I'm not Link" elf.

 

There was also some progress on the Von Drakk Manor set, where I primed the big fellows as well as the spawn points. I'll have photos of them as soon as I remember to snap them. (^_~)*

 

A Grymm situation.

Finally, on the Grey Alien front, my walkers from Hasslefree just arrived. I am now torn about my army list, as I want to swap out the Heavy Rail Rifles I currently have in my army list (represented by the weapon on the right) for High-Yield Missile Pods (to be represented by the linked gatling guns on the left). I'll have to fiddle around with my "army construction software" tonight to see if that's even an option, but it's hard to resist that many shots. No matter what, I'll be interested to find out which bases they'll have to go on. They come with a 50mm base, which is not the correct size. They'll either end up with a 40mm or 60mm base, depending on how wide the finished models are. I'l be pondering that tomorrow as I clean and pin all four of these walkers, as well as head over to Michaels to try to get beads for the heads of my robots. I checked on their website and couldn't find anything, so wish me luck.

 

Irken No More.

Sandy bases abound.

 

Today has been very productive. As you can see above I have now based every miniature in my "Tau" army, and I have encountered an issue. I hate the antennae I have added to my troops. Passionately. This has led me to (with pliers) rip every antenna out of my minis heads and go back to square one. They are no longer going to be Irken. I have had too much of an issue with finding the correct basis for my minis, and I am no about to start sculpting every last little thing. This is a cop-out, I know, but I have to protect my sanity here. My fingers too. I had the dremel slip on me as I was trying to drill a hole and it got perilously close to my hand. Not good.

 

Counts as Crisis Suit.

 

My conversions are not ending, however. I didn't like the head that came with this robot, so I swapped it for a bead just as I did with the bigger boys. This will give the army a more cohesive look as the heads of all of my mechanical minions will look the same. The fellow above counts as my Battle Suit Commander with two Fusion Blasters. You can't see it from the front, but I also added some thrusters to the model's back so that it will look like it will be able to boost around the board in the manner of Jetpack troopers. What sets this fellow apart from the other three "battle bots" (I'm working on a better name, believe me) is the aerial coming from his back. As you can see I shaved the bolts off this fellow in the same way as the Leviathan.

 

My "Ethereal" flanked by his two recon robots (Markerlight Drones).

 

I have also put together my "mini bot" models (by which I mean putting them on their bases). I fully intend to replace their heads as well, but I'm not too sure I can find the correct sized beads at the craft store, so their default heads will remain attached until I can find suitable replacements.

 

Ready for boostin'.

 

Finally, I added thrusters (well, most of the way) to the Leviathans. I fully intend to cover up the holes that are visible there, and I intend to do it with whatever I use for the minibots' heads. I just decided that these are supposed to be Jetpack Monstrous Creatures, so they should look the part. Good thing I had these resin jump packs lying around.

 

That's it for right now. I brought Von Drakk Manor to work with me to remove mold lines and fill in gaps in bases. I know I most likely shouldn't be doing this at work, but come on! I'm not even supposed to be here today!!!

For The Glory of Irk!!! Also, Christmas. Kill Team Too.

Playing around with my phone's collage function.

 

Well, most of my Irken force has arrived. I got a box from Zombiesmith on Monday, and then a box from Hydra Miniatures on Tuesday. I've put together all the included minis, and as you can see there are a lot of warriors in my army.

 

All is not well in EV land though- I started drilling the holes in the heads of the minis to put the antenna into, and things could be going better. They're ending up all over the place in the minis heads. They are not being drilled in the places I would like, and this is causing the models to look... Not Good. I'll have pictures later, but once you see them I think you'll agree that things have gone awry. Perhaps (most likely) it is because I am using a Dremel to drill out the holes. I really wish this weren't the case as drilling 122 holes by hand will be a nightmare. Not to mention the wear on my hands. I'm going to give it a shot on a few more minis, but right now I don't like the look of things. I'll stick to it though, as this is sort of a fun thing for me (in theory) and I really don't want to admit defeat here.

