Tag: Horus Heresy Page 1 of 2

The Secret Project Revealed

On 5th June 2021

Well it’s time to unveil my secret project that I have been working on for the past year!

Its The Iron Warriors

Having resisted them for so long because Graham plays them, I decided to build and paint a Zone Mortalis force of the IVth Legion.

It’s started because I saw someone use Nazdreg Yellow Contrast over Leadbelcher and I loved the gold that it made, it just look so burnished and old, perfect for Iron Warriors and I decided to paint a test model of a Praetor, and I ended up painting a Chaplain and Praetor from Betrayal at Calth at the same time.

I then painted up a Tactical Squad using a MKII set I already had and some Iron Warriors upgrades I managed to acquire from Heresy Trading.

After this I painted up another HQ, this time a Chaos Space Marine Warsmith which fits perfectly in the army looks wise.

Next up was a Rapier with Quad Heavy Bolters which just looks so good in Iron Warriors colours.

This was followed by a couple of Legion specific units, a unit of Tyrant Siege Terminators and some Iron Havocs armed with Lascannons.

After that I had a break for a while as I needed to save foe the next lot of models.

The penultimate unit was a Contemptor Dreadnought, armed with a Chainfist with Meltagun and a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with Twin Linked Bolter.

The final unit I added to this army was a squad of Breachers, armed with a couple of Meltaguns and a Combi-Melta on the Sgt.

The List

So what’s the list I have built here, well it’s as follows.

+ HQ [220pts] +

Warsmith [220pts]: Artificer Armour, Bolt Pistol, Digital Lasers [15pts], Iron Halo [25pts], On Foot, Power Fist [20pts], Warlord
. Combi-weapon [10pts]: Combi-weapon: Meltagun
. Warsmith [50pts]: Cortex Controller [15pts], Servo-arm [35pts]

+ Elites [240pts] +

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon [200pts]
. Contemptor Dreadnought, Legion [200pts]
. . Dreadnought Chainfist [25pts]: Meltagun [15pts]
. . Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon: Twin-linked Bolter

Rapier Weapons Battery, Legion [40pts]
. Rapier Weapons Battery, Legion [40pts]: Quad Heavy Bolter, Shrapnel Bolts

+ Troops [475pts] +

Breacher Siege Squad, Legion (Compulsory) [280pts]: 9x Breacher Siege Space Marines, Legion [135pts]
. Additional Wargear [55pts]: 2x Meltagun [30pts], Nuncio-vox [10pts], Vexilla, Legion [15pts]
. Breacher Siege Sergeant, Legion [25pts]: Artificer Armour [10pts], Melta Bombs [5pts]
. . Combi-weapon [10pts]: Combi-weapon: Meltagun

Tactical Squad, Legion (Compulsory) [195pts]: Bolters, 9x Tactical Space Marines, Legion [90pts]
. Additional Wargear [40pts]: Additional Chainswords/Combat Blades [20pts], Nuncio-vox [10pts], Vexilla, Legion [10pts]
. Tactical Sergeant, Legion [30pts]: Artificer Armour [10pts], Bolter, Melta Bombs [5pts], Power Fist [15pts]

+ Heavy Support [565pts] +

Iron Havoc Support Squad [270pts]: 4x Iron Havoc [100pts], 4x Lascannon [60pts]
. Iron Havoc Sergeant [25pts]: Artificer Armour [10pts], Lascannon [15pts]

Tyrant Siege Terminator Squad [295pts]: 5x Power Fist, 4x Tyrant Terminator [200pts]

+ Allegiance +

Legion and Allegiance:    IV: Iron Warriors, Traitor

Rite of War: Zone Mortalis Assault Force

So the initial three HQs are surplus to requirements, but that’s fine.

Expansion wise, not sure if it will become a full army, but it might, probably based around The Hammer of Olympia.

Paint Scheme

The paint scheme is a lot of drybrushing and contrast paints.

I start by priming the models in black and then give them a heavy drybrush with Leadbelcher.

The trim is then painted with Nazdreg Yellow Contrast, and any areas that are getting hazard stripes or are leather are painted with Wraithbone.

Those areas are then painted with Iyanden Yellow Contrast and then the black is added using Abaddon Black.

The weapon casings are painted with Corvus Black, and then the whole model is painted with Wyldwood Contrast mixed with two parts Contrast Medium, and leather is painted with pure Wyldwood Contrast.

This gives a very dirty and grimy look to the models, just perfect for Iron Warriors.

It’s also very quick and the Dreadnought for example was painted from start to finish in about 30 minutes.

The basing scheme is Stirland Mud or Stirland Battlemire, which is then drybrushed with Balor Brown and then Screaming Skull to create a dirty but sandy mud look.

So that’s the project, and it’s been a lot of fun!

Really giving serious thought to expanding it into a full army, because I have enjoyed painting these models so much.

It’s a super easy paint scheme and they look so different to any thing else I have done before.

Mood:- Wide Awake
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 13
In My Ears:- Fire With Fire – The Scissor Sisters
Tabletop Game Last Played:- Gretchinz!
Video Game Last Played:- Halo 2 Anniversary
Book Last Read:- The Ming Storm – Yan Leisheng
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed:- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Current State of Projects:- T’au Broadsides Main Ochre Colour completed

Looking Forward to WorldCon

By michael

On 6th August 2019

In Blog

Next Tuesday me and Lindsay fly off to Dublin to attend the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, AKA WorldCon.

It’s my third WorldCon after I attended a day of the 53rd WorldCon in Glasgow when I was 13 to see Gerry Anderson’s Guest of Honour Interview, and my time working at LonCon 3 the 72nd WorldCon.

This time I am going for the full time as an full adult member for the first time, and I am really looking forward to it, I will be helping out with the Glasgow in 2024 bid as much as I can, spending time in the games area and doing as many cool panels and activities as I can, and I will do my best to keep people up to date.

We both wish Megan was coming, but she simply didn’t feel like she could handle it, so I will do all I can to help bring WorldCon to Glasgow in 2024 so she can attend, as can Paul, Mary and Willem.

What I am Modelling

Had more chance to do some painting and modelling this week, although it has been rather busy, so not as much done as I would have liked.

