Happy Halloween!

"Run Matakitty, run!"


This week's been fairly productive for me painting-wise, and I've gotta say this little mini-diorama was the most fun to paint, not just this week, but in a while. I've never painted a cartoon-esque cat before, but it was probably the reason for all the fun. The daemon bat was cool too, but I layered way too many reds in there and the photos don't give them their proper due. Overall fun stuff and a good Halloween figure to boot!


The bat came from Warhammer Quest, and I just cut away the face and replaced it with a fantasy skeleton head. The cat's, well, a cat, and for basing I just used fine grain model railroad ballast. The base is worth an extra mention. I've got a lot of extended family in New Mexico, and we try to get out there as often as we can, which isn't nearly enough. When I put together the idea for this diorama, I intended to give it to my wife from the get-go, and since it's based on a New Mexican 'wooden nickel' it would have a little extra sentimental value (aside from her geeky husband painting something for her desk of course). You can see where I drilled through the piece to firmly insert the flying stand into place.


I credit Andy quite a bit for figs on here, and he's cool about passing neat ones and the like on to the rest of us. The kitty in this mini-diorama came from Paul over at Matakishi's Tea House, whose link I've had on the blog here since the first day I created it. Check his site out if you haven't already, it's pretty humbling, but there is a lot of cool stuff worth perusing through, and the sheer volume of his completed projects is impressive.

Rogue Trader Void Dragon

Imperial Rogue Trader, the Void Dragon

Although we are still knee deep in our Dark Heresy campaign, the new Rogue Trader release was too good to pass up. One "free" game night, Andy brought his copy, and he, Chri3, and I all rolled up characters, and of course, the ship itself.


We rolled 60 ship points, but this means our wealth is conversely low. Basically we have lots of ship, but not lots of money, I have a feeling I know what our first few goals will be. We could've gone with a bigger ship, but not had much of anything else, instead we opted for a smaller ship, but that would allow us lots of customization options.


The Void Dragon is a Sword class frigate, drawing its thrust from a Jovian Pattern class 2 drive. A Stelov 1 Warp Engine powers it through the immaterium. An upgrade of Augmented Retro-thrusters gives the large craft better finesse and maneuverability. For protection is has a Single Void Shield Array and a R-50 Auspex Multi-band array finishes up its sensor complement. It also sports a forward Command Bridge.


The Void Dragon has added a Compartmentalized Cargo Hold, and its houses better quality internal environmental system with a Vitae Pattern Life Sustainer. Voidsmen Crew Quarters offer much more spaciousness than standard cramped quarters, and a second Barracks provides proper quarters for the standing ship's marines.

For offense capabilities, the Void Dragon utilizes a pair of Mars Pattern Macrocannons and a complement of Murder-Servitors for boarding actions.


It's the little extras that the Captain and crew of a ship implement that make large differences to those who serve on the ship. On top of the enhanced environmental controls and spacious quarters the Void Dragon also has a central Shrine to the God-Emperor on board. An expansive Trophy Room safeguards the rare items and treasure procured by the crew, and an Observation Dome gives a spectacular view of the stars beyond.


Captain Onyx Jack's personal symbol, the Ace of Spades

Rounding out the final specifications of the Void Dragon is the very curious Warpsbane Hull augmentation. This is certainly not a standard Imperial upgrade, and it is suggested that it is partially (or wholly) xeno in nature. Regardless of its origin, it makes warp travel with the Void Dragon much safer than most other Imperial ships.

About the model itself, it is a GW model believe it or not, from a very obscure game called Space Fleet that came out in 1991 as a predecessor to Battlefleet Gothic. It was a funky little game, but fun at the time, most of the components I had are long gone, except one of the Imperial ships. Considering what the newer ships look like, this lighter, sleeker version will work wonderfully as a smaller, frigate-classed ship. I couldn't think of a name, and frankly the "Void Dragon" hasn't been run by the group as of this writing, but I used a Salamanders decal on the prow, so I thought the name fit pretty well. Some roman numerals help make the ship look 'official' and on the side sponsons there are some kill markings and more ship numbers. Underneath I used a Cadian spade decal for personality.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)

The other night I was flipping through the on-demand cable movies and scrolling through the G's I came across this one. I hadn't heard of it before and saw it was current and was pretty curious. It had two names I recognized; Christopher Meloni from Law and Order fame, and Michael Madsen, who's been in just about everything. I like both these actors, especially Meloni, so I clicked it without much more thought than that.