 

More exploring of Super Dungeons.

Next up is Christmas. I was a good Vassal this year, so my family got me Super Dungeon Explore: Von Drakk Manor. This both pleases and irks me. Now I honestly do not know what to paint. Listen to me here; I love, repeat love the aesthetic of SDE, and I still have most of the Caverns of Roxor to paint. This places my SDE queue along the magnitude of my Irken, and they need less (read no) fiddly drilling into tiny metal heads. Just mold line cleanup and base hole patching.

 

White primer is needed for both, so no difference. What else is there? Likelihood of use. This one's a really tough call. I'm not sure here. Demitra and I are less and less likely to be able to get a full game of 40k in any time soon, as my "job", despite my protestations, has begun to fiddle around with my hours. This reduces our Tuesday Gaming Time to being long enough for some Infinity or X-Wing, but not really much more. Super Dungeon Explore does not fare much better here. The game is fun, and I do have one person interested in playing, but as far as I know that's it. It's a really tough call.

 

This is worth the price of admission.

Finally, on the whole 40k note, I went ahead and downloaded my first Games Workshop digital book, Kill Team. For those of you who don't know what this game is, allow me to explain. Kill team is for those of us who like to take an occasional break from the legion-sized battles so common in the 40k universe. It is the polar opposite of Apocalypse. Kill team is about one or two squads of elite troops who infiltrate into no-man's land or even enemy territory to accomplish a vital mission. This is the scalpel to regular 40k's sledge hammer.

 

Every miniature, despite being purchased as part of a squad, deploys and plays as a unit consisting of a single miniature.

 

I love this way of playing 40k.

 

Now, this version of Kill Team (for those of you familiar with the game) is tighter and brighter. They have tweaked several things that made original Kill Team... A little unbalanced. New composition rules are in place for your team, which are:

 

- 0 HQ, 0-1 Elite, 0-2 Troops, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0 Heavy Support.

- Must consist of 4+ non-vehicle models.

- Nothing with more than 3 wounds.

- No vehicles with more than 33 total armor across the total of all three values or more than 3 Hull Points.

- No Flyers.

- Nothing with a 2+ Armor Save.

 

Now, I disagree with the 2+ save rule (as this removes the super-fluffy Grey Knight Terminator squad suicide mission option) but all the rest I am down with. There have been Kill Team events where the "elite fighting force" consists of a single Riptide (not exactly subtle). Big vehicles (and especially flyers) would just plain remove playability. Lots of wounds means things like Trygons & Carnifexes, which again are not exactly the "elite fighting force" the designers professed to envision. There is also the ability to have the elite hero/villain surrounded by a bunch of mooks, which I also kind of like. It's tough to play against, but as Demitra will attest to, it's not unbeatable by any means.

 

Further tweaks can be found in the Specialist rules. For starters, you Leader now cannot be a Specialist. Instead he gets a sort of "mini Warlord Trait" that can either drastically alter the game, or in a few cases do just plain nothing. Secondly, the Special Rules your Specialists can take have been tweaked. Gone is the ability to give Shrouded to your heavy weapon trooper (or anybody at all). The Special rules have been broken up into categories- Combat, Weapon, Dirty Fighter, Indomitable, & Guerilla. Your three Specialists must choose their abilities from amongst these groups, and a group may not be repeated. Special Rules are now clearly defined as to what kind of weapon they can be attached to. For example, a Fleshbane weapon may only be a close combat one.

 

Death Watch: the original kill team.

 

A personal favorite of mine is to attach Haywire to a Splinter Cannon. Now, not only does it shred any model that gets in its path, it will glance pretty much any vehicle to bits in a single volley. Yep, interesting combinations of Special Rules and miniatures abound in Kill Team. I've found a fair few, but I'd be tipping my hand were I to reveal any more.

 

I've been thinking up various Kill Teams over this last week. Purifiers in a Razorback, a Tau incursion team, Dark Eldar raiders...

