Space Marine Assembly Underway

Just a quick update; it's been a busy week, but I'm making some headway into my Space Marines. So far, I've assembled one Rhino and converted a combi-melta. My first Tactical Squad is currently under the knife.

I'll post a tutorial of the next combi-melta I make.

Cheers!

Squirrel_Fish

Just a short update on my eventual Space Marine army before I get ready for the Transformers 2 midnight showing.

As of today; I have the following ordered or in my possession

4 Tactical Squads

1 Terminator Assault squad

3 Rhinos

1 Razorback

1 Predator

1 Dreadnought

1 Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer

I'm considering ordering a Drop Pod along with Vulkan when Planetstrike rears it's head.

Now, one of the tactical squads I plan on converting into Sternguard using various bitz, custom shoulders from Chapterhouse Studios, and Dark Elf Corsair cloaks.

I'll post some tutorials when they're done.

Squirrel_Fish

Bacon and 40k

Or, as my friend insists on calling it, the “BaCON”. Unfortunately, there were only four of us there to play. We made the bacon explosion, what I can easily describe as a delicious orgy of bacon and barbeque. Two games of 40k were played and here’s a battle report of the game that I played, trying out my Vulkan list. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to take pictures throughout the entire game. L

Salamanders vs. Chaos Space Marines 1500 points

Salamanders:

Vulkan
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Sternguard x5 w/ Combi-Melta x3, Combi-Flamer x1, Powerfist & Razorback
Assault Terminators w/ TH/SS x5
Land Raider Redeemer w/ Extra Armor

Chaos Marines (not exactly sure on the exacts)

Typhus
Chaos Sorcerer w/ Lash
Plague Marines w/ Rhino
Khorne Berserkers, Skull Champion w/ Power Weapon
Noise Marines w/ Doom Siren, Power Weapon
Defiler w/ 2 DCCW

The mission was Seize Ground with 3 objectives. Deployment was table quarters.

I won the roll-off to place two objectives and placed one objective within my table quarter behind wall that blocked LOS to it. My opponent placed his objective in his table quarter near a building. The last objective was placed near the center of the table, slightly towards my corner.

Turn 1 Chaos: My opponent starts off by moving his two rhinos; the one carrying Plague Marines drives towards his objective and the one carrying Noise Marines drives towards the wall blocking LOS. His Defiler makes its way to my left flank in order to get a clear shot with its battlecannon. His Land Raider drives into LOS of my Land Raider Redeemer and takes a shot with a TL-Lascannon, penetrating and immobilizing my Land Raider. Defiler shoots its battlecannon at my Razorback, gets a direct hit and glances, shaking it.

Turn 1 Salamanders: One of the Rhinos moves up my left to support the Razorback, one comes up the right to support the Land Raider and the last sticks back to take the objective later in the game. Razorback and the Rhino on the right pop smoke, while my Redeemer unloads its assault cannon at the enemy Land Raider. All four shots hit, but only one manages to Rend getting a glancing hit and immobilizing the Land Raider.

Turn 2 Chaos: His rhinos continue on the way they were going, the Plague Marine rhino parking on the objective and the Noise Marine Rhino hugs the wall. Defiler continues to move up my left flank. The Land Raider takes a shot at my right Rhino, but I make my cover save. Defiler shoots his battlecannon at my Razorback again, but scatters off and doesn’t do anything.

Turn 2 Salamanders: Both my Razorback and my left Rhino move away from the Defiler, trying to bait it in closer. The Rhino on the right pulls back out of LOS of the Land Raider. The Redeemer lets rip with the assault cannon again, but fails to do anything.

Turn 3 Chaos: Defiler continues moving forward, while his Rhinos sit where they are. Defiler shoots his Battlecannon at my rhino waiting to take my objective, immobilizing it. Land Raider shoots his Lascannons at my Land Raider, penetrating and destroying my assault cannon.

Turn 3 Salamanders: Left Rhino drives up towards the defiler and pops smoke. Razorback moves forward a touch in order to get within Melta range of the Defiler next turn. The right Rhino moves up the field and disembarks, trying to bait his Khorne Berserkers out of the Land Raider and away from the objective. My Land Raider pops smoke.

Turn 4 Chaos: Noise Marines and the Sorcerer get out of their Rhino, while the Khorne Berserkers and Typhus get out of the Land Raider. Both squads move forward to get into position for the ensuing slaughter. The Defiler shoots its battlecannon at the Tactical Squad’s rhino but smoke saves me. Typhus and the Berserkers charge into the other tactical squad and slaughter 4 Tactical Marines, while I kill 2 Berserkers. ‘Miraculously’ I make my leadership test, staying in combat.