I started off by painting some scenery, I got finished the Killzone Sector Mechanicus by painting the Thermic Plasma Conduits form the set, along with the Galvanic Servohaulers that came with the Krogskullz’s Boyz expansion pack.

Then I finished up the last part of that Killzone which was a Ferratonic Incinerator, which was a great excuse to break out Lupercal Green and Sons of Horus Green.

And finally I finished off a T’au Empire Kill Team I have been working on for three years, and in that time we have changed edition of both 40k and Kill Team and the Tau gained an apostrophe!

I have done a bit of model building, yesterday I built four Space Marines bikes, five Space Marine Scouts with Bolters and today I built a Land Speeder Tornado, and a Broadside and Riptide for my T’au.

What I am Reading

I am bad I have mostly just been listening to audio dramas and reading Codexes, I really need to finish Last Son of Dorn!!!

What I am Playing

I have played a bit of Heresy this week, on Friday I played Graham at Battle Bunker, with my Death Guard, and he took his Solar Auxilia, and I lost, not by much, but I really struggled against his Leman Russ tanks, I just didn’t have enough anti-armour to deal with them, so that is absolutely something I need to add to my Death Guard, perhaps some Rapiers, not sure if I should go with Laser Destroyers or the more Death Guard like Quad Mortars.

On Sunday I and Graham went to Heaton Games Society for a Heresy Doubles events, we took 750pts each, Graham took Solar Auxilia, I took Ultramarines, and it’s my first time using Ultramarines in a long time, so was good to give them a run and it reminded me why I liked them so much.

We lost every single game, because we thought it would be lighthearted, fun and fluffy, and it really wasn’t!!!

Our first game was against two top blokes, Ed and his pal, who’s name I can’t recall, and they had White Scars with seven jetbikes, two Javelins and a Fire Raptor, a Custodes Caladius, Shield Captain and five Custodian Guard, that was brutal, my Invictarius Suzerain were good, but they just couldn’t do enough against the Custodes.

Although Graham did manage to shoot the Fire Raptor out of the sky with his Quad Mortars!

Our second game was against Will and Caesar with a Sons of Horus Justarian list and an Armoured Breakthrough, and that was horrific, we ended up with just one guy on the table, we just could not do anything against that list but kill two Predators and a Dreadclaw, and Graham may now be sold on the effectiveness of the Sicaran Punisher.

The last game was against Luke and Dans Alpha Legion and Salamanders and this game was the game for the wooden spoon, and we accordingly lost, I tried to deep strike my Invictarius Suzerain in with the Void Walker warlord trait, but they kept mishapping and ended up being displaced all the way on the other side of the board away from all the action.

Tough game, we did our best as Graham really didn’t want the wooden spoon, but now I have four of them, three of which were gained in the last twelve months!!!

What I am Backing

I am still only backing my old school friend Ken’s Kickstarter for Cognition Vol #1.

I have started seeing people get their rewards for Ogre Battlefields, but alas us Europeans have to wait a few months more.

What I am Cooking

Does a Pot Noodle count???

What I am Spending

Well you can tell it’s pay week!!!

I have bought myself a few bits for Warcry, I grabbed the Starter Set, cards for Stormcast Eternals and Ironjawz and the Ruler.

I also picked up two sets of bikes for my Blood Ravens, plus a Land Speeder and some Scouts, all of which I have already built!!!

I also got a paint restock, along with some new colours in both standard and contrast, the Loyalist Titans of Legends, Loyalist Dice and Loyalist Stratagems for Adeptus Titanicus.

Mood: Excited

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 2

In My Ears: Be Prepared from the Lion King

Game Last Played: The Horus Heresy

Book Last Read: The Last Son of Dorn by David Guymer

Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Current State of Projects: I have a clear desk!!!

Heresy Weekender Planning

By michael

On 22nd August 2017

In Blog

I started putting the first touches to the Heresy Weekender this week, the first thing I addressed was the biggest complaints, which were poor coffee and unpainted armies.

For the coffee we will be taking along a Tassimo machine and be offering people Costa coffee from that, it does mean we will have to charge for those, 50p for an Americano and £1 for a Latte. I don’t drink coffee so I hope this will suffice, and of course we will still be offering instant coffee for free as well, because I want to give people the option. And the instant coffee and tea will still come from Ringtons, so it has a North East favour to it.

And for painting we have introduced a 3 colour and based minimum painting standard, I understand that some people felt their immersion was spoiled by unpainted armies being on the table and I totally get that.

We didn’t want to put off players, because people do have different demands on their time, whilst for me, I have all the time in the world to paint, I know people who are teachers working 80 hours weeks, and have kids, so finding time to paint for them is a struggle.

But the people who came spoke, and the majority wanted painted armies, and they are after all, the people we put the event on for.

We also looked at the points levels, for the past two years we have done 3500 points, but this year we have decided to drop it down to 3000 points. Gregg of The Imperial Truth runs his events at 3000 points and they work really well, it still allows people to bring the nice big toys, but will help us with timekeeping. Oh and we have abandoned the sideboards in favour of a much simpler thing, just allowing people to bring two different lists.

Not sure if we are doing doubles again, this is fun, but it did take a long time and some people didn’t have as much fun for various reasons, we still need to discuss this however, because doubles can be a lot of fun. It’s something up for discussion anyway.

At Raid on Angstrom XI Graham trailed a possible way to run the campaign, based on the Shadow Wars system. The biggest issue we had this year was that sorting out the results and the narrative outcome took a long time, and having set missions let people slip into tournament mode a little, so hopefully this will work and resolve the issue. If that doesn’t work we do have a plan, but it will take a lot more work, as we will be basing it on a tree campaign system.

We also want to introduce some more environmental effects to give the tables a bit of personality, still figuring out ways of doing this, but I think we can manage something, I have seen a few good ideas in the Warhammer 40k Open War Cards.

I am also sending off Megan’s mum to a local butcher, Bolams in Sedgefield to see what price we can get for the meat we need, they sell meat sources from local County Durham farms and we are after all trying to give the event as much of a local flavour as possible. We are charging a bit more this year, so we may as well see what we can to put some of that into the food and improve its quality.