Most likely naught will come of this but maybe, just maybe, I can find some like-minded individuals who would be up for a game.

I've rambled long enough. Happy Holidays to you regardless of which one, none, or all you observe, and thanks for reading over the last year. I'll see about an end or year roundup in the next five days, but failing that I'll see you in 2014!

 

Big Stompy Robots

 

"You made the fires worse!"  "Worse? Or better?"

Here they are! Yep, I've finished up the two models which have arrived for my Irken invasion force. They're the 15mm scale Leviathan Crusader from Dreamforge Games. These will count as Riptides with Heavy Burst Cannons and Twin-Linked Plasma Guns (they're kind of hard to see, but they are sticking out of the chest in the armpit area).

 

How the model is "supposed" to look.

I decided that the head was too "human tech" looking and went with a more dome-shaped head by gluing a glass bead into place. I also didn't like the way the power plant looked, so off came the smoke stacks. Finally, I cleaned off every last rivet on the model to give it a smoother look. Demitra commented that the model was a bit small to represent a Riptide, but then everything is a bit small in my army. I'll give you a side-by-side once I get around to it. Personally I think they're plenty big, so I'm pleased.

 

How about the assembly process? Why bring this up? Because it is a nightmare. The pieces are poorly labeled. The instructions are confusing and in a couple of places just plain wrong (in particular one step where the parts are numbered incorrectly). Unless you cannot find a mini to fill in the space of this model, avoid this thing like the plague. I cannot stress this enough- I have been modeling for as long as I can remember, and I have not hit this level of frustration in years.

 

Now continues the waiting game. Will my Irken arrive soon? How about my Megadoomers? My various robot servants? We shall see, but honestly I'm not holding my breath. Most places have closed up shop for a while, so unless the minis I'm waiting for are already in the mail (as with the soon to be Megadoomers- though on a slow plane from England) They just plain won't show up on time.

Looks like it's Super Dungeon Explore time!

The Irken Terror Arrives... But For How Long?

Well, at least part of my army has arrived. My big stompy robots came in the mail yesterday, and I am pleased. They are much larger than their box suggests, which means they fill out the oval bases they go on rather convincingly. I am pleased because, despite them being noticeably smaller than Riptides, they're still big. Especially when compared to my "Irken to be". I did a bit of "conversion" (if you can call it that) to the models, but this is best saved for a post with pictures.

Suffice it to say, I'm on a roll here.

This actually worries me a touch. Why? Because I don't want to be diverted. Already I am putzing around the interwebz checking on various other minis. This is, in a word, stupid. I need to focus. Here's the problem; I am missing some very key parts to the army. For example, no Irken. I know that Josh over at Zombiesmith runs his business out of his garage. I know that he is a two-man operation. I know these things. Unfortunately I am impatient. I have a lot of work to do, not the least of which is drilling two holes into each of the little buggers' heads to put antenna into. This is one of those times I would prefer resin to metal. Drilling holes into 61 minis' heads will be quite a process. That's 122 holes (Dremel time). That's 122 antenna to be clipped and glued into place. That's 122 gaps to be filled on 25mm bases. I'm game, but other projects beckon.

Nyan Cat.

Take, for example, Nyan Nyan over here. I got her for Super Dungeon Explore, mainly because she's a "limited run" mini. Now, I have yet to see a single SDE mini disappear- Candy & Cola, the Herald of Vulcanis, and Vandella the Succubus are still going strong, but dang it if I didn't want the mini just because she's a catgirl. Besides, maybe they did a more limited run of Nyan Nyan.

Yeah, sure.

What I'm getting at here is that I have many, many Super Dungeon Explore minis waiting to be painted. Pretty much the entirety of The Caverns of Roxor, and all three extra plastic minis. These guys and gals are fully assembled, most of them are primed, and all of them hold interest for me. This is also a game I can easily play. A fair few people around me would enjoy goofing off with SDE, but I refuse to play the game with unpainted minis. Entirely. This is just too slick a looking game to pass up the opportunity to play a full-on beautifully realized session. That means I pretty much only have the base game to use. This is not an awful thing, just limiting. Of course, I ought to get a few "Super!" level games under my belt before I aim too high. I've only played at the "8-Bit" and "16-Bit" levels thus far.