Turn 4 Salamanders: The Razorback inches forward while the left Rhino disembarks its crew. The right Rhino makes a small retreat. The left tactical squad fires its Combi-melta at the Defiler, immobilizing it. I surprisingly only lose two marines in my assault with the berserkers, while killing one of them in return. I pass my Morale check again.

Turn 5 Chaos: The Noise Marines and Sorcerer disembark from their Rhino and move into a better firing position. The Defiler then fires its battle-cannon at my objective Rhino, immobilizing it. The Sorcerer uses Lash to whip my guys into a teardrop formation, followed swiftly by sonic blasters and the Doom Siren. Two marines are left standing but are cut down in the following assault. The berserkers kill two marines and the last one flees for his life, successfully breaking away.

Turn 5 Salamanders: After that last round, I needed to do something to at least contest the objective in the middle for at least the tie. Luckily, I had a couple ideas. The Razorback drives up to 6 inches away and the Sternguard get out. The left Rhino moved up to block off LOS from the Noise Marines. The right Rhino tank-shocks 9 inches pushing the Berserkers away from the objective and coming within 3 inches to contest. My back tactical squad disembarks from their Rhino and moves up to the objective, while the retreating marine helps consolidate it. My Vulkan and my assault terminators disembark from my immobile land raider and move 6 inches and prepare to assault. Sternguard let rip with their Combi-Melta’s, destroying the battlecannon on the Defiler. Vulkan lets loose with his heavy flamer, killing 2 berserkers. Vulkan and the Terminators charge, Vulkan killing three Berserkers, Typhus killing two terminators, the Berserkers killing nothing and the Terminators kill Typhus. The remaining Berserkers pass their No Retreat saves.

We roll to see if the game goes on and it ends on turn 5 with a draw!

Things that I learned or am considering:

1) If I'm not playing Annihilation, split my tactical squads into combat squads so that the heavy weapons can do something.

2) I'm not sure if combi-melta's are reliable enough to replace meltaguns as dedicated anti-tank. This problem could be solved if I follow through on lesson 1.

3) Tank shock is awesome.

Any other things that I missed out on? C&C Welcome

Squirrel_Fish

Time Well Spent

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the C&C on the Terminator Chaplain. I touched up a couple places and gave it to my friend yesterday for his party and he just couldn't stop smiling. Now hopefully he'll go and finish painting his army. :-P

Things that I did:

1) Added some shading to the skull and the chest icon. Since I don't have any of the 'new' Citadel washes, I had to water down some vermin brown and apply it carefully. The first time that I did this, however, failed miserably and I ended up getting those dreaded pooling rings. Doing some research, I tried it again but added just a touch of dish soap to the mix. Satisfied with how the wash added some depth, I re-highlighted with bleached bone. 2) With the new recipe for a wash in hand, I did the same to the gold on the Crozius. 3) Having redone the skull anyways, I decided to make the glow effect on the eyes more prominent. So after all work, I gave my friend his graduation gift and upon seeing it, he just couldn't help but smile. Next Monday when we play, I can probably expect a Terminator Chaplain leading some TH/SS Termies down my throat, but that's okay. I just hope he's inspired to go on now and finish painting his army.

Anywho, final pics! Sorry that my camera sucks.

Eldar Farseer Jetbike Done!

It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been a busy, busy, busy bee helping my brother move to Fargo.

Anywho, I finished this last night and decided to throw up some pics. Couple things that I was satisfied with were the greenstuff robes and the armor on the canopy of the jetbike. Thanks to Shortsonfire79, I was rather inspired to sit down and work on that bleached bone for several layers. The spear tip came out wonderfully, but the pics don't capture it well. C&C welcome!

It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been a busy, busy, busy bee helping my brother move to Fargo.

Anywho, I finished this last night and decided to throw up some pics. Couple things that I was satisfied with were the greenstuff robes and the armor on the canopy of the jetbike. Thanks to ShortsonfireC&C welcome!

Bacon and 40k

I have a couple of friends coming into town on June 19th-21st in order to celebrate a birthday party. Instead of hitting the clubs/bars and getting completely plastered, we decided to dedicate one of those days to our two favorite things in the world - Bacon and 40k.

There'll be 8 of us total, each be running 1750 point lists. The teams will be the Imperium vs everything else. The teams break down to:

Eldar (me), Orks, Tau, Chaos Marines vs. Space Marines, Space Marines, Space Marines and Imperial Guard.

This is the list I'll be using.