Honestly I thought it might have been live action, I wasn't expecting much, but I was in the mood for some zoned-out couch potato action. I was pretty surprised when it started up and was animated, but I had already clicked it, so I was committed.


It was an origin tale, and focused on the original lantern, Hal Jordan. It modernized the tale somewhat, putting Hal as a test pilot in today's modern era, and from the get-go, it opened up the entire Green Lantern Corps, which was nice to see.

The animation itself was pretty lackluster, very average. It certainly had its moments, but they were more because of what was being portrayed and less with how it appeared on screen. So the animation wasn't the best, but the musical score was a little better. It wasn't a masterpiece score or anything, but it wasn't awful. The voice acting was probably the best of the physical factors, and it was full of character and emotion in all the right amounts. The bigger names weren't overpowering or distracting in their roles either.


As Hal Jordan becomes the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps, a rarity for a human, he is given a crash course in his new role. Sinestro, a veteran of the Corps, takes Jordan under his wing as an apprentice. The two begin tracking down leads about a galactic super weapon that uses yellow energy (the bane of green energy, thus the Corps' powers) and the plot twists begin to tighten on the story. Many of the members of the Corps, most notably the brute Kilowog, make regular appearances with speaking roles.

It's not the most child-friendly movie either. It has some adult themes too, and a good deal of violence, including a few grisly deaths. The obligatory speedbump of yet another retold origin story was thankfully brief, and the movie opens up to a wide world of sci-fi goodness packed with aliens of all size and shape. The role the Corps plays is that of police detectives, and they are seen in the same light in space. I've always enjoyed the sci-fi nature and bigger picture of the Green Lantern mythos, and less of the solo, Earth-bound superhero member of the Justice League. In this respect the movie did wonderfully. The story wasn't bad, it wasn't the best, but it moved along fairly well. It's pretty succinct, even for a feature-length film, and it could've been stretched out much longer if need be. Much of the mythos of Hal Jordan and the Corps are laid out efficiently and they're given their due.

Must Have Unit: Space Marine Scouts

"Take the shot, take the shot!"

There's a call to arms for a collaborative post From the Warp regarding "must have" units. These aren't tactical or game-winning units, but units that you personally try to work in every time, regardless if they're technically points winners or not. Tau Vespids are definitely one such unit that comes to mind, wow, they look awesome, and their fluff is even cooler, but have you ever fielded them? They are not "for the greater good"!

For me, it's the Space Marine Scouts. Space Marines are great, they always have been, but Scouts are the "cooler" version of said greatness. They're tough, but not crazy 3+ power armor tough, but they're still considered "marines". In codex chapters, scouts are the rookies of the chapter who have to earn their way into a suit of standard power armor and one of the more veteran companies. In this way it's neat to think of captains (or chapter masters) slogging it out in scout armor as a FNG at one point in their career.

Lamenter's Death Guard Army

Lamenter, over on the Drunk Dwarves website (which I've been a fan of for a couple of years now) has posted pics of their amazing looking Nurgle Death Guard army. It posted this summer, but I just stumbled across it the other day (or I would've posted this over the summer). There is a lot of technique used to unify the overall look, and it's quite refreshing that they purposefully shied away from the bloated, icky type Nurgle followers and went with a more "used" look. Anyway, I don't want to hijack their post, it's worth checking out for yourself in more detail. Here's the link one more time!