Remember us?

My point is, I want to paint these minis. I want to game with these minis. There is a problem, though. What I want out of these minis conflicts with what I want out of the other minis. The longer my Irken take to arrive, however, the more Super Dungeon Explore beckons. Besides, I've been feeling like painting in this style for a while now. I also have some partially painted (and then abandoned) minis sitting in my gaming closet. They need some lovin', and soon. I feel bad letting them sit there in the darkness...

I need to avoid distraction. Christmas is just a little bit away, however, and I featured the "Von Drakk Manor" expansion prominently on my wish list, so there's a very good potential for yet more chibi goodness on the horizon. They will get in the way. They will grab my attention.

My next post definitely will feature new pictures. I just had to get this off my chest.

Irken Rising

It's got chicken legs! I'm gonna eat you!

The Cygnar minis have been sold, and (hopefully) soon I shall have enough money to assemble my mighty Irken invasion force! I have (of course) located my Irken soldiers, I have found my SIR Units (Hydra Miniatures' Minibots with a head resculpt), and I have even found my Megadoomers (Hasslefree's Grymm Walker to the right). A little tweaking will be in order for all above, and they will not quite look the same as their cartoon counterpart, I will strive to get as close as possible.  A rocket pod added here, a gun repositioned there, and voila! The Megadoomer Mk. II Combat Mech!!!

But then I am confounded. I need a Riptide stand-in. I need something to represent my Crisis suits.

My first concern is the Riptide. I have a plan here. I'm thinking of using a decent sized Zaku model. It has to be big enough to fill a GW oval base convincingly, so I'm thinking 1/100 scale, but that might be too big. I'm pretty sure 1/144 will be too small though. Another model altogether would be preferred, but what to match this?

You! Twist some knobs! And you! Pull some levers!

I'm also hung up on what I should use as my Crisis Suits. Since they're pretty agile I was thinking some sort of hovering machine, sort of like these, but I'm not sure. Irken technology tends to be rather bulky. Again, I continue pondering.

Since this "invasion" takes place some time after the events in the series (yeah, we'll say that) the vehicles can look a bit different, but I don't want things to be too radically so. I posted the question on a couple of forums looking for help, so hopefully I'll get a response soon. If not, however, my friends have been quite helpful in finding minis thus far, so here's hoping, right?

Plaguebearers & Chaos Marines- Nurgle Gravy

So, I've been a big fan of Nurgle as long as I've played 40k, and while I wanted to try a Khorne flavored list for a change, Papa Nurgle just calls to me. Having found that Bloodletters are useless, I have to say that somewhere deep down inside there was a part of me that was almost happy. As happy as a bit of me can be after realizing I had just wasted $60 on miniatures that are just plain...

Not Good In Assaults.

This is a bit odd for Khorne as he and his followers are supposed to be the consummate melee fighters. Theirs is the marital prowess to end all martial prowess. That, it seems, is not exactly reflected in their in-game performance.

They're Toughness 3.

They have no grenades.

They're 10 points a piece.

These things make them rather not good. They die en masse as they try to close the gap, and even if they deep strike they'll get cut down by even lowly bolter fire. They're really expensive for their performance, and they simply cannot assault into cover. Believe me, I've seen the results.

Deep strike -> run -> get shot in your opponent's turn -> move -> get shot by overwatch fire -> roll assault distance on 3d6 discarding the highest  -> move in -> get struck first due to no grenades -> maybe kill one or two enemies -> lose combat -> make an instability test -> go pop -> regret wasting hundreds of points on a single squad.

That is unfortunately the "Bloodletter Flow Chart". They're supposed to be an offensive powerhouse, but at Toughness 3 and no ability to dig enemies out of cover they just plain don't cut it.