Some of the extra money is going to be used to hire tables, so we can have a uniform flatness to the table without a ridge interfering with the mats, and also allowing us somewhere to eat. The venue has less tables than they did last year so it’s now at the point where we need to hire them, plus it looks a lot better and a bit more professional.

It’s still six months to go, but the sooner I get the organisation dealt with the easier it will be in the long run, this includes a few under the hood changes to the Edge of Empire website which will allow us to sell the tickets and take your money.

This week I need to get sorted with working out the final budget and seeing what we can do to make it an amazing weekend for people.

Oh and tickets go on sale on the 11th September.

What I am Modelling

I have built some Ad-Mech stuff this week, I spent my Saturday night building a pair of Kastelan Robots and their Cybernetica Datasmith, all of which were rather decent models to build, so far I have enjoyed building each of the Ad-Mech kits, and I have built one of them all now.

I also built a Tech-Priest Domius which I bought this week as well.

I have done some painting on the Inceptors and they are now about 80% done, my painting mojo has been quite suppressed this past week.

What I am Reading

I finished listening to Sons of the Forge and yeah, the second half was just as muddled and bad as I remember when I read it.

The biggest issue it had is that it’s simply got too many characters for such a short story, too many threads that don’t get fully explored properly, and there are too many cliched tropes in play.

Really a quite poor book, and it solidified my opinion that Nick Kyme is not one of Black Library’s better authors.

I then listened to the Eagles Talon, a book I really enjoy, the whole Imperial Fists undercover and sneaking round a ship I find quite cool, when I first listened to it, I was still deciding on what Legion to build, and this almost made me go with a Recin Squad based Fists army, but I hate painting yellow!

I also finally got round to listening to The Heary of the Pharos, which was originally published as The Dark Between the Stars, but was hastily retitled because they forgot to check the title wasn’t already in use.

I am not a big fan of Laurie Goldings writings to be honest, but this was pretty good, it being set in catacombs underneath the Pharos meant that they were able to do great things with the sound effects in order to create an atmospheric audio drama.

The story fills in a lot of holes about the run up to Pharos and really should have been released prior to that, but I suspect it may have been a victim of the poor organisation that was going on at Black Library during the period in which Pharos was published. Plus it kinda links in with the Scythes of the Emperor stories that were written by Golding as well, which are set 10,000 years later.

My only complaint is that Dantioch didn’t sound right, if anything he sounded, healthy and we know that he is not a healthy man.

I have now started listening to Pharos itself, and I do enjoy that story.

What I am Playing

This week I played in the Raid on Angstrom event that Graham organised, and it was a lot of fun, very well organised and really cool. I took my Word Bearers and played with Lorgar for the first time, using a Primarchs Chosen army.

My first game was against Steve’s Primarchs Chosen army of Raven Guard with Corax. It did not go well for me, I was wiped out pretty quickly, my Gal Vorbak deep struck only to be shot to death very quickly. Lorgar did smash some face and took out an entire Terminator Squad himself, only to be shot to death by two Plasma Predators, and in general in went very badly for me. But the game was an awful lot of fun, despite it being very one sided.

My second game was much the same, but against the Iron Hands, the mission requires I deploy everything on the board and could only hold in reserve units like fliers and Drop Pods, so my Gal Vorbak has to footslog across the board.

Was a very tough game and my Xiphon just refused to come into the game, my Spartan was killed very early by a mixture of a Drop Pod Leviathan and Laser Destroyer Rapiers.

The rest of my army suffered at the hands of a squad of 10 Volkite Culverin Heavy Support Marines and three Quad Mortar Rapiers.

In my last game it was a complete reversal, we played Suicide Mission and I had to stop Johns Raven Guard getting into my deployment zone.

My army did really really well, my Volkite Contemtor wiped out a squad in the first turn and I did a lot of damage to a Mor Deythan Squad.

John just kept rolling 1s and 2s, I felt really bad for the guy, whilst I couldn’t do any wrong, my Gal Vorbak came on and smashed face, Lorgar wiped out a unit of Attack Bikes by himself and then he and his squad of Terminators ate through two Contemptors.

In the whole game I lost a single Terminator, a Single Gal Vorbak, my Chaplain, a Rhino and two Tactical Veterans! I like winning, but I don’t like winning like that.

In the end the Traitors managed to edge a win in the campaign and I think both me and Graham were very happy with how it played out. Given us lots of ideas for the Weekender.

What I am Backing

A project that has had me keep looking at it again and again is Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, a special double issue of Uncanny Magazine featuring stories, poems, essays and art by creators who are disabled. Disability and sci-fi is something that interests me a lot so this is right up my street.

They have some great creators on board and I am looking forward to the production of this awesome issue.

Ogrezine still has a day left to run and has smashed right through all of its stretch goals.

What I am Cooking

This week I cooked a Tex-Mex inspired chilli, I made this mostly to the specifications of the Chili Appreciation Society International which means it was a chilli without beans or tomatoes, I did break the rules slightly and put in a couple of onions but I think it needed it.

The chilli was made with chunks of beef as opposed to mince, and the spice was cumin, oregano, paprika and dried red chillies in a Mexican larger sauce with some dark chocolate.

Megan was very unsure about it as I prepared it and put it in the slow cooker, and she said it was a larger chocolate spice abomination.

To accompany the chilli I made some cornbread, last time I made this I made it in a frying pan which then went straight into the oven, but I no longer own a frying pan that can go into the oven, so I made them as smaller muffin style cakes.

To make cornbread meant getting some corn meal, which is not a normal ingredient in British supermarkets, you can use polenta as a supbsitute, but most supermarkets only sell polenta as a ready made solid block. Thankfully the Tesco Extra in Gateshead has a good selection of Asian ingredients and I was able to get a nice big bag from there.

The cornbread was made with some onion, green chillies and cheese in it, and went down fairly well, both Lindsay and Megan enjoyed it.

The chilli on the other hand was a different story, it was far too spicy, so next time I will use less dried red chillies, and Megan found that it had too much larger in it, so when I make it again, it will be made with half as much larger and the rest will be made up of beef stock.