A Galilean Night

Explanation: Driving along on a summer evening, near the small town of Weikersheim in southern Germany, photographer Jens Hackmann had to stop. He couldn't resist pointing his camera and telephoto lens at this lovely conjunction of a Full Moon and planet Jupiter looming near the steeple of a local church. Of course, 400 years ago, Galileo couldn't resist pointing his newly constructed telescope at these celestial beacons either. When he did, he found craters and mountains on the not-so-smooth lunar surface and discovered the large moons of Jupiter now known as the Galilean Moons. Jupiter's Galilean moons are just visible in this photo as tiny pinpricks of light very near the bright planet. Want to see the Moon and Jupiter better than Galileo? Look for local 2009 International Year of Astronomy activities and events during these next few Galilean Nights (October 22-24). -APoD

The Last of the Dark Angels

I have painted my last suit of Dark Angels Green power armor! Well, at least for the foreseeable future. I had these guys hanging around the painting table for a while now, and they form the last of my fairly large (and now finished) army. I haven't worked up the points, but I ballpark it at at least a couple o' thousand. It is fitting at last that they are joined by their stalwart chapter master and their spiritual leader.


Chapter Master Tracto

Master Tracto squeezed through the massive Deathwing Terminators guarding the ruined bridge of the Vespillo. His heavy armor boots crunched the broken and burned chiten of the tyranid bodies the Deathwing had tracked down and destroyed. "What have you found, Brother Paganus?" he demanded of his Techmarine. "I want off this hulk now."

We all know Azrael is the chapter grand master of the Dark Angels, but that's no fun! The DA codex has an entry for chapter master, so I've whipped up my own. Although the line above was from the opening line of our Trucidos campaign, he never actually set foot on the planet, he delegated that to Captain Othniel of the fourth company.


Fresh from the cleansing of Space Hulk Vespillo, Tracto still sports the trophy head of the first Genestealer he slew on board. His robes bear the symbol of his chapter, and multiple items of personal heraldry adorn his articifer power armor.


The Fist of the Lion has been with Tracto since his days in the assault squads of the sixth company. It was an ancient power glove of STC design found on an artefact world and worked into his power armor. Its field strength is more powerful than average, yet it maintains an incredible state of manipulation and touch sensitivity.


This scroll details Master Tracto's valor and resolve


In battle it is a rarity to see Tracto not being accompanied by his storm bolter thrall. Much like the Watchers in the Dark, these cherubic thralls are a common sight among high ranking members of the Dark Angels Inner Circle, yet their true nature remains a mystery. Tracto's master-crafted storm bolter is always carried close behind.


The storm bolter thrall


Interrogator-Chaplain Medeiros

Seeing to the spiritual needs of the troops, as well as being chief interrogator of the Fallen, Medeiros is seldom seen. He keeps close council with Tracto and others, but rarely accompanies them to battle. Troopers can count on his presence prior to the ensuing conflict however, as he prepares them spiritually. Uncharacteristically, Medeiros wears a black cape and tabbard, preferring to keep his armor the traditional green.


Plasma pistol and a selection of grenades...


Medeiros' cloak is said to date back to the days of the Great Crusade itself


His Crozius Arcanum is equally ancient


The Book of Deeds is a powerful symbol to the troops

Insanity on Iocanthus

Online excerpts from our last Dark Heresy game...

We were playing the Illuminated scenario out of the main book, and the group of Seth the Voice's followers had just attacked Stern Hope. The party was in the process of saving an Ashleen woman and a passel of children when ol' Mike here's character Cromwell rolls Perils of the Warp on a psychic test-- BAM! The Surly Bonds of Earth are released and everybody within 99 meters of him (that's the entirety of Stern Hope, and then some) start rising into the air, to stop 18 meters in the air!! That's a fairly deadly drop, so Chris Miller's character Haxtes uses his psychic powers to try and save himself, trigger another Peril of the Warp-- this time, a Mass Possession!! Now everybody is drifting into the air with daemons ravaging them and causing Corruption points!! Finally, at 18 meters, everything drops, and the party picks themselves up and sprint to get away from the center of the Possession. When they return, fully half the population has died from the almost sixty foot drop, and many of the rest are exhibiting strange symptoms or full on mutation.

Half the population died instantly, another 30% or so lay crippled and
dying from their wounds. Also, it wasn't just people, anything the size of a
car or smaller was lifted then dropped so it was pretty brutal indeed...

...and then you had those possessed beyond their physical limits and
sprouting mass mutations. We (they) turned Stern Hope into quite the living
Hell, literally FAR worse than what the bad guys had planned for the place.

Friday's Barter Bucket

It's a bucket...for bartering!

