Battle Bunnies

Sunday, 25 October 2020

Crucible of Retribution review

Crucible of retribution review

Hi all. Been reading through the new Crucible of Iron book recently which we have been sent.

The previous book was absolutely awesome for content so I have been really looking forward to this one and it does not disappoint.

The Cataclysm of Iron was the name given to the apocalyptic war that raged between Forge Worlds within the Belt of Iron, a region of space stretching across the Segmentum Tempestus and Pacificus. This is good as these areas feel genuinely quiet when it comes to the general Horus Heresy conflict zones.

The book introduces Legios; Venator, Laniaskara, Kulisaetai, Tritonis and Damicum.

It is also the first time you can see Background for Legio Ignatum (one of the Triad Ferrum, and which closely garrisons Terra).

Legio’s Astraman and Atarus are also in this book (Astraman is a Legio from old Epic days).

A little while ago Knight House Vextrix was introduced in the Chaos Codex and it is nice that it has been covered and introduced in the Horus Heresy now too (they had strong ties to Mortis I recall).

The other really cool thing is that there are 15 new battles which can be fought on Death Worlds, Forge Worlds and Hive Worlds!! It’s good to see terrain other than usual city terrain.

Thanks for reading.

Drake.

Saturday, 24 October 2020

House of Iron Book review

Hi all.

Been sent a copy of Necromunda House of Iron to review. It is the new Orlock gang book and has some very cool content. So let’s have a little peak.

Love Wild Snake!!

Gang Terrain.

As with the two before, House of Iron also has an Orlock specific terrain option. This is an altar to the Necromunda’s Road Gods. They take a scrap crawler, war rig etc and turn it into a big shrine festooned with wheels and highway 99 road signs. Oh and it still packs a couple of turrets. The conversion opportunities would be great.

Big Bar Brawl

Basically imagine your gang goes out clubbing for the night and a rival gang appears at the same place. You are a bit more top of Underhive so there was no need to bring guns or armour, more handbag and fancy chains.

The game replaces movement phase with drinking phase where you can either drink and add 1 to your toughness, but your WS is reduced. The gangs can take up to 4 drinks (I assume they are stronger than ours).

The gang which has no one standing (the way I read this is it also means prone and pinned are counted as not standing) in the end phase is the winner.

This actually looks like good fun and I am wondering if it can be paired with a responsible drinking game in real life too (maybe Centurion with beer or similar).

But obviously, drink responsibly unless you are a model in the Underhive!

Noble Lord

The rules for the Noble Lord are quite good, are very good and can be chosen for free with the usual Gang Alliance rules. He feels more like a decent bounty hunter than a Noble whom has had his life of privilege and kin wiped out.

His choices in his Equipment list are fantastic.

As with other allied factions there are some cons to having him as part of your gang, mainly that you have to give him some of your cash (possibly to fund his old addiction to priceless Nicknacks).

As with the other House books, this one has some good info about the gangs origins and their day to day operations.

There are also full rules for the Guild of coin to be utilised as an ally.

Hangers on

Prize Fighter (Orlock): Basically he is a bare knuckle boxer like Gorgeous George in Snatch. You make money from him (unless he gets knocked out or killed). He feels like more of an investment hanger on where you can get some pretty good income from him (an average of 30 or 40 credits after each battle if you enter him into a fight).

Grease Monkey:

These can boost your Brutes (attacks and movement statistics) but there is a risk they lose a wound. They also can overcharge the Jump Boosters.

Bullet Merchant:

This can also be used by other gangs for a higher premium.

All in all, another cracking book. It is full of awesome content and I’m sure I will be reading it for weeks.

Thursday, 15 October 2020

Warhammer AOS Mega Gargant review.

Hi there.

Regarding Battletome :

At first it’s a small battle tomb, not surprising really as there is only 4 units but the tomb it self is of good quality unlike the 40k rule book. The pages feel substantial and unlikely to rip.

The Contents is great. Full of background and fluff with all the war scrolls for all the Gargants. There is a section in there to really make your Gargant a real Individual, with a name generator and quirks for those of you that really like the narrative of games.

