Mechanicum - first 750 points

Hi all,

Long time, no see! I've been absent from the blog for a lot longer than I anticipated due to a huge slump in my hobby keen - have been in a bit of a hobby rut but when Ahmose pitched his Lords of War idea I figured it would be a great way to resurrect my keen.

I originally was going to do my Legio Custodes as my Lords of War project but with the others picking up new projects I decided that scrap my original plans and start something new too. Without any further a-do, here's my first 750 points:


HQ:

• Archmagos

Troops:

• Tech Thralls - 20
• Secutarii Hoplites - 20
• Secutarii Peltasts - 10

Very different to what my 750 points probably would have looked like for my Legio Custodes that's for sure! I can alternatively take a second squad of 20 tech thralls in the place of the Peltasts but as we only require a single troop for the first 750 points I figured I'd add a bit of variety into the mix.

As you will see as this army evolves, it's going to be fairly focused on bringing skitarii units (more of the above + Myrmidons) to the table rather than big automatons as I thought it would look pretty cool. Also, as you guys will see, I'm planning on converting the Games Workshop skitarii rangers/vanguard into tech thralls as I think it'll look pretty cool and they will match up nicely with the rest of the army.

What do you guys think? Do you guys think I'm a heretek or just plain mad focusing on the infantry and no big bad robots?

Until next time!

Hector Cephas

Battle Bunnies Lords of War 2017

Hi all,

My Thousand Sons project is gradually running down and I am slowly starting to run out of steam.  Needless to say, my attention is now focused on my next project.

With both my Death Guard and Thousand Sons army, I very much approached them from a hobby perspective and let my list grow organically, purchasing any old model which took my fancy.  Whilst this approach proved to be immensely fun, I suspect it is somewhat responsible for my rather impressive loss to win count, which is heavily slanted towards loss.

I think I have managed one victory with my Thousand Sons in about twenty games!  I am the first to admit that I am not the best gamer (obviously), nor do I game to win.  However, suffering defeat after defeat is rather demoralizing. 

I like to think that my Thousand Sons are a big improvement compared to my Death Guard in terms of painting and hobbying and I am keen to continue this theme with my next legion.

I was fortunate enough to go on the last MKA Tank course, where I had a go at painting a Sons of Horus rhino.  Needless to say, I was over the moon with the results.  As soon as I got home I stripped it so I could redo it and practice the new techniques I had learnt.

It goes without saying that my next legion is going to be a traitor XVIth force. 

I thought this would an excellent opportunity to try to bully the other Bunnies into starting a new force (it didn’t take much), hopefully allowing all of us to advance our fledgling forces in increments and have lots of games!

Without further ado, the runners and riders of the Battle Bunnies Lords of War 2017!

Ahmose Seuk	Sons of Horus
Drake Seta	Vlka Fenryka
Hector Cyphas	Custodes
Castiel Druas	Alpha Legion
Ikthelion Orthos	****Redacted****
Darien Vasco	****Redacted****

The aim is to complete 750 increments, with the first lot due by the 01/02/2018.  The ultimate aim is 3000 points.  The caveat for the first round is a minimum of  one HQ and one Troop.

Stay tuned for updates soon!

Legio Astraman

Good evening all.

I'm taking a little break from the usual midnight clad to bring you something all together different. For the last few years I've been amassing a loyalist titan legion. In the early days I decided upon Legio Astraman simply because I love green but had no green armies to speak of (oi! back in the box Grotsnik). So started the saga of Legio Astraman. I'm very aware that there are very few Astraman titans kicking around, I know of another player in the USA that has a modest force but I've never been one to shy away from an underrepresented force in the war gaming world.

I've actually been painting these with the older Games Workshop paints (which I managed to stock pile before they disappeared for good). The green is a base of Knarloc Green with Goblin Green layered on top. The blues and whites are using the newer paints (Administratum Grey, Ceramite White, Kantor Blue and Calledor Sky) although I'm still using Shinning Gold for the trim.

This week I've been adding a bit more colour to the panels on the titans - namely the knees pads on the two Reavers. All the parts of the titans were primed in Halford's black matt primer and then were given a base coat of Leadbelcher, Warplock Bronze and Rhinox Hide (1:1:1) which I mix up in a washed out tester pot from Wilkos or B&Q. Once dry I then washed the parts liberally with Nuln Oil and then when dry again give them a rough dry brush with Leadbelcher .