As mentioned, this is the first installment of Mik's Barter Bucket, huzzah! This is an attempt to get some of the stuff I've got and don't need or use into the hands of those out there who might need or use them. We're all a big community after all! Speaking of being in a community, I've been approached by entities of greater influence than I of perhaps giving the Barter Bucket a little more exposure. I'll keep y'all posted on how this progresses.

The list of stuff I have for letting go might be kind of random, and I won't lump it all in here at once, but add a little bit at a time. If it's used or painted, assembled or whatever, I'll include a current pic, if it's something new in the box or whatever, I'll probably just link it off of GW's site or some other place. I will try to keep the items 'themed' though, so if you see a few Space Wolf items together, that'll be all I've got for example.

What I have (so far), all reasonable offers, for sale:


Scout Sergeant Telion, he is fully painted as shown, click the link for more shots. He is painted as a Dark Angel, but some Simple Green should be able to strip him. It's an awesome fig, but I won't be fielding a 'fake' Dark Angels chapter anymore, hence this choice is no longer viable. For Ultramarine players, I have filed off his Ultramar symbols, but that's good news for other codex players looking to pick up a leader for their scouts.


Black Templars Champion, I've painted up this fig as my Librarian, again, click the link for more shots. He's obviously not a Dark Angels (hence he's getting the boot), same as above, a little Simple Green should do the trick. All of his Black Templars iconography is intact, and I have his BT backpack also. This is the limited edition, GW 25th anniversary figure that was released back in 2000, it is currently out of print.


My Blood Angels Terminator contest entry. Unfortunately I didn't place in the top ten, but that's okay, it was still fun to convert and I tried my best at painting it up (you can see lots more finished pics here). Since I don't play the Blood Angels, and he's not trophy status, he's on the chopping block as well. He is something of a relic, incorporating three generations of terminator parts into the single model. I can truly say that there's not another terminator like this one anywhere in the world, mwahahaha!


Space Wolf Rune Priest. Unlike the sample photo, mine is still in the unopened package, brand new. I picked him up a while back to lead a Chaos Marine army, which never took off. With all the Space Wolf hype lately, surely he can find a home in someone's pack. I've got a few old Space Wolf decals to throw in with the model as well.


Codex: Chaos Space Marines, since I'm (obviously) not going the Chaos route, I don't need the codex anymore. It's in good shape, hasn't been thumbed through a whole lot, and has been sitting on the shelf with the rest since I bought it new.


Speaking of Chaos, I also have another brand new item, still sealed in the box, this Chaos Space Marines Daemon Prince. Another casualty of a failure to launch on a new army, this whopping HQ unit will serve you and the ruinous powers well.

That's all I've got for now, there's tons more lurking around, but this is a test run for now. If you know some players out there who might not be subscribers, and they play, or plan on playing, an army that can benefit from anything I've shown, let them know too! We'll use PayPal so everything is nice and 'safe'. I guess I'll have to put up a profile box (on the right) so you can get my email out of it. If you have a question, post it under comments so others can benefit from whatever it was you were wondering. Thanks!

Back in Blacque

The Brothers Blacque, no relation

This is a pair of figs that have languished forever in an incomplete state...but no longer! Well, I am out of Dull Cote, so there's one stage left for these two, but other than that, they're officially done, and only years after they were used last.

The Brothers Blacque were a pair of questionable mercenary characters played in one of our two Iron Kingdoms campaigns oh so long ago. We had a full table of players, but these two (mine and Brian's) had a history prior to the campaign.

The paint jobs were fairly straight forward, the Trollkin got a weapon swap (his old axe for a big club) and both figs got new equipment added to their backs, a quiver of arrows for the big guy, and a sword for the human. These were back in the days when I dipped everything too, that shouldn't show too much after their dull coat sealer.


This human was a gunslinger and sellsword of a nasty disposition. His loyalties went as far as his current contract stated, and he stuck around only as long as he was getting paid. He carries a military pistol in a fast-draw holster, and on his back is a keen edged sword of considerable arcane ability. He is seldom seen without his cloak.


This hefty Trollkin was destined for greatness, as his albino skin dictated, but his heart was corrupt. He turned away from his clan and inexplicably left his heritage behind. He signed on with the Brothers Blacque mercenary band and made a good living with them. He and the human would eventually leave together and strike out on their own.


