Tag: Horus Heresy Page 1 of 2

A Weekend In Nottingham

By

On 18th February 2026

In Blog

This other weekend we descended upon Nottingham to celebrate Chris’s 40th birthday, with a trip to Warhammer World and an in person DnD session

On Friday myself and Graham arrived at Warhammer World and had a game of Heresy with myself using the following list 

# ++ Crusade Primary Detachment ++ [831 Point(s)]

Legatine Command Section x 5

- Legate Marshall, Volkite serpenta, Power sword
- Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox

Armoured Command Section, Battlecannon, Lascannon, Dozer blade, Flare Shield, Pintle Mounted multi-laser [10 Point(s)]

Tactical Command Section x 5

- Auxilia Captain: Laspistol, Charnabal - Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle w/ Blast-charger, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 
- Prime Unit (Logistical Benefit (Heavy Transport))

Arvus Lighter

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Demolisher cannon

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Assault Tank, Demolisher cannon Lascannon

Malcador Heavy Tank, Vanquisher cannon, Demolisher cannon, Two sponson Mounted lascannon, Pintle Mounted multi-laser

Malcador Heavy Tank, Vanquisher cannon, Demolisher cannon, Two sponson Mounted lascannon, Pintle Mounted multi-laser

Infantry Tercio

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle w/ Blast-charger, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle w/ Blast-charger, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Twin lascannon

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Twin lascannon

Lord of War Detachment

Stormhammer Super-Heavy Assault Tank

Of course he absolutely whipped my arse, but what else do you expect with Solar Auxilia

Was a great game and we met up with Dave and Chris there

For the evening we had a lovely kebab and a night of Cards Against Humanity, which was a lot of fun, and lead to a lot of laughs

The next day we returned to Warhammer World where I teamed up with Dave and his Dark Angels to play against Adam’s Death Guard

I took this 1500 points list

Crusade Primary Detachment

Legatine Command Section x 5

- Legate Marshall, Volkite serpenta, Power sword
- Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox

Armoured Command Section, Battlecannon, Lascannon, Dozer blade, Flare Shield, Pintle Mounted multi-laser [10 Point(s)]

Line Command Section x 5

- Troop Master: Laspistol, Charnabal - Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Assault Tank, Demolisher cannon Lascannon

Malcador Heavy Tank, Vanquisher cannon, Demolisher cannon, Two sponson Mounted lascannon, Pintle Mounted multi-laser

Infantry Tercio

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Twin lascannon

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Twin lascannon

Adam has a reputation as an extremely good player, and I found it to be a well earned reputation!

My army was mostly wiped out in turn 2, and at the end of the game, all of Dave’s Dark Angels had been destroyed, and all I had left were ten Lasriflemen, a Line Command Squad and a Legatine Command Squad who were hiding to maintain that LD10 with the Vox Interlinks

I ended up taking a nap in the car after the game cause I was utterly shattered, whilst the others played some more

After we arrived back at the AirBnB, we had a Chinese and played some Dungeons and Dragons together for the first time in person after 3 years of playing together

It’s was a lot of fun, but by midnight we were all utterly shattered and had to go to bed!

The next day after a McDonalds breakfast we headed back to Warhammer World where we did a tour of the Hall of Miniatures, which has changed a lot since last time I was there, I failed to find the Assassin yet again!

And then myself and the Mills brothers had a doubles games of 4k a side, in which I took this list for my 2K

Crusade Primary Detachment

Legatine Command Section x 5

- Legate Marshall, Volkite serpenta, Power sword
- Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox

Armoured Command Section, Battlecannon, Lascannon, Dozer blade, Flare Shield, Pintle Mounted multi-laser [10 Point(s)]

Line Command Section x 5

- Troop Master: Laspistol, Charnabal - Auxilia vexilla, Augury scanner, Command Vox
Prime Benefit: War Engine

Aethon Heavy Sentinel, Autocannon, Aethon missile battery

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Leman Russ Assault Tank, Demolisher cannon Lascannon

Malcador Heavy Tank, Vanquisher cannon, Demolisher cannon, Two sponson Mounted lascannon, Pintle Mounted multi-laser

Armour Tercio

Leman Russ Strike Tank, Heavy bolter, Vanquisher cannon and one Co-axial mounted heavy stubber

Malcador Heavy Tank, Vanquisher cannon, Demolisher cannon, Two sponson Mounted lascannon, Pintle Mounted multi-laser

Infantry Tercio

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Lasrifle Section x 20 Lasrifle, Auxilia vexilla, Vox interlock 

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Twin lascannon

Dracosan Armoured Transport, Demolisher cannon

Myself and Graham got a commanding lead as my Lasriflemen seized the objectives early on for the highest points.

