Friday 26 July 2013

Legion of Azgorh Expeditionary Force - Test Paint

Because I've given my Infernal Guard a full Command Group I had 3 spare Dwarves left over. Two of them have been assembled as an unofficial bodyguard for the Daemonsmith while the third can be seen below, fittingly used as a sacrifice to Hashut, or more accurately to test out the paint scheme I've come up with for the army.





So what'd you think, Dawi Zharr worthy of patrolling the wastes surrounding the Dark Lands or fit only to be cast into the pits below Zharr Naggrund?

Legion of Azgorh Expeditionary Force - WIP


Not much to look at so far I'll admit but this is my Chaos Dwarf Army so far. I'm planning on adding another unit of Infernal Guard to give me a solid (and from what I understand Chaos Dwarves are ROCK solid) battle line. I'm keeping the units small partially cause they're not cheap to buy but mostly because I want this to be a small expeditionary force of Dawi Zharr.

As a someone who is used to assembling squads of troops that aren't going to be ranked up building the Infernal Guard was a somewhat blood pressure raising task but seeing them all together in their movement tray the time spent was very worthwhile as no one is stabbing anyone in the back... well not yet anyway.

Now that I've got this lot built I'm planning on using the 'spare' Chaos Dwarf as a test mini to develop a suitably infernal colour scheme for the army.



Thursday 25 July 2013

Bring them down! - Rapier Destroyer Battery

As a veteran of the hobby with very fond memories of some of the more 'kooky' elements of the older versions of 40k I really liked these when they were first released but then completely forgot about them until very recently when I was looking for interesting, characterful and useful units to add to the Last Stand at Istvaan Army.


Adhering to my over-reaching principle of go big or go home I decided to include 2 Rapier Destroyers in the battery both for redundancy and because you can have up to three of these beauties. I decided to adapt their glacis plates slightly because I wasn't overly keen on the 'jabby bits' at the bottom. I know it's supposed to be some sort of bulldozer type adaptation but I just didn't really like it... after all these tank killers don't really want to be moving unless they really have to.


I also decided to do a little kit-bashing with the Rapier crewman as their entry in the Legion army list states they only have bolt pistols but the spotters come with bolters. I also reasoned that since technology was much more firmly understood before the Heresy so I gave the gunners wrist mounted remote controls for their guns enabling me to keep them separate from the gun carriages. Finally just to satisfy my own sense of pickiness I repositioned the backpack mounted targeting arrays to be facing in the direction that their wearers are looking.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Dystopian Wars Empire of the Blazing Sun Fleet - Update



Still very much a work in progress but this Battle Group is coming along pretty well now I've got the colour scheme worked out.

After playing a couple of games with the fleet I decided to add some reinforcements in the form of an Assault Carrier and a squadron of Gunships both of which pack a pretty heavy punch. My main opponents at the moment are the technologically advanced Covenant of Antarctica and the rock solid Chinese Federation so some extra guns and rocket batteries are definitely going to come in handy.

With escorts and the reinforcements the fleet now totals 1220 points and can dish out as well as take quite a bit of punishment... perfect for getting in position to unleash some fearsome broadsides!

Last Stand at Istvaan III Army - Update

Not a massive update mind you but I now based everything that's built. This was the last chunk that needed doing:



I still need to build two Rapiers and their crew who are being converted slightly and a Seeker Squad who are waiting on next weeks Seeker Bolter set release from Forge World. After working on a couple of other things I feel re-energised about working on this monster of an army as well as looking forward to adding a couple more new units to it over the coming months.

Thursday 18 July 2013

Last Stand at Istvaan III - 'The Betrayed' - Loyalist Astartes Army List



- HQ -

Legion Praetor - 197pts
- Cataphractii Armour, Volkite Charger, Master Crafted Paragon Blade, Iron Halo, Grenade Harness
Legion Champion - 120pts
- Artificer Armour, Power Sword, Refractor Shield

Master of Signal - 115pts
- Artificer Armour, Volkite Charger, Refractor Shield

- Troops -

Tactical Squad I - 190pts
- Artificer Armour, Combat Blades, Nuncio Vox, Legion Vexilla

Tactical Squad II - 190pts
- Artificer Armour, Combat Blades, Nuncio Vox, Legion Vexilla

Tactical Support Squad I - 132pts
- Artificer Armour, 4 Volkite Calivers, Boltgun

Tactical Support Squad II - 172pts
- Artificer Armour, 4 Meltaguns, Boltgun

- Elites -

Apothecarion Detachment - 120pts
- 2 Apothecaries, Artificer Armour, Augury Scanner

Contemptor Dreadnought - 210pts
- Havoc Launcher, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour

Terminator Squad - 350pts
- 9 Terminators, 2 Chainfists, 7 Powerfists

Rapier Weapons Battery - 110pts
- 2 Laser Destroyer Arrays

- Fast Attack -

Javelin Assault Speeder - 110pts
- Twin Linked Lascannon, Multimelta, 2 Hunter-Killer Missiles

Sky Hunters Jetbike Squadron - 160pts
- Volkite Culverin, Meltabombs

Seeker Squad - 245pts
- Artificer Armour, Nuncio Vox, Meltabombs, Rhino with Extra Armour and Heavy Bolter

- Heavy Support -

Heavy Support Squad I - 405pts
- Artificer Armour, 10 Multimeltas, Rhino with Extra Armour and Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support Squad II - 275pts
- Artificer Armour, 10 Autocannon
Spartan Assault Tank - 330pts
- Auxiliary Drive, Flare Shield, Heavy Flamers

Total - 3446pts

This army list is not fixed and has in fact been constantly evolving since I first wrote it back in January. Since then it has grown and changed as the idea behind the army has evolved from the concept of loyalist World Eaters to a ragged band of survivors from all four of the Legiones Astartes present on Istvaan III. Not only does this mean that I shouldn’t get bored while painting the entire army in blue and white but I think it fits more with what we know about those last, dark days at the end of the beginning when brother fought brother and the glorious dream that was the Imperium was cast into the flames of civil war.

While they still bear the colours of their former legions their loyalty is now to none save the Emperor and each other, they have banded together to make the Traitors pay in blood for their betrayal. The Astartes of this ‘army’ are under no illusions, they will die in the ashes of the Choral City of Istvaan III but they will die with honour. None care that they will likely not be remembered only that they take as many Traitors with them as they can.

Chances are as Forge World continue to release shiny new toys the list will evolve again, in fact I’ve already got plans to add a Landspeeder or two once they’re available. The list sits at 3251 points just now and I’m aiming to try to take it up to 3500 points next however my main current goal for the army is to get painting as only one unit is finished at the moment!