Like I said, they still need a shot of Dull Cote, but I'll have to pick some up since I'm fresh out. Being RPG figs from Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms line, I painted their bases a cream color, but that didn't photograph so well. At least they're done now...

2010-10-20

All right, blog pic / Photobucket crisis averted. As I mentioned to Shelexie in the comments field of the last post, my non-gamer wife saw that almost a million pic views must mean something to the gaming community at large and I got the go-ahead to release the 1,227 images from their bandwidth prison (at least until the title date). I want to say thanks once again to all the suggestions on what do with future photograph storage.

Mik's Barter Bucket

I'm trying something new here at Mik's Minis...

I've got stuff laying around I don't necessarily need, maybe you do too? I've done the eBay thing, ad nauseam, in the past, but I thought I'd give the 'local' community here first dibs on stuff I'm letting go. Obviously trading is best for everyone involved, but whatever works. So, ala Bartertown, and the line, "You throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip..." let's give this 'barter bucket' a whirl. And yes, I'm a sucker for alliteration.

The highest traffic occurs over the weekend so I should have the first round of goods up on Friday. I don't know if it'll be a weekly feature, but we'll see...

Bandwidth Exceeded

Well I guess it was bound to happen, but I've somehow exceeded my bandwidth on Photobucket. I'm not the most computer savvy, but apparently deleting bunches of files from my account have nothing to do with the number of times they're being viewed. According to my stats, blog pic files have been viewed a whopping 717,548 times.

Wow.

It will reset, I dunno, at the beginning of the month or so. It resets at the beginning of whatever day I signed up on, but it's been so long I don't know when that was. Of course this means that the majority of my posts have had their pics temporarily disabled, which seeing how my blog is mostly visual, this is a heavy blow indeed.

I received a ransom note via email today though, if I pay up $25 bucks and "go pro" everything will go back to normal. That's kind of crap, and I certainly don't have the cash to pay a pic-posting site right now. So, does anyone have any suggestions out there? Flikr only gives you 200 (free) images, and their interface is wonky, I guess I could try them though. Photobucket was the simplest and easiest to use however, plus I've invested all my time, pics (and apparently bandwidth) with them up to this point.

The Death Spectres

The Death Spectres are a Chapter of Space Marines that suffers from a genetic mutation which causes all of the Chapter's members to become albinos. During Abaddon the Despoiler's Black Crusade, the Death Spectres used jump pack equipped assault squads to quickly capitalize on every gain made by the Imperial Guard. Stationed Beyond the bounds of the Imperium, the Death Spectres maintain constant vigil to ensure that the supernatural inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars never again threaten the galaxy. -the Lexicanum

According to a recent BoLS article, there is such a thing as SAS, or "single army syndrome". I'm definitely a candidate, since I've been going through pot after pot of Dark Angels Green over the last year, and though I do love my Dark Angels, I am admittedly getting tired of painting them! Another interesting note of my Dark Angels is that there could not have been a more random army put together. My DA army started back, at least fifteen years ago with second edition, and has been hobbled together since then, suffering through many rules editions and multiple codexes. I'm not a big planner, so really the army came together more by chance than anything else. Lately I've tried to make amends somewhat by cranking out more tactical squads to fill in the ranks. I'm near the end of my DA road however...

If you haven't checked out BJ's Extremis Diabolus blog you should, it's got lots of tasty tidbits in there. I've taken a lot of his comments to heart and am using those thoughts on starting something new. First off is what a great buy the Black Reach box is, and since Chri3 is an Ork player, we'll be splitting it down the middle. Thirty-some-odd bucks is a good price to pay methinks for, umm let's see; a Dreadnought, five termies, a character model, and a full tactical squad to boot! Hopefully I can snag the templates and mini-rulebook too since Chri3 has already bought this box once before.

BJ also mentioned the solid piece of advice to fully paint one army before starting on the next. I kind of had this one figured out, but I had to learn the hard way. My past GW experiences have been similar to giving a six year a couple hundred dollars in cash and turning them loose in a discount candy store. I'm a little more focused in my old age. The last piece of advice; stat out your list first, and stick to it, then just buy what you need, painting it along the way. This is something I've never done, so, given all this I've decided to do a new Space Marine army, start it from scratch, and plan it out first; hence, the Death Spectres.