We only got to turn 3 but it was a lot of fun nonetheless

What I Am Modelling

I had a busy and productive week!

I started off the week by finishing an Opel Blitz for my early war Germans

And then for my future late war Germans, a Sturmgeschütz III, one that Graham bought me last year!

I also painted some Heretic Troopers for the Trench. Crusade Heretic Legions

Used a painting scheme influenced by WWII Germany simply because they were as evil a group that ever existed.

And a Heretic General

After that I finished up painting 20 Tech Thralls for my Mechanicum

These models were 3D printed and I much prefer them to the plastic ones

I was also able to paint up a couple of Astra Militarium characters, yet another Commissar

And a Primaris Psyker

After that I painted up some Hearhtkyn Pioneers for the Leagues of Votann, which completed that Combat Patrol

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Heretic Legion Warband
  3. True Sons Havocs x 10
  4. Einhyr Hearthguard x 5
  5. Guardians Defenders x 11
  6. Myrmidon Destructors x 6
  7. Nemesis Dreadknight
  8. Death Riders x 5
  9. Howling Banshees x 10
  10. Ork Boyz x 20

What I Am Reading

I finished listening to Angron: The Red Angel by David Guymer which was ok, but felt a bit of a let down as Angron barely featured at all. Lots of good concepts but also so much missed potential.

After that I listened to Something Inside by Trevor Baxendale, which was ok, but the 8th Doctor getting amnesia is kind getting a bit dull now, I am Paul McGann can really act that very well, but it’s just too used

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not played that much which is disappointing but will try better next week!

What Achievements I Have Unlocked

Hell Let Loose (Steam)

Breaking the Geneva Convention

Kill an enemy medic while he is reviving someone.		16/02/2026
Death From Below

Destroy a vehicle with an AT mine		16/02/2026

What I Am Backing

The From Mesue to Volga, 1940-1942 project successfully funded and I should get the files sometime in March

Lindsay also backed the Cube Mod Carrier project by Txarli for me, I mentioned it looked cool, and couldn’t afford it and she backed it for me to pay her back later

What I Am Spending

At Warhammer World I bought myself a Leman Russ Strike Tank, some glue, another three painting handles and some pots of paint..

The tank is going to be built as a Demolisher, cause I like Demolisher cannons and they have proven quite useful in both 40K and 30k.

As for the painting handles, well I have a fair few of them already, but I want to get to 25 cause I am far too regularly painting 25 models at a time, this one gives me 24

I grabbed the latest issue of Combat Patrol to hopefully add a couple more Field Ordnance Batteries to the Astra Militarium

It was also Humble Choice week,- that bagged me

Special Operations – Phase One

By

On 28th January 2026

In Blog

This past Sunday we held our first Heresy event for the year, we only had 10 people but that was enough to have some fun

The missions were completely rewritten by Graham, apparently my planned ones were pretty bad, but I will keep trying to get something that works, but you can download the ones Graham wrote here

Anyway game one was rather fun, we have some nice pairings and Graham was grudged, although I think James regretted it when Graham shot down his Storm Eagle

The results saw the traitors get a narrow win of 72 to 61

The second round, well I tried to get things about equal in terms of results, not quite Swiss but thereabouts.

And the games did seem a lot more balanced overall which was fantastic

For me the moment of the day was when Graham’s Kytan Daemon Engine took on Damian’s Knight-Castigator in combat, and the Kytan beat the knight severely

Again it was a traitor win, but this time a more convincing 61-45

That meant the Traitors won by 133 to 106

I think we had a good day and we are going to have to do it again soon!

What I Am Modelling

I started out my week by concentrating on finishing up my Skaventide Stormcast Eternals, and first up was the Knight-Questor

Followed by the Lord-Veritant and his Gryph-Crow

Then the Lord-Terminos and his Memorian

And finally the three Reclusians and their pair of Memorians

After that I painted a Mechanicum tall boy, a Sydonian Skatros, a model so good, I want another one!

So what’s coming up next for me!