Next week my meal has to be a bit cheaper so I am thinking of making a teriyaki meatloaf.

What I am Spending

Trying not to spend again this week, but I did but a cheap Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priest Dominus, I have up until now been using the Forge World Magos Dominus, but I really like the look of the Games Workshop model and was able to pick it up off eBay quite cheaply from a seller who was breaking up some Start Collecting boxes.

Must get round to finishing off my Ad Mech at some point.

I also finally bought the new Paranoia adventure, Troubles by the Boxload, I have been reading through the books of the new edition, I plan to run some games of this at some point in the near future with Lindsay and Megan.

Mood: Fair
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 3
In My Ears: Wanna Be Startin’ Something by Michael Jackson
Game Last Played: The Horus Heresy
Book Last Read: Paranoia Players Handbook
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Bones
Current State of Projects: Inceptors 80% Done

Brain Damage and Games Exercise

By michael

On 2nd November 2016

In Blog

2 1/2 years ago I suffered some brain damage, and since then my games have taken on much more meaning. They are one of the few things I can still do with friends. Im a fan of the bigger chunky games that take time to play and I’m just getting into playing solo games. All these mean I have to concentrate and act as a kind of exercise for my damaged brain.Games provide me with a chance to socialise, & provide health benefits. The theraputic value of this also helps with my depression.

Getting run over has really changed my life, and my whole aim of things now is to try and get me back into a position where I can work again. But having the issues I have currently, it’s not looking likely to happen anytime soon, which is shame, because for all I complained about work, I did enjoy feeling useful and doing something that contributed to society.

So yeah, games help me, but for various reason, I am not getting to play many games lately, and I can tell because my mental abilities are slipping and I find my ability to concentrate less. So I am not getting the brain exercise I need, and thus I am going to have to make a bigger effort to get to things like Newcastle Gamers so that I can give my brain the workout it desperately needs.

I am, money depended, going to be entering the Kill Team tournament at the Warhammer 40,000 Open Day on Saturday, but it’s very money dependent!

What I am Modelling

This past week and a bit I have decided to clear up some of the models on my painting table that have been started and not finished. I started by finishing off the Blood Angels Tactical Squad to form a basic Kill Team, they are now done and dusted.

I then moved onto the Blood Angels Terminator Librarian, and he was actually a lot nicer to paint than I had expected him to be. And I finally based a Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnought

I am currently working on a Scout Squad that’s for Lost Patrol, a Word Bearers Jump Pack Chaplain and a Word Bearers Veteran.

What I am Reading

I read White Dwarf, but other than that I haven’t been pick my Kobo for over a week now, which is simply down to how drained and tired I have been feeling.

I have been listening to audio books when I paint still, I recently finished the Damnation of Pythos, a book which in my first reading of it, was ok, not amazing but ok. But after listening to it as an audiobook, my opinion of it worsened, and I now have to agree, it just feels out of place in the series.

What I am Playing

I played in a long afternoon playing Horus Heresy on Sunday, however opposite me on the table was Christian and his Mechanicum, so I spent most of the afternoon removing models without doing any damage to him at all, really need to figure out a better way of dealing with the Mechanicum.

I have a plan involving combining a Reconnaissance Squad with Sniper Rifles and a Heavy Support Squad with a Lascannons. I have bought some Lascannons when a friend did a Forgeworld order a while ago, but he keep forgetting to give them for me. But I have a promise from him to give me them at the Open Day on Saturday.

What I am Backing

I had backed Pretending to Grownup, a card game from Jason Anarchy of Drinking Quest fame, it’s an excellent looking game with some really cool looking art from Megan McKay.

And in a nice surprise, Quatermaster General 1914 arrived with me on the 31st, meeting it’s October delivery date, only had a brief look at it, but everything seems quite cool and I look forward to playing it.

What I am Spending

It’s coming up to Christmas, so too much, I have bought a few gifts for Lindsay and Megan as most of my nephews and nieces presents will be coming from the John Lewis account we put money into every month and the £200 of High Street Vouchers we have saved towards. I also have my nephews Max’s birthday coming up and I have paid for his birthday present.

That’s not to say I haven’t spent money, I did but myself the Burning of Prospero and then traded with a dude on Facebook for an extra two squads of MKIII Space Marines to add to my Word Bearers.

In a spate of depression I also placed a Forgeworld order and am now the proud owner of a Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought, which has reduced my money for the rest of the month.

Cooking Fat

By michael

On 22nd August 2016

In Blog

Moving on from yesterday post about my being down and depressed, how about something a bit more positive for today!

So here is Cookie and Megan, Cookie was my Nana’s cat, but since she had to move into sheltered accommodation, Cookie now lives with us, he used to live with us about 10 years ago, but my Nana kind of stole him off us.

So we already have 3 cats, Sweep Misty and Jenny, when Cookie came to live we use, we were told he had been done, this was it turned out, a lie. Cookie went on to have kittens with both Sweep and Misty, who are mother and daughter, one of those kittens was Maggie who is also currently living with us. Jenny is Mistys kitten from a few years later, so we have 5 related cats living with is right now.

Cookie and Megan have grown so close that we can’t separate them, at night Cookie sleeps wrapped around Megan’s head and he spends as much time as he can with her. Maggie however doesn’t like other cats too much so we are currently searching, without much luck thus-far for a new home for her, but Cookie won’t be going anywhere due to his bond with Megan.

One little tidbit about Cookie, his real name is Cooking Fat, my idiot uncle was his first owner and called him that, you just swap the first letters around, needless to say he just gets Cookie, or sometine Mr. Fat!

Anyway if anyone fancies a black 10 year old female cat who likes the outside a lot and is a bit of hard work, let me know!

What I am Modelling

At the moment I am modelling mostly Age of Sigmar models from the Storm of Sigmar set, I finished the Blood Warriors up and have moved onto the Liberators whom I am doing as Celestial Vindicators cause I love the colour scheme, not sure if I will stick with it for my final Stormcast colour scheme but this far I like it.

I am also working on some initial Word Bearers and you can see here on my painting table a Legion Champion/ Veteran, kitbashed from the Legion Champion kit, Wors Bearers heads and plastic MKIV Marines. Not pictured is a jump pack Chaplin I am working on.