I went with this chapter because I liked their fluff quite a bit, and their paint scheme seemed easy enough, but if done right could be really pretty nifty. I've put together a list which follows and though I'm not a "serious" player, and I'm certainly not a tournament player, I'd still like some feedback on it, for good or bad. See what you think, oh, and know that same BoLS article kind of frowned on multiple marine armies, but I should point out that I have already finished a fully painted, large Tau army as well, besides, Marines are just cool.

HQ:

Chthonius (Pedro Cantor): 175pts
I liked the idea of a commander named 'Pedro', plus he comes with a cool load-out and I like his special rules. I won't be using the actual Pedro model, but I'll find something suitable with a power fist and storm bolter

Helios (Chaplain, 100pts) digital weapons (10), jump pack (15): 125pts
I've never done much with Chaplains, but no longer, the digital weapons will help in an assault, and the jump pack's there for later in the list...

Elites:

Terminator Squad (x5, 200pts), assault cannon (30): 230pts
I'll have to 'cut and paste' an assault cannon here, but otherwise these will be straight up Black Reach figs, I'll probably always field termies, they're too cool

Dreadnought: 105pts
edit: Per HuronBH's advice, I'll take a stock Dread with Multi-Melta and see where that takes me, the points I save gives me two more Scout bikes to boot, every little bit helps...

Sternguard (x5, 125pts), melta-bombs (5): 130pts
Razorback (40pts), twin-linked lascannon (35), storm bolter (10): 85pts
These will be Pedro's "honor guard" and he'll be attached to them, and thanks to Pedro's special rules, they're also a scoring unit

Troops:

Tactical Squad Alpha (x10, 170pts), m. launcher, flamer, chainsword: 170pts
Rhino: 30pts
Bread and butter unit with transport

Tactical Squad Beta (x10, 170pts), m. launcher, flamer, chainsword: 170pts
Rhino: 30pts
Bread and butter unit with transport

Fast Attack:

Assault Squad (x5, 100pts), power weapon (15): 115pts
This smaller assault squad will play their role as needed and be lead into combat by the jump pack equipped Chaplain from the HQ section

Scout Bike Squad (x5, 110pts), cluster mines (10), locator beacon (25), aux. grenade launcher (10): 155pts
I don't even know how effective these guys will be, but, I like scouts and I've never had bikes, so this kills two birds with one stone, I threw the locator beacon in there too to help with errant deep strikers (which I was plagued with recently)

Total: 1500pts

So there you have it. I've got the Black Reach stuff pending, and already had a tactical squad box on hand thanks to Andy, plus it didn't take me long to hack up some Dark Angels I had pegged for veterans and turn them into five Sternguard. The big change for me is all the armor, which I just don't have a lot of experience building/painting tanks 'n such. As always, thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think...

The Orks Devour the Dark Angels

40k Battle
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead
Size: 1,000 points
Forces: Dark Angels vs. Orks

Got in another game of 40k this week, and it was fun! We didn't spent quite so much time thumbing through the rules, and the battle went fairly well with little interruption. The mission called for a straight up 'duke it out' kinda fight, and it went brutally for my Marines. After the BoLS article calling to "quit playing linear 40k" I decided to follow their advice and try some different approaches, this absolutely killed me.


I can't tell you Chri3' army list, I just know it was a lot of Boyz upgraded to 'ard Boyz with a strong mob Nob unit on the flank. His HQ units included a Warphead and a big, ole warboss (Gazkill, who showed up first partially painted last May). Oh, he also had a trio of Mortality Impaired Gyroscopic Flyers, err, also known as "Deffkoptas".


You know, it's funny but about a year ago I was complaining that the most recent Dark Angels codex really [was lacking] compared to the newly released (back then) Marine codex. Well now that the new Space Wolf codex is out, it looks like everybody using the Wolf 'dex to represent everything from homemade chapters to Ultramarines!