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Heretic Legion Warband
  3. Tech-Thralls x 20
  4. Hearthkyn Pioneers x 3
  5. Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Weapons Squad x 8
  6. True Sons Havocs x 10
  7. Einhyr Hearthguard x 5
  8. Guardian Defenders x 11
  9. Myrmidon Destructors
  10. Nemesis Dreadknight

What I Am Reading

Not a lot read this week, but I have read a little bit more of Dropsite Massacre by John French, and I listened to a bit more of The Emperor’s Finest by Sandy Mitchell.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played a game of Combat Patrol against Megan, they played Drukhari against my Scions and well I started out ok, but they absolutely hammered me in the end

And later that day I played Williams Custodes and they wiped me out in two turns!!!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished up Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster by unlocking the last couple of achievements I missed last year

And I have started on Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster as well, and it’s quite an adjustment to get round to the Active Battle System!

What Achievements I Have Unlocked

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster

Field Research- Professional

Completed 100% of the Bestiary entries.		24/01/2026
Master of III

Earned all achievements.		24/01/2026

Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster

Inflammatory Decisions

Accidentally destroyed the village of Mist.		24/01/2026
Field Research- Basic

Completed 10% of the Bestiary entries.		25/01/2026
Apprentice Warrior

Defeated 100 monsters.		25/01/2026
Rookie Treasure Hunter

Collected treasure from 10% of the chests.		25/01/2026
Thrifty Spender

Obtained 10,000 gil.		25/01/2026

What I Am Backing

I have joined a group but to get From Meuse to Volga, 1940-42, a campaign for some early World War II German STLs.

What I Am Spending

We bought a new TV stand, the old one that came with the TV was fine, but these days you really need to have soundbar cause with the thinness of a modern TV, the speakers are total shite

But the current stand with the Soundbar in in front of the TV, results in the IR sensor being blocked and out TV uses that for being turned on, which means we had to do some gymnastics if we sat down and had not turned on the TV, to get the remote in a potion to hit the IR sensor

This one was £26, it’s simple and it’s fine, does the job fantastically!

I also picked up Sniper Elite 3 with its season pass for £2.65

A Bit of a Break & Heresy Camp

By

On 4th July 2025

In Blog

I haven’t been posting for a while, alas a lot of it comes down to going through my usual summer slump and a bit of depression I have been battling, but I am trying to turn myself around.

Giving myself some projects to do, and things to try and keep me occupied, I really think I am missing Company of Legends, it gave me something to focus on, something to look forward to and these last couple of years without it, well I have been doing a bit badly.

But let’s crack on and update you on my last few months, so let’s get into it!

Heresy Camp

This other weekend, I attended Heresy Camp, run by some amazing friends of mine, and how did a not “Company of Legends” weekender go?

On Friday I met up with James at Gamers-at-Hart and we played a warm up game with our armies, my Solar Auxilia and his Sisters of Silence

To remind you, this is the list I have taken.

LI - Solar Auxilia - Solar For Camp - [3000 Pts]

## HQ [437 Pts]

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Command Tank [270 Pts]: Leman Russ Command Tank (Armoured Fist Pattern Cohorts (Check Limitations manually), Battle Cannon, Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Warlord, Lascannon, Multi-Laser, Cognis-Signum, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield)

Tactical Command Tercio [167 Pts]:
• 1x Tactical Command Section [167 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Meltabombs, Refractor Field, Augury Scanner, Command Vox, Cohorts Vexilla
  • 1x Auxilia Captain [2 Pts]: Void Armour, Auxilia Captain, Pistol and Combat weapon (Sub-menu) (Close Combat Weapon, Needle Pistol)
  • 4x Auxilia Companion [12 Pts]: Void Armour, Lasrifle
    Aurox Transport (Smoke Launchers)

## Elites [45 Pts]

Medicae Section [45 Pts]:
• 3x Auxilia Medicae [15 Pts]: Auto-medicus, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol

## Troops [1118 Pts]

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Infantry Tercio [319 Pts]:
• 1x Rifle Sections [319 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Auxilia Vexilla, Vox Interlock
  • 1x Auxilia Sergeant: Lasrifle
  • 19x Auxilia w/ Lasrifle and Bayonet [6 Pts]: Bayonet, Lasrifle
    Dracosan Armoured Transport (Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Gravis Lascannon, Dozer Blade)

Infantry Tercio [319 Pts]:
• 1x Rifle Sections [319 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Auxilia Vexilla, Vox Interlock
  • 1x Auxilia Sergeant: Lasrifle
  • 19x Auxilia w/ Lasrifle and Bayonet [6 Pts]: Bayonet, Lasrifle
    Dracosan Armoured Transport (Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Gravis Lascannon, Dozer Blade)