Which daemons do cut it? Well, in my opinion, Plaguebearers. These fellas have the resilience to warrant their points. Toughness 4, Shrouded, and defensive grenades. Give them a Herald and they also can have Feel no Pain. They're the defensive unit of defensive units. Good luck prying them out of position with a 2+ cover save when they set up camp in a building. Sure they're Slow and Purposeful, but so what? The rule isn't the crippling blow it was last edition. My daemons can't run? Whatever. They're not there to pick fights, they're there to either start the game on an objective or to Deep Strike into position and squat on their location.

Now, this may not be ideal in an all-daemon army, but I'm talking about them in terms of an ally for Chaos Space Marines. Chaos Marine armies have plenty of offensive punch in the forms of things like Havocs, plasma guns, and the universally loved or loathed Heldrake. I can go get you. What I have problems with is grabbing and securing backfield objectives. This role is usually taken up by cultists, and they can be very good at it, but in the end they're really little more than expensive Imperial Guardsmen with less armor and an inferior gun. If they draw any real attention they will die, and they'll do it in a hurry. That or they'll run away. Also in a hurry.

Now, Cultists have one very big thing going for them- they're cheap. 100 points for 20 models with 2 flamers is not too bad a deal.

But what then do Plaguebearers do that outclasses the humble Chaos Cultist? Well, not just the things listed above, but other things that mesh with their allies. They're competent in hand-to-hand combat for one. While they won't go out picking many fights, they really won't be backing away from too many either. Sure, they can be outclassed by things like Terminators, but a lot of stuff is so that's no reason to turn your nose up at them. just rely on your cover to save you, and get ready to try to smack them off the board once they get to you. Better yet, use other assets in your army (remember that plasma I mentioned earlier?) to keep them away from your campsite.

Plaguebearers are also pretty cheap (for a Daemon). Sure, a unit of 20 is almost double the point cost of a Chaos Cultist squad of the same size, but it has massively more resilience. That 2+ cover save goes a very long way toward their survival. Even if they're not in a building (say they're in the woods) they've got a 3+ save, which makes them superior Space Marines (they even get their save against things as extreme as demolisher cannons).

So, what would I do if I were to practice what I preach? I'd re-tweak my army a bit, dropping the Chaos Cultists and either the Chaos Lord or the Sorcerer for a Herald of Nurgle and 20 Plaguebearers. I haven't quite decided which HQ choice to drop, but I'm thinking the Chaos Lord as my army is a bit more of a "hang back and shoot" affair, and the Lord wants to get up in your face, but the Sorcerer is less resilient and a bit unpredictable. It's something that would have to be experimented with. Most likely I'd go with:

HQ
Sorcerer (warlord) w/ +2 mastery- 110 pts.

TROOPS
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 models)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 models)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 models)- 190 pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines w/ 2 plasma guns; Aspiring Champion w/ power sword, melta bombs (10 models)- 190 pts.

FAST ATTACK
Heldrake w/ baleflamer- 170 pts.
Heldrake w/ baleflamer- 170 pts.

HEAVY SUPPORT
4 Havocs w/ 4 autocannons; Aspiring Champion (5 models)- 115 pts.
4 Havocs w/ 4 autocannons; Aspiring Champion (5 models)- 115 pts.
4 Havocs w/ 4 lascannons; Aspiring Champion (5 models)- 155 pts.

ALLIED HQ
Herald of Nurgle w/ Greater Locus of Fecundity- 70 pts.

ALLIED TROOPS
19 Plaguebearers; Plagueridden (20 models)- 185 pts.

TOTAL
1,850 pts.

I've also played around with the idea of dropping the lascannon Havocs instead of the Chaos Lord, and the idea does have some merit, but I fear 2+ armor saves. This fear is most likely irrational as I have eight plasma gunners in the army, and the Telepathy discipline messes with units in other ways, but that's just my current assessment. I'll have to get some Plaguebearers some time and try this concept out.

...Until then, I'll just keep plugging along with Cultists.