Because of this recent trend I decided to get back to my roots and field an "official" Dark Angels force and stick to their incredibly boring codex where scouts count as elite troops and tactical squads have either five or ten troops period. Really, unless you're playing one of the 'wing' armies, the old codex doesn't do a whole lot for ya. I took a thunder hammer armed Belial as my HQ, which allowed me to take a unit of storm bolter termies as a troops choice. A single ten-man and a five-man tactical squad filled up two more troop choices. I took a full squad of ten scouts, half snipers, half shotguns, and finally took five assault marines.

Because of pushing "non-linear 40k!" I put the assault marines in reserve and was going to deepstrike the termies. Both these moves were severely lacking. For the most part I got my teeth kicked in by the Orcs. Looking back I handedly won the last game, but man did the pendulum swing against me this time. Here's a brief rundown.


A scout sniper with a 'target-rich' environment...

I stuck my snipers up in a ruined tower, and ran my shotgun scouts along the flank. The rest of the marines formed a static line across the middle, and the five man squad was making for a barricade to take cover behind. Belial surveyed the line just behind the squad sergeant. The Orks characteristically mobbed up and advanced as a seething, green wall. The hulking Gazkill himself advanced at the front of the boyz, leading the way.


Guess who failed their deep strike warp mishap roll?

Feeling a little lucky, a little daring, my termies 'Deathwing dropped' on turn one danger close to the mass of Ork Boyz...a little too danger close however. Their target was about six inches behind the main Ork hordes. Of course, had they landed successfully, they would've torn into the greenskin backsides to a (hopefully) devastating effect. Their teleport scattered however, and they ended up on top of the Orks, so I rolled on the "mishap" chart, of course I rolled a 'one'. My 260pt terminator squad was lost in the warp.


Belial took his frustration of losing his brethren out on the Deffkoptas...


...then turns his attention on the mass of Ork warriors


Belial and Gazkill meet in the center of the field...

Normally for my 40k batreps I take decent notes from turn to turn so I can write them up, so many details get forgotten afterwards. Games of 40k play more with a 'tourney' feel to them, so listing each turn in order fits. Games of SBH on the other hand get a little lavish treatment in the fluff department, since those rules lend to more of a narrative. For this batrep however there's not much substance to it. We set up, marched forward, Chri3' Orks rolled an insane amount of attack dice in melee, and my marines, as stalwart as they were, eventually succumbed to the onslaught of cheap, ten point melee monsters.


I liked the terrain set up for the game, and we got to use some barricades too, though they never really came into play. We also used my four-story ruined tower, which is a fave of mine as well. Too much terrain however might have spelled doom for my teleporting Deathwing. Also, by turn three my assault squad was ready to deep strike in. Again, my squad landed errant of their mark, way errant, and the roll on the mishap chart meant my opponent got to place them. Chri3 shrewdly put them in the middle of difficult terrain, luckily they passed their 'landing' check and on the next turn passed again to leave the uneven ground. They were pretty far from their original target though, and had to double time it to get somewhere useful, in the end it wasn't enough and it was another squad of wasted points.


Knuckles, boots, elbows, and knives...


The hand-to-hand fighting was intense...


The Nobz mob, supported by hordes of ammo runts, finally closed in on the five-man tactical squad. Let me tell ya, tricked out Nobz on a charge are scary, I was surprised at just how effective they were at closing in on my Marines.


My only chance to save a little face was to get my assault squad over to the Nobz and seek a little retribution. That's when the Warphead struck, rolling a "frazzle" power at a most opportune time, zapping three marines dead and suppressing (pinning) the rest. Stunned and reduced to just two figs, the assault marines were then charged by the rampaging Nobz. Ugh. Their fate was sealed the moment they rolled on the mishap chart.

Did I have fun? Of course I did, even though it was mostly a one-sided battle how can you not go wrong pushing around space troopers going "pew pew" and hanging out. I would have liked to had a better showing mind you, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I felt good about taking a Dark Angels 'official list' too, I don't know why, and it makes me feel silly for making a big deal about the new marine codex in the first place.

We're still awful with the rules, and it took us the better part of the evening to crank out a thousand point game, but that's okay too, we weren't on a time schedule or anything. It does make me lament not being in a 40k campaign setting anymore however. I think some of the time we did on Trucidos was incredibly cool and terribly underplayed. I would very much like another shot at an extended play 40k campaign.