## Fast Attack [200 Pts]

Carnodon Strike Squadron [200 Pts]:
• 3x Solar Auxilia Carnodon [65 Pts]: Smoke Launchers
  Two Sponson Mounted Volkite Caliver (Two Sponson Mounted Volkite Caliver), Turret Mounted Volkite Culverin (Volkite Culverin)

## Heavy Support [900 Pts]

Aethon Heavy Sentinel Squadron [200 Pts]:
• 3x Aethon Heavy Sentinel [65 Pts]: Aethon Missile Battery, Multi-Laser

Malcador Heavy Tank Squadron [350 Pts]:
• 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, Hull (Left) & Hull (Right) Mounted Lascannon, Pintle Mounted Multi-Laser, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield

Malcador Heavy Tank Squadron [350 Pts]:
• 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, Hull (Left) & Hull (Right) Mounted Lascannon, Pintle Mounted Multi-Laser, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield

## Lords of War [300 Pts]

Macharius Heavy Tank Squadron [300 Pts]: Macharius Vanquisher Cannon
• 1x Macharius Heavy Tank [280 Pts]: Two Sponson Mounted heavy stubbers, Hull (Front) Mounted twin-linked heavy stubber, Smoke Launchers

The game was fine, I was punished for not being more aggressive with taking objectives and thus lost the game, but damn the Sisters move very fast!

After the game myself and James made our way to Moorhouse Adventure Centre where we hung out for a bit, I was going to play Zone Mortalis, but decided to come home that night cause I wanted us to pick up Graham the next morning, but there were some great games being played

On Saturday after returning with Graham, I played on Table 5 against Nick Hall and his Emperors Children including a Deamon Prince Fulgrim

The missions and environment rules were fairly punishing with vehicles and dreadnoughts moving within 3” of terrain having to fire on the nearest United friend or foe, which saw me destroy one of own Carnadons and Nick wipe out a Recon Squad of his

Deamon Fulgrim is a beast and basically ate two squads of Lasmen and my Command squad, in the end I lost by a lot!

Game 2 was on table 3 vs Johns Death Guard, which was a mostly infantry list, but damn Death Guard are tough

Combination of Mortaion, who kept healing the wounds I put on him, and a trio of Dreadnoughts just ripped apart my tanks and I was tabled again

Game 3 was against Chris’s World Eaters on Table 4 and I wasn’t tabled, which was a bonus, but his fast troops, and awesome advanced reaction made short work of my tanks.

After the game I had my tea, a lovely Chinese takeaway of chips and fried rice in curry sauce and salt and pepper chicken, after which we had a Heresy Quiz, which I did respectably in.

The next day I played Matthew and his traitor White Scars, which was tough game, the rules were a bit complicated and I was forced to keep my men out of their transports to carry the objective.

But Matthew had a pair of Whirlwind Scorpius, which just deleted all of my infantry as they tried to take the objective to the target area.

The last game, I was grudged by Mark Frost, and he is a very good player with his Daemons of the Ruinstorm, and he doesn’t use lube!

So yeah that was a horrible loss, but a very very fun game and I loved it.

Overall the traitors won the weekend, which was a shame for my side, but it was a really great weekend

I was given a little something for Edge of Empire having pioneered these events, I got some dice, Death Guard Heads and a Harlequin Shadowseer!

The award winners were all very deserving, especially Keith’s Space Wolves which won best hobby.

The guys did an amazing job, and I am looking forward to returning should they run it again!

My Own Event

I ran my own little Heresy event at Durham Raiders, and I think it went well.

We had two games of 3500pts, with some very simple missions, the whole idea of the day was for it to be chilled out and easy going.

It was a nice way to say goodbye to 2.0 and I think I would love to run some similar events for 3.0.

What I Am Modelling

I did prior to the even paint up some tokens for me and Graham to use at the event, to show us what the various status of our stuff was

There are simply primed in black, dry brushed with Leadbelcher and then washed with Nazdreg Yellow

The first models I painted afterwards were some Deathshroud for the Death Guard to complete the new Combat Patrol.

I then painted some Thousand Sons Scarab Occult Terminators for their Combat Patrol.

Alongside an Infernal Master.

Then I painted up a test piece for a new terrain project, this one is going to be for a no man’s land board for Trench Crusade, but is also going to be generic enough that it won’t look out of place in Bolt Action or Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Kind of an old worldie European looking set

I then painted up a Helbrute for the World Eaters, armed with a fist and and hammer

And then some Dark Angels Incursors

Then I painted up this Dark Apostle, who will be seeing use as a Chaplin or perhaps even a Praetor in my Word Bearers

And another Helbrute for the World Eaters followed, this time armed with a fist and Power Scourge

I then added a Knight Magaera to the forces of House Taranis

This year I want to finally play some Legions Imperialis, so I painted up the bases to make my Aeronautica models usable, went for a sandstone type scheme

And then to make my way to a fully painted Blood Angels Combat Patrol, I finished up this Impulsor for them

After that I painted a Praetor for my Ultramarines

I then painted a Gondola for Carnivale, a game I really want to play at some point soon!