What I am Reading

Books are still proving a chore for me at the moment and I am still working my way through Angels of Caliban from my Librarium membership in June. So far the book is quite good, I am halfway through it now, but I am finding the change in Zahariels motivation from the previous two Dark Angels books in the serious to be a bit hard to swallow.

I know it’s not serious Sci-Fi and just glorified bolter porn, but I do quite enjoy the Horus Heresy novels, probably because I enjoy the game so much, but it feels like the last vestige of action Sci-Fi novels that hasn’t been polluted by Vox Day and his awful followers.

Audiobook wise I just finished the Outcast Dead and Wolf Hunt. The first one is just a mess of continuity errors and a plot that makes little sense at times, in fact at one point when asked their motivation, one of the main characters replies “Just Because”.

It’s a shame as it could have offered some interesting insights into the life for ordinary citizens of the Imperium and the political ongoings in the Imperial House and with the Astra Telepathica, but instead we got this mess, but it does have a Samurai Witch Hunter which is kinda cool. Too many characters without any real development time for them, a final fight that just leaves you feeling empty because characters are there and then suddenly not there, and a real anti-climax.

Wolf Hunt is a lot better and sets up a later novel a little bit as well, which is cool and I will eventually pick up that plot strand in time. It really should have been part of the Outcast Dead as it resolves the huge continuity error and ties up all the loose ends, but I suppose a short story to tie it all up is better than noting.

What I am Playing

I meant to have a game of Forbidden Island with Megan today, but my head has been hurting something rotten and it’s really hot, so I ended up having a three hour nap instead. Was a bit disappointed in that to be honest as its been a while since I have played a game.

I am also playing some Pokemon Go, I just reached Level 20 yesterday. It’s a hard game to play when you are stuck in the sticks, my village has just one Pokestop and it’s a bit of a walk away for me, so I frequently run out of Pokeballs to catch all those Weedles and Rattatas

What I am Backing

At the moment on Kickstarter I am backing Cognition #1 Mirror, Mirror. It’s a comic written by the amazingly talented Ken Reynolds, an old school friend of mine and illustrated by Sam Bentley. I backed the Issue #0 and quite enjoyed these steampunk stories of a steam powered robot with a human soul and a demoniacally possessed mouse from Victorian England.

Go ahead and give it a look, plenty of the pledge levels allow you to get issue #0 as well and the artwork is sublime.

What I am Spending

Not much this month, I have been a bit short on money having overspent in Cardiff when the good folks at Firestorm Games had a price too good to ignore for a deal with both Deathwatch Overkill, Death Masque and the Deathwatch Data Cards!

First Day of Takaan-Reva: Drowned in Flames

By michael

On 7th August 2016

In Blog

Cardiff is nice what we have seen of it, we arrived quite late so didn’t get to the airbrush worships which was a shame.

We ended up eating at a Falming Grill Pub where we all attempted the challenge burger, and we all failed. Upon mentioning this burgers existence to the Raiders, our November road trip now includes a visit to a Flaming Grill pub so we all experience the meat sweats!After our meal we went and saw Jason Bourne, which was a rather enjoyable, if a little predictable at times.

Today we arrived nice and promptly at Firestorm Games, which I have to say is an amazing venue, the shop is really well stocked and has lots of choice and the gaming area is simply fantastic. It’s everything I dreamed a gaming centre should be.

Game One

My first game was against Dan Williams from Wales and his Night Lords an army with two Leviathans and Cruze, and the rest was infantry, just the type of army my list will excel against. We played scenario five from the mission pack.

In the first turn not a lot happened, but indirect fire from my Quad Launchers and Medusas killed a few guys from his Terror Squads and took a wound off Cruze.

In turn two he infiltrated a Volkite Charger squad in next to my encampment, and then killed 7 of my 10 man Volkite Caliver Support Squad, I just couldn’t roll saves for the life of me. But my Fellblade did manage to take out a Leviathan.

In turn three, Dans terminators deep struck into my lines and ended up mishaping, and ended up back in ongoing reserves. But Cruze managed to get into assault range and killed a Rhino, and the other Rhino was killed by the second Leviathan. But I managed to kill Cruze by firing my Medusas, a tactical squad using Fury of the Legion, Mortis Contemptor and Quad Launchers. This did result in me killing a squad of tactical marines which had just gotten out a destroyed Rhino.

Turn four saw the last terror squad and the deep striking terminators take 6 hull points off the Fellblade, before it retaliated and and killed all but two of the terminators and all but one of the last of the Terror Squad.

In turn five those last two terminators went on to finish off my Fellblade, and in turn my Mortis Contemptor Dreadnought finished them off with some rending shoots. The enemy Contemptor was taken out from behind by my Spartans Lascannons, which then turned its heavy bolters on the Terror Squad reducing that to squad to one Marine who was then finished off by the Master of Signals Orbital Bombardment.

I won that game, 22 points to 8.

Game Two

For my second game I played Jason Barlow of Wolverhampton and his Emperors Children, an army I had never faced before. They had in there Eidolon in a jump squad of Palatine Blades with a Chaplin and a Primus Medicae, two Vindicators and two Sicaran Venators. We played mission 4.

Before the game I managed to lose both roll offs, which did not bode well for me, and lo and behold, I lose the main gun off one Medusa to a Venator, and the other hits my Fellblade neutralising my main guns. The Vindicators then strip four more hull points from the Fellblade and a couple of Volkite guys.

Then my Medusas killed one of the Vindicators and took out the others gun, removing it from the game. My Mortis Contemptor Dreadnought then destroyed a Rhino and the Raper Quad Launcher Batteries killed a few of the Kakophoni that got out of it. My Terminators also charged up in their Spartan and destroyed another Rhino. And because I had troops in the right places I scored three points.

Turn two saw Jason immobilise one of his own Rhinos by rolling it over some debris, and the Venator failed to hit my Fellblade bringing it back into play. His other Veator proceeded to destroy the gunless Medusa with his Mortis Contemptor Dreadnought shaking another.