So here are the various stages;

Kantor Blue 

Administratum Grey

Calledor Sky

first pass with the Ceramite White

finished pad

finished pad

Knarloc Green

Goblin Green

finished pads (minus the detail work on the emblem pad)

To get the straight lines (all my stuff is brush not airbrush) I use sellotape (as it curves around raised sections) and a sharp pencil to mark out the lines - the rest is freehanded on with said brush. Sometimes a little adjustment is needed but usually it's ok out of the gate.

So this is where they all stand for now;

Reaver Titan 'Ardua Dominus Mortem'

armed with three apocalypse launchers

Reaver Titan 'In Monte Iratus'

armed with two volcano cannons and turbo laser destroyer

Warhound Titan 'Dominus Canem'

armed with two turbo laser destroyers

Warhound Titan 'Velox Venator'

armed with vulcan mega-bolter and ursus claw

I'm hoping to bring you more updates from these soon and perhaps some older WIP shots of their creation, along with the other titans I'm still adding to their number.

I'd love to know what you guys think.

(More Night Lords coming soon...)

Peace out

KF

    

Escalation - Lords of War - Primarches

Hey all

Time for a Great Crusade and Horus Heresy discussion. As I am sure you are all aware, in the 41st millenium, the primarches are all suffering from one of the 3 D's; Dead, Disappeared or Daemon, which is a real shame because they are - lets face it! - the best characters that GW has ever written. Why are the Horus Heresy books so popular? Because everyone wants their very own 10ft, daddy issues sufferer! Its why I play! So I am here to discuss a hot topic with/at you all. Audience participation is a must for this one folks...

Issue:

Horus Heresy, by Forge World, uses the Warhammer 40k ruleset. Now this wasn't a problem until GW released the Escalation supplement, bringing Lords of War to the table for all armies. Now I am not going to hate on escalation, as it actually looks pretty cool and will be great having more 'realistic' battles, but we do need to have a look at how it affects what we are doing here. We are not Win At All Costs players. We play for fun, to re-enact stories and write our own. These are the reasons we have consciously chosen 30k era over 40k era. So here is the issue; primarches are Lords of War. If everyone and their dog can now take Lords of War (that are far more powerful - I am looking at you revenant titan!) when are primarches going to see the light of day? Am I ever going to take a 500pt primarch over a warhound titan to combat an Eldar Titan? The answer is: I can't. If my opponent has a non-primarch LoW then realistically I can't waste the pts on a primarch (which can be one hit killed by D weapons) as I will need to fill up with heavy weapons to tackle the new bastard! Even in larger games, the primarch becomes a glorious looking target for D weapons and personal reputation; 'I killed a primarch!' For fast and close-combat armies like Emperors Children, Space Wolves and World Eaters you will literally have to go against their Rites of War (I speculate for SWs) to be able to bring a LoW down before it decimates your entire army, so then we are destroying the fluff! Primarches will never see the light of day unless army lists are discussed before games and agreed upon. Boooooring!!

There are a number of ways to 'fix' this 'problem'. Most of them are too controlling: you can't take so-and-so unless <insert game destroying restriction here>. So the idea we are playing around with is simple and goes thusly:

Primarches become HQs, but can still only be used in 2000pt+ games! 

I am sure people will be saying thats unbalanced etc etc. Take a look at it:

Horus - the best of us - is 500pts. He has the ability to rain down an orbital bombardment and has some cool local-buffing rules. In hand to hand he is a beast, he can kill maybe 5 enemies a turn or horribly cripple/destroy a monstrous/gargantuan creature. An Avatar is less than 1/2 his pts and can probably do the same...with buffs an Avatar will actually kill most FW primarches. Why is he not a LoW? Bloodthirsters, Lord of Change, Keeper of Secrets and Nurgle blob are all just as effective and around 1/2 the pts. Swarmlord? Flyrant? 2 Hell-drakes will do more damage than a primarch. None of them have restrictions on using them in a 2000pt game. Remember - Horus is the best...

We want to see battles with Primarches, Titans, Super Heavies AND Gargantuan creatures. Allowing apocalypse death-machines in 2000pt games will destroy fluffy gaming and kill the primarches off all over again...I can't lose them twice lol!

So tell me; where do you stand? What are your opinions? Do we see a decline in primarches and play as-is or do we do something about it and amend a categorisation?

Comment below please!

Khall Sithis