And after that I finished up this Leman Russ Demolisher for the Solar Auxilia and Astra Militarium

So what’s next on the agenda?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4 and Knight Draconis
  3. Imperial Fists Breachers x 10
  4. Armiger Helverin x 2
  5. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  6. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  7. Myari’s Purifiers
  8. Tempestus Aquilons x 10
  9. The Red Brigade
  10. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Myself, Lindsay and Graham played some Firefly at Durham Raiders, Grahams first time playing and he won!

My Knights had a game against the Necrons

I basically wiped out his army, but alas he won on points

My Solar Auxilia had a run out against Graham and Andrew, anothe loss for me!

I played Dale and his Disciples of Tzeentch in AoS, and he throughly demolished my army!

I played Craig’s Space Wolves with my Knights again

And weirdly, I actually won a game!

I also finished off the AoS League with a game against Andrews Skaven

Of course I lost!

And finally, myself and Graham had an intro game of Bolt Action in which I played the Germans (because I already have a German army) and Graham the British, I think he won, but really we were just figuring the game out

Neil who took us though it was champion

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster, still got a couple of achievements to pick up however

I also started playing Cyberpunk 2077, at long last.

I originally bought it on GOG a few days after release, despite my system at the time only having a 1660 Ti, which wouldn’t have run it well, but I got it for under a tenner due to the very poor reviews of the state it was in at launch.

But my experience with GOG Galaxy and its cloud saves ended up having me buy it on Steam in a sale earlier this year, alongside Phantom Liberty.

I even bought Phantom Liberty on GOG, but losing all my saves in Control when GOG Galaxy crashed, has put me off GOG for anything I really want to invest time in.

So the reason I am only now just playing it now is cause with these kinds of games, I tend to wait until all the expansion are out, and then have a massive big playthough then, and well it took a bit for Phantom Liberty to come out and I was busy with other stuff.

I have still been playing some Hell Let Loose most Mondays at least and often a game on Wednesday nights as well, and the other week we had this score which was incredible!

What I Am Creating

I have started a new YouTube painting series Just About Tabletop Standard, in which I am going to paint a Marine from each of the 18 Legions from Horus Heresy.

We started out with an episode on the Dark Angels, followed by an episode on the Emperor’s Children

What I Am Spending

The grown up purchase the past few months was a new vacuum cleaner, we ended up getting a GTech AirRam Mk2 K9, and Lindsay is very happy with it, she always gets excited for new vacuum cleaners!

Our new car was also delivered, we got a Renault Mégane E-Tech which is a really nice car, quite a bit more range than our last and a few extra niceties as well, like a pair of USB-C sockets in the back and dual zone air-con

I bought some dice for my Blood Angels & Tyranids

And my Warhammer + model of Inquisitor Ostromandeus arrived

And I picked up a cheap desk mat from Temu to replace the one that Cassius has shredded up

Plus a poster for the studio

I also picked up a business card holder, specifically for use with the Firefly Board Game.

I managed to get all of the issues of Combat Oatrol I wanted, issues 37, 38, 39 and 40, to get me a Helbrute, some Chaos Terminators and some Wraithguard

To add to my pile of Combat Pattols I need to paint, I bought the Black Templars box

Which means other than Deathwatch I have all of the 9th Edition ones that can be in 10th

I upgraded the server with a couple of SSDs, one to host my websites, including this blog, and one to back up the VM images and the websites

Whilst at UK Games Expo, I did pick up the Battletech Beginner Box, I really want to play some of this game again, played it as a teenager, and want to relive my youth!

I bought Zodgrod Wortsnagga off my friend James, and I am really looking forward to getting this hairy git in the table

I also stocked up on resin

And finally a Leman Russ Assault Tank to add to the Solar Auxilia/Astra Militarium

We had three lots of Humble Choice , so I got out of that

And I also bought the Xbox Games Studio Bundle to net me

I also bought over the past couple of months

The Secret Project Revealed

By

On 5th June 2021

In Blog

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.

Looking Forward to WorldCon

By

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

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.

Brain Damage and Games Exercise 

By

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

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

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

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

 

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