He then destroyed one of my Rhinos, forcing the Marines out to be fired upon by the Kakophoni who killed everyone but the squads Sargent. On the other side of the table Eidolon singlehandedly took out three of my Terminators, before his squad and a squad of veterans charged into them. Of course Eidolon issued a challenge, of course I accepted, and of course my Warlord died, along with the rest of his squad.

I then took out a squad of Kakophoni by firing my Rapier Quad Laucher Battery, Volkite Caliver Support Squad and the Demolisher and Accelerator cannons of my Fellblade. This allowed then my Rhino with a Tactical Squad in it to roll in and take the objective, giving me a running total of seven victory points to Jason’s 3.

In turn three, his Vetran Squad used Melta Guns kill my last Rhino, forcing the tactical squad out. The remainder of my Volkite Squad were then killed by a squad of Kakophoni and his Mortis Contemptor Dreadnought.

Eidolon and his Paletine Blades then charged my remaining Tactical Squad and wiped them off the table before they even had a chance to hit back. All my scoring units were dead so I couldn’t score anymore points, but neither did he, leaving it at 7 – 3.

Turn four started with Eidolon killing one of my Rapier Quad Launchers, and Jason moved his troops into objectives. Eidolon and his remaining Paletine Blades then disorderly charged into my Fellblade and remaining Rapier Quad Laucher, destroying the Rapier and reducing the Fellblade to 2 hull points.

The Fellblade then disengaged fro the assault and fired everything it had at Eidolon and his squad, killing them all with ease and getting me Slay the Warlord. My remaining Medusa which only had a heavy bolter left, killed a couple of Kakophoni and my Mortis Contemtor Dreadnought killed a Veteran Squad, thereby taking them off objectives and securing me a victory of 8 – 6.

It was a difficult and hard fought game, at times frustrating, but very enjoyable.

Game Three

Game three saw me take on Sam Perkins from Bristol and his Sons of Horus, with the Warmaster himself, in a Stormeage with some Justaerin, a deployment for Horus I had never seen before. We were playing mission one from the rules pack and with a mostly static list a scenario I knew I would struggle with.

Sam started with four veteran squads on the table in Rhinos, I destroyed all of his Rhinos and wiped out two of the Veteran Squads, I felt bad after that. But any bad feeling was quickly lifted when in his dying moment, a Sargent with a power its killed my Warlord!

In turn two the Stormeagle came on and immediately took two hull points off the Mortis Contemptor Dreadnought, the only thing that could really threaten it. A talon of Cortus Contemptor Dreadnoughts then came on next to my Spartan and Terminators, one armed with a Kheres Assault Cannon killing three of them. A Veteran Squad then walked up to my Fellblade and reduced it to three hull points with Melta Bombs.

My Fellblade then destroys on Veteran Squad and reduces another to one man and my Terminators come to a bloody end at the fist of a Cortus Contemptor Dreadnought.

Turn three saw the arrival of a Sicaran Venator and some Javelin Attack Speeders with Missile Lauchers, arriving by outflank right in front of my Fellblade which they promptly killed. But at the cost of destroying one Attack Speeder, immobilising another and immobilising the Venator. Amid then a close combat Cortus Contemtor Dreadnought got into my lines and destroyed all my Medusas.

Turn four is where I lost the game, instead of driving up for points like I should have done, I decided that killing stuff was more fun, so I disembarked both my Tactical Squads from their Rhinos and set them to work. One squad teamed up with the Spartan and shot the close combat Cortus Contemptor Dreadnought in the back destroying it, the other began to make their way towards the Venator, with their Rhino killing a straggling single Veteran. I also fired my Mortis Contemptor a Dreadnought, my Rapier Quad Launcher Support Batteries and Volkite Caliver Squad at the Stormeagle to try and make it crash and burn to kill Horus, sadly Sam made so many Jink saves and it remained in the air.

As a result I only claimed my deployment zone and scored 1 point, whereas Sam scored 2. If I had forgot about killing stuff knowing that there no time for another turn, I could have driven the two Rhinos up the field and claimed No Mans Land and win the game, I didn’t and that cost me the game in the end, still it was bloody good fun.

A Long But Enjoyable Day

Me, Gragam and Christian were absolutely shattered after the day, so we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel and I introduced the boys to Five Guys which they loved, after which we walked along to the bay and enjoyed the fresh air, and had a cup of tea at Starbucks. There I was nicely sat in between four Pokestops all with lure modules attached and I caught myself a fair few decent Pokemon. After which we headed back to the hotel and sleep.

I really enjoyed myself today and once again, the venue is brilliant, it’s the type of place I dream of running myself one day, store, bar and gaming venue with food served all under one roof, just brilliant.

Here is hoping that tomorrow I can have two more games just as enjoyable as todays games.

Here We Go

By michael

On 5th August 2016

In Blog

I got picked up at an godly hour this morning by Christian before picked up Graham and we headed off to Cardiff for Takaan-Reva – Drowned in Flame, The Imperial Truths summer Horus Heresy event.

Yesterday I managed to get all of the little bits and bobs I needed to do, done, the only thing I need now is some superglue for spot repairs, but I am sure I can pick that up from the venue, Firestorm Games, I still have a pot of Army Painter superglue unopened, but I have always found that particular brand prone to blocking and the lid tends to become hard to put on very quickly.

Anyway here is my army in all its glory

Managed to get both of my full MKIII tactical squads shoulder pads sorted with Lahman Medium, leaving me with a few squads still left to sort out in my legion force overall. They do look a lot better now that’s been done mind.

Really looking forward to the weekend, now I am gonna kick back and enjoy a good book, Angels of Caliban by Gav Thorpe, which I have really been getting into.

Oh and I may have finished this off last night, take a look and tell me what you think!

Company of Legends – Horus Heresy Weekender Event Pack

Back From A Long Break

By michael

On 4th August 2016

In Blog

Well its been a long time since I last posted, well time just got away from me and before I know it, here we are.

While I have been silent, I have been building a new version of my Ultramarines to take away to Takaan-Reva: Drowned in Flames, an event being run by the excellent The Imperial Truth podcast.