• Farseer w/ Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune, Jetbike and Singing Spear (178)
• 3 Warlocks all w/ Destructor, Singing Spear, and Jetbike (163)
• Autarch w/ Warp Jump Generator, Power Weapon, Mandiblasters, Fusion Gun (125)
• 10 Dire Avengers w/ Exarch, Dual Shuriken Catapult and Bladestorm (152)
• - Wave Serpent w/ Spirit Stones, Star Engines and TL Scatter Laser (140)
• 10 Dire Avengers w/ Exarch, Dual Shuriken Catapult and Bladestorm (152)
• - Wave Serpent w/ Spirit Stones, Star Engines and TL Scatter Laser (140)
• 9 Warp Spiders w/ Exarch, Dual Death Spinner, and Powerblades (225)
• Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Vectored Engines, Star Engines, Holofields, Spirit Stones (210)
• Wraithlord w/ Wraithsword and Eldar Missile Launcher (125)
• 3 Dark Reapers w/ Exarch, Tempest Launcher and Crack Shot (137)

Total: 1749

Now, with 7000 points per side, this'll take the entire day to play. So we'll need a good amount of nourishment in the form of delicious, delicious bacon. So we're making two Bacon Explosions.

The recipe can be found here for those curious. When the day is over, I'll update with a battle report, assuming I survive the ensuing heart attack.

Farseer on Jetbike WIP

Happy friday! I've been slowly working on my Eldar Farseer and just wanted to show off the progress a little bit. The white parts on the canopy of the jetbike are meant to look like wraithbone armor, but my greenstuff-fu is weak thus far. I'm not sure yet whether or not I want to have that be white to match the robes and regular armor of the farseer or bone to match the wraithbone armor on him. Opinions?

Salamanders Lists 1750 - C&C?

I've been way to exhausted to get any painting done, so I figured I throw up a list or two.

List 1

Vulkan (190)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Terminator Assault Squad w/ TH/SS x5 (200)

-Land Raider Redeemer w/ Extra Armor (255)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Now, what a lot of you are probably thinking: "Squirrel_Fish, you have no long range support!!" 

My response is simply "Why do I need it? They're Space Marines, they shouldn't be far off taking shots with lascannons, they should be crushing their foes beneath the soles of their boots!" Hence the three vindicators. The demolisher cannon is easily the most well-rounded weapon in the Space Marine arsenal whether it's splattering infantry or cracking open armor (10+2d6 take highest). Now, normally with blast markers, the scatter die is not your friend. But with three vindicators, one of those is bound to hit or scatter pretty close. 

Total of 7 pieces of armor on the board means that standard guns will do little to nothing until my Rhinos are popped open, and if they ignore the vindicators and land raiders, they'll regret it.

Ideally, I would drive everything up one flank. Space the three vindicators side by side, 3-4 inches apart from each other, rhinos behind the vindicators, the land raider on the flank of a Vindicator, shielding the rest of the vehicles' side armor. Once the caravan is within 24 inches, the vindicators will spread out and open fire while the Rhinos drive to where they need to and deploy tactical squads.

Space Marine Chapters - How Can I Choose?

Sorry for the lull in posting, one of my friends recently had a huge family crisis and I spent my time worrying about him and doing what I can to help.

Onto today's topic, I've been going back and forth on what chapter I want to make my Space Marines, leaning heavily towards Salamanders due to my liking of the fluff and the sheer effectiveness of Vulkan's chapter tactics. However, I've also been drawn to the Imperial Fists, mostly because Captain Lysander is a scary awesome character, along with Ultramarines for sheer SMurfiness, Raven Guard for practicality of black armor and tons of other reasons.

However, I've also been pushed away from painting an entire army for various reasons, such as Salamanders being overplayed, yellow being a pain the butt to paint, Ultramarines for sheer SMurfiness and Raven Guard for a relatively boring paint scheme.

It hit me today; why not do all of them? I would paint a squad or two in differing schemes depending on how fitting they are to that role, such as having Imperial Fist Devastators, Raven Guard Assault Squads, Salamander Termies, Ultramarine Scouts and a Tactical squad with equipment suiting each chapter).

How would I make this all work together? Well, that's the title. The entire army is fighting together at the Battle for Armageddon. Normally, different chapters will avoid working together due to a sense of pride or honor, but under extenuating circumstances multiple chapters will fight together. I would make each squad come together as an army through the use of basing; trying to go for a muddy, semi-urban, warzone that will look consistent on all infantry and vehicles.

Another plus that I just thought of is that it allows me paint chapter specific models and use them without any fret, meaning I can use Lysander, Vulkan or Sicarius at my whim; the idea is that they just happen to be at the frontline with all the other chapters present.

What do you guys think and how do you feel about this? Unfluffy, fluffy? A cheesy attempt to use Dorn/Shrike in the same list? This is probably just an idea that won't be fulfilled (I hate a hodge-podge looking army and unless the basing is fabulously successful, the idea will be nix'd.)

Squirrel_Fish

Warlock and Terminator Chaplain complete!