The how to paint section is well set out with tips on how to paint parts and what paints to use ( my only criticism is that all the Techniques in the tomb use contrast paints, I personally don’t like the finish of these but that’s just me being an old crusty ) meaning you can get good table top level results fast and you’ll have a Gargant to be proud of.

The other great thing about the Gargants is anyone can use one as a mercenary. So no matter what force you have or to what alliance there is a Gargant for you. Brilliant.

The rules are laid out nicely and reading through them you can make a real impact by having one of these in your force.

In all another fantastic addition to the tomb Library.

The model

The kit it’s self again is of normal high quality. With a buttload of bit and bobs to potentially Customise and Gargant or any other man eater giants or their bases. Each start with the same torso and legs then you add what ever bits of the Gargant you have chosen.

Each Variant has its Unique parts. The Kraken-eater is leaned towards the maritime theme with parts of boat and a tentacle of an octopus hanging from its belt. The warstomper leads it’s self to all out war with wearing bits of other races armour and shields with an almighty club to cause damage with. The gatebreaker has parts of, well gate on him. With his hood he fits the part of looking like a death bringer. This fits nicely with the fact certain Gargants can only be aligned certain factions of you want to use one as a mercenary. The gatebraker can be use with the alliance of death or destruction, the warstomper with Chaos and destruction and the Kraken-eater with Order and destruction. Seems like destroying things it what the Gargants Excel at. You can have a force of just mega Gargants and man eaters if you so wish and you can have any type you want.

All the options look amazing but the Warstopmer is the one I’m going for as I have a Chaos force. Looking forward to getting him fully painted. With the speed of my painting could be a while.

The leftovers.

Size Comparison.

Thanks.

John H.

Wednesday, 7 October 2020

Codex Space Marines 2020 review

Hi all

Been fortunate enough to get my mits on a new Space Marine Codex.

As always, you need one of these if you are Space Marine gamer. This edition is 208 pages long and filled to the brim with data sheets and rules.

There is a lot of good information about Warzones that the Astartes have been active in. As always this is a spiffing read.

It does feel odd to have so much information from other Space Marine armies in here too, including information on the main first founding Chapters.

Also it details some Warlord traits for the fan favourite Chapters.

Really love the Eradicator squad too. Some great looking models.

Pre-order this weekend I believe.

Sunday, 27 September 2020

Warhammer 40,000 Crusade: Beyond the Veil review

Hi all

Had a good look through the new mission pack (beyond the Veil).

It’s a very straight to the point book with small summaries of the background for each mission. Actually find it quite satisfying reading through them all.

This book takes you through the Pariah Nexus and the conflict between the Indomitus Crusade and the Necrons.

There 25 missions in the book. They all seem pretty decent with some cool rules and the deployment zones are nice and diverse/special, which is always a good thing.

There is a list of special Crusade Relics for the Necrons. They are not very OP but add a nice touch to the Crusade list.

There are 40 pages of rules in there of the new 9th ed rules, which feels a bit cheeky considering the price of the book (but it is useful to have them to hand), also not 100% sold on the ring binder feel of them, as the pages often get caught.

As always the art work is cool. I love the way the they have taken the Necron design recently especially with all of the tall constructs!

Find this guy especially interesting!

And this thing too.

Monday, 21 September 2020

Necromunda: Grendl Grendlsen Squat WIP in Rogue trader colours

Hi all

Been after this model for a long old while now. I got into this hobby when Squats were still commonplace ant the RTB01 box was available. I remember looking at the brilliant Squat models, Airships and Gyro-copters and thinking that I would love to do an army of them when I had the cash.

Anyway, time moves on and the Squat Homeworlds are thriving again apparently, so let hope we will haves some more of this great race.

So he is currently WIP. Most of the time I like to follow the existing schemes for models, especially Character ones. This time though I thought why not use an old Rogue Trader era colour scheme.

So I did a quick search and found the old boxes I used to see when I frequented the model shops as a wee one.

So I am trying to match this scheme (especially the guy on the front left getting a chest hit).

So far he is very WIP.

For the quilted armour I used Khorne Red with a AK interactive panelliner and streaking grime mix for the recesses (comes up slightly glossy like his jacket does).

Green was Death World green layered up with a more sandy green.

Yellow bits were Averland and casendara yellow glaze.

Still a long long way to go!!