The list I am building is inspired by the event only Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator Armour from Warhammer Fest whom is armed with a Combi-Volkite and thunderhammer. As soon as I saw him, I figured he would make an excellent Siege Breaker Consul, which is what I intend him to be.

The idea of my list is a siege gunline, designed to create a killing box directly in front of it behind an Aegis Defence Line, with a squad of three Legion Medusas killing high strength units and heavy armour combined with a Volkite Caliver Tactical Support Squad and Legion Rapier Quad Heavy Bolters to deal with infantry and light armour. I have also thrown my Fellblade in there, because I love the model and its awesome to use it. Anyway here is my list.

Yeah I dropped the Siege Breaker upgrade for the Terminator Centurion, but I did so to fit in Shatter Shells for the Legion Rapier Quad Launcher Support Battery, but still I think it fits the theme I am going for. I playtested it against Aidan’s Sons of Horus where it destroyed him by turn 3, but against Christian’s Dark Mechaniucm and Arran’s Salamanders, it was simply OK but losing, so I think I have hit the right level, good enough to not be bottom of the pack, but not overpowered as to be up there with the Mechanicum.

Today I have to put some Lahmian Medium on some shoulder pads to take the shine of the gloss varnish away, pop some transfers on the Legion Rapier Quad Launcher Support Battery crews, and drill and pin a Bolt pistol to the Sgt in the Fellblade.

Word Bearers

With my Ultramarine nearing completion, I have decided to start a small force of Word Bearers up, based around either the Primarch’s Chosen or Pride of the Legion Rites of War. It all kinda started when I swapped a bunch of Millitarium Tempestus Scions with Aidan for an unbuilt Spartan, so I decided, why not, I had a spare Betrayal at Calth lying around!

So I have got the following kits and bits with which to build my Word Bearers:

Betrayal at Calth
Mark IV Space Marines
Legion MKIV Heavy Support Squad
Legion Missile Launcher Set
Telerace Pattern Volkite Culverins Set
Contemptor Pattern Volkite Culverin x 2
Contemptor Pattern Kheres Assault Cannon x 2
Lorgar Primarch of the Word Bearers
Word Bearers Legion Gal Vorbak
Word Bearers Legion Ashen Circle
Word Bearers Legion Contemptor Dreadnought x 2
Word Bearers Legion Transfer Sheet
Word Bearers MKIV Upgrade Set – Torsos x 4
Word Bearers MKIV Upgrade Pack – Heads x 2
Word Bearers Land Raider Doors
Word Bearers Rhino Doors x 3
Leviathan Cyclonic Melta Lance
Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought
Leviathan Siege Drill
Contemptor Cyclone Missile Launcher
Legion Plasma Gun Set

I still need to grab three Mars Pattern Rhinos and a Dreadnought Drop Pod, but I am pretty happy with what I have got and see it going towards a very assault based elite army towards the future. Anyway I am going to see about getting these done in the last quarter of the year, after I have tackled my road trip Tyranids first.

Painting Upgrade

For painting the Word Bearers, I am going to try something a bit different, I am going to airbrush them!

I have the airbrush, an Iwata Neo on order and in the meantime the accessories have all arrived bar the Airbrush Thinner as you can see in the below Instagram post. I am looking forward to getting this all set up and giving it a go, in fact if we arrive in Cardiff on time tomorrow, there are some airbrush tutorials going on, so hopefully I can pick up some hints and tips so I can do more than prime and base coat.

Looking quite forward to this because I have seen some of the amazing smooth coats that can be achieved with an Airbrush and frankly that is something I need help with when it comes to my Tyranids.

Other Projects

I have had the Age of Sigmar starter set since it went on sale, but other than test painting the free Stormcast Eternal that came with the launch White Dwarf, I have yet to actually do anything with it, but the Storm of Sigmar set has really got me very interested in getting these done.

I kinda went a bit out that day and have added these to my Starter Set and a Grand Alliance Order book that I picked up at Warhammer Fest, when they were offering £5 off any of them.

So I have started painting up the three Khorne Blood Warriors that come with the set, which is the first time I am using some new brushes, my Army Painter ones have come to the end of their life and with my FLGS no longer stocking them I needed a new regular brush, so I have decided to give the new Citadel range a try. I have to say so far, I am quite impressed, although mostly I am have only used the Small Layer Brush and the Small Drybrush so far as I found an unopened and unused Standard brush in my drawer.

I already have my Tyranids which are moving very very very slowly, I have kinda stopped them to finish my Ultramarines army for this weekend, but my first Hive Tyrant is mostly finished, I think I have just the base, and tongue left to do on it.

I have all the stuff from the Start Collecting Tyranids box built, and have played one game with them against Phil’s Tau, and the Hive Tyrant, basically wiped out his whole army on its own, its a fairly brutal unit.

Anyway, I think that is me done for now, I plan to be a lot better at posting, I am annoyed at what I have missed sharing, especially my trip to the UK Games Expo.

Our Horus Heresy Weekender Day 2

By michael

On 15th March 2016

In Blog

I had to take a couple of days to recover before posting this, so sorry its a bit late, but I was absolutely shattered after the weekender.

I ended up going to bed relatively early on Saturday, but the rest of the guys for the most part carried on partying, the evidence of which Phil cleared up for us on Sunday morning because I ended up sleeping in. As a result I had to rush downstairs to put the sausages in the oven for the breakfast.

Aidan showed up after having to attend to his parents house being broken into, which was good news for me as it meant I got to play in the apocalypse game. So after breakfast myself and a few of the guys proceeded to rearrange the hall into two large tables for the games, one a 5 vs 5 and the other a 4 vs 4. Both games used the same scenario, the Loyalists were holding a building as a HQ on the planet and they had to keep the traitors from getting anyone into it.

My team decided to make our deployment zone an absolute fortress as we knew our opponents had in their army, Horus himself, and his ability to deep strike without scattering is pretty powerful. However we discovered as we started turn two that one of our team had interpreted our advertising the day as an apocalypse style game as bring as many points as you want rather than sticking to 3500 points as it was supposed to be, he actually had 5000 points on the board.