The final (?) Warlock of the Seer Council is complete and here are the pics. The only thing that I'm not entirely satisfied is the spear; I was going for an energized blade look, but it didn't work out so well. I'll probably just stick to my usual crystal look next time.

"I can tell you with no ego that this is my finest [miniature]"

- Hattori Hanzo, Kill Bill vol. 1

Okay, so that's not how the quote goes. But I am very proud with how this turned out and am sure my friend will appreciate this gift. Thanks for all of those who gave me suggestions on the gold. I ended using Vermin brown as the basecoat, followed by a brush 1:1 brown ink/Shining Gold, a 4:1 water/brown ink, followed by highlighting with shining gold again. I thought it was a little bright at first, but after hitting it with a layer of Dullcote, I was very satisfied as it subdued the brightness of the gold and gave it that ancient yet powerful look I wanted.

Next up? Eldar Wave Serpent.

Squirrel_Fish

Guardian Defenders - Worth it?

In my last two games, I happened to notice that Guardian Defenderss are generally ineffective. Most of the time, they usually just end up sitting on an objective in my deployment zone and take potshots with a Scatter laser, but is ith worth the points?

Pros -

• Guardians are cheap! 
• They can hold an objective
• They have a heavy weapons platform
  

Cons -

• Their armor save is effectively cardboard and most basic troops end up ignoring it.
• Shuriken Catapults have a piddly 12" range, meaning that their heavy weapon platform is the only mid-long range shooting they have 
• BS 3, meaning that their heavy weapon platform is going to be missing 50% of the time

Personally, I think that the Guardian Defenders are just too many points for a single heavy weapon and that those points could probably be better used on more Dire Avengers or Rangers. Heck, using Rangers/Pathfinders as a unit to sit down on my objective tends to be more effective since their better BS, higher cover save, ability to pin, sniper weapons and ability throw out AP1/Rending wounds means that they can more effectively defend an area.

So what are your opinions on the Eldar Guardians? Are they worth it? Have you been able to use them effectively and am I just doing it wrong?

Cheers,

Squirrel_Fish

Jetbike Warlock + Terminator Chaplain WIP's

Well, after I got home from work today (painting houses over the summer, funny how that works, huh?), I decided to bust out the paint jars and get to work.

I threw down some basecoats on the Warlock and also sketched an idea for a freehand pattern on the jetbike canopy.

Now, I have a friend who's graduating from High School soon and has been collecting his army for quite some time now, yet has barely made a dent in the painting of it. So, in commemoration of his passing high school, I decided to get him (in my opinion) one of the most gorgeous Space Marine sculpts in the line and paint it as lovingly as I possibly can.

Some WIP's: 

The browns on the Crozius, the belt buckle, chains and halo are the base coats for my golds, which I'll do later this week. Hopefully, it'll end up better than my other attempts at gold paint.

So if anyone is reading this, how do you paint your golds?

Squirrel_Fish

Next on the Painting Table

Warlock #3, primed and ready to paint. More pics to come as soon as progress is made.

Squirrel_Fish

Eldar Seer Council; half done

So, over the course of two and a half years now, I'm nearing the completion of my Eldar army - the only things left on the table are a Farseer on Jetbike, a Warlock on a Jetbike and a Wave Serpent.

Just to give you a teaser, here's the first two completed Warlocks from the Seer Council.

It's About Time That I Did This

Hey folks,

This is the Squirrel_Fish talking. I've been a long time reader of many Warhammer 40k related blogs (BoLS, Fritz's "Way of Saim Hann" and Jawaballs' Blood Angels blogs to name a few) and figured that it's about time for me to actually start one of my own. 

A little about me, I'm a college student in located in Minnesota. During school sessions, I get exiled towards an inhospitably small town in western Minnesota where there is little to no 40k action and am forced to focus on the modeling aspect instead. 

Now, I'd like to give a you a little forewarning that I'm a bit of an amateur in most aspects of 40k - there's not much gameplay that goes around here (and whatever does happen isn't like scary serious) and my painting skills only go up to about tabletop standards, maybe a little better. So what do you, the reader, gain from reading my blog? Well, if you're a veteran of the game and/or a Golden Daemon winner, probably not much. Broken Dice is really just a view of the game from the casual gamer/hobbyist point of view.

I'll do my best to update regularly with what I've been working on and the following.

1) Miniatures - Painting and Conversions. I'm by no means an expert, but I've been painting miniatures for 3-4 some odd years now and have picked up a few tricks that I'm willing to share.

2) Battle Reports. Just about any game that I play, I'll write one up, dissect it and analyze what tactics worked.

3) Tactics. Following up on battle reports, I'll post what tactics work for me and maybe for you.

4) General Discussion. My thoughts on the game or the hobby.

Best to all,

Squirrel_Fish