One of our team did have to leave to go home at lunch time, his army was a Raven Guard army that was bar an initial couple of squads of terminators was all deep striking, so he ended up not deploying anything else, and I decided to not deploy my Storm Eagles filled with Terminators and Invictarus Suzerains, or my Fire Raptor, to try and compensate for the initial disparity in the points. So that was a bit of a sour note for the day, and the player in question did annoy a few people, but I guess it means that I need to be far more explicit in my descriptions of games.

I did enjoy the large game and it did flow OK, but it wasn’t as good as the doubles games which seemed to work so much better, so next year I don’t think we are going to do them and stick to doubles as the largest games.

The narrative highlight to the day for me was Horus being killed by 10 Firedrakes, 15 Terminators and 6 Boarding Marines from the Salamanders and 10 Terminators from the Imperial Fists, it was quite an epic moment and was arguably the moment we won the game, that said it felt a little wrong considering the huge advantage our side started with.

Once the games were over with we did a little packing up and then had a small presentations ceremony. The final results were as follows:-

Winning Faction:- Loyalists – 507 Points
Losing Faction:- Traitors – 481 Points

Sportsmanship Award:- Jens Träff
Best Painted Army:- Steven Henry
Best Loyalist General:- Graham Campbell
Best Traitor General:- Steven Henry

So the Loyalists all received a winners medal, (no expense spared!) whilst the Traitors collected the coveted Wooden Spoon.

We also had a little raffle to raise some money for the British Heart Foundation, which managed to raise £50, so well done to everyone, and a special thanks to the chap who kindly donated the top two prizes an almost complete set of Citadel Air Paints and a paint rack, he asked to remain anonymous, but I want to give that chap a hand none the less.

The guys were absolutely amazing and unbeknownst to me they had a whip round and got some flowers for the girls, which left them both in absolute tears they were that touched by the gesture.

So with that the majority of guests disappeared and went home, whilst myself and a few of the other Raiders, packed up the hall, and well, it felt sad leaving Moor House again, its a place with a lot of happy memories for me, but we will be there again soon for Kings of the North!

But we had an amazing weekend, and the fact that people are asking to do it again next year shows me that it has been a real success.

Honestly I am still recovering a bit from it, and I am sort of hoping now that I have shown that its doable, that the club will take it on, and hopefully make next years event far better, already they are starting play testing of scenarios from Book 6 to try and find the perfect missions for it.

As for me and the girls, well we are having a short rest before I go do some demo work at the Newcastle Film and Comic Con, followed by hitting the ground with Kings of the North!

Our Horus Heresy Weekender Day 1

By michael

On 12th March 2016

In Blog

The view of my first game, gulp!

Well we have been having an amazing weekend so far, I have played two very brutal and entertaining games. We had a bit of a delayed start because the guy with the mission packs arrived 25 minutes after the games were meant to start!

In game one I took on Harry’s Questoris Knights list, which consisted of two Cerastus Knight-Lancers, a Crusader, a Cerastus Knight-Atrapos, a Paladin and an Errant, oh and a Warhound Titan!

My game went ok, decided to put the Leviathan Seige Dreadnought in my list instead of a Deredeo, and that was a wise decision, after my Fellblade softener them up a little, the Leviathan was able to rip apart both Lancers. And that was about all I could do, after that it was simply a case of how long I could stay alive, the Fellblade and Leviathan both got taken out as soon as Harry realised what a threat they were, and my fliers failed to do anything but take a single hull point off the Atrapos.

My Poor Invictarus Suzerain

The game ended with a single Invictarus Suzerain being attacked by both the Atrapos and the Errant, he didn’t survive long at all.

My second game, which I don’t have photos of, because my phone was charging, but I played against Aidan’s Sons of Horus, and it was utterly brutal, I could have won in turn two because Aidan’s army was a drop pod army and, he landed 3 pods in his turn 1 after I moved my squads into optimal positions for claiming the objectives.

His plasma Reaver squads managed to kill half of themselves and then I finished off everything bar a Contemptor Dreadnought which was left with two hull points With Remus Ventanus and my Damocles Command Rhino, he had to roll 5+ to bring in his reserves, but alas he successfully brought in more Reavers a Fire Raptor and a Xiphon.

Christian Always Was a Poser!

My plan was to fly my two large tactical squads in Storm Eagles onto the objectives, however for one squad, the Fire Raptor caused thier Storm Eagle to crash and burn leaving only five men alive, the other squad ended up being charged by Horus and a unit of Justarian Terminators (using thier updated rules despite the new Red Book not having hit the shelves yet, but we can forgive him that), and ended up dying in huge numbers and being caught up in a sweeping advance by Horus.

At the end of the game, I had gotten First Blood and Linebreaker, and Aidan had one objective claimed by his Justarians, making me think I had managed to just get a draw, with the vast majority of most of the units in the game utterly destroyed, then Aidan pointed out that Maloghurst the Twisted made Reavers Troops rather than Elites, meaning, he actually had two objectives, turning my 2 all draw into a 4-2 loss.

Sadly after that game Aidan had to zoom off as someone had put his parents window out so he had to go to theirs and deal with that.

As a result I had to rearrange the doubles games and drop out myself, which was okay as I got to collect up all the dishes and cups and help the girls in the kitchen.

The games however looked amazing, and you can see some photos from the doubles games below in an Instagram post.

A Very Drunk Dark Artisan

Last night was very messey, the guys played a few quite roucious games of Cards Against Humanity, I played Star Munchkin, and Harry Scarr (The Dark Artisan) got very very drunk as its his 30th birthday this week, but I suppose that is what people can do here, just chill out, knock away a few drinks and relax with some great gaming.

But the real heroes of this weekend have been the ladies in my life, Lindsay, Megan and Megan’s mum Jane. They have slaved away tirelessly in the kitchen to prepare our food, we had a delicious lunch of Hot Dogs and tonight they made us mince and dumplings which was absolutely delicious.

The Weekends Miracle Workers

I cannot express how grateful I am to them for helping us out, I must admit doing the food has been a constant worry, and the stress of making sure there was enough. The girls have done nothing but offer support and have really been the people to make this weekend happen, so girls, I thank you.

Tomorrow is the Apocalypse game, so let’s see how that goes.