Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Thousand terminators - progress as of Merdeka Day!


Now we have 5 of these painted up. I haven't based them yet because I want to make sure I match the rest of the army, and so just decided to do it later all at once (I might very well regret this later, but it shouldn't be a big deal). The other thing not done yet is the Thousand Sons decal on the right shoulder.

I've got 4 more to go, including the Champion with chainfist and Tzeentch icon. Looking forward to get this squad done. About time, really.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Finally, paint touches Thousand Sons termies


I assembled a favoured squad of these guys some 5-6 years or more ago (can't remember exactly when). The Space Marine plastic termie box set was new, Chaos Space Marines Codex 3.5 was running rampant, Thousand Sons terminators were actually Thousand Sons rubric marines in terminator armor and there was no such thing as Chaos plastic termies (and certainly no such thing as termicide squads - heresy!)... ah, the good old days.

Anyways, I took a break from my Catachans to paint these 9 termies of Tzeentch - because I'll need them in October's Ghemehaal Annihilation campaign at Legio. And I suddenly remembered that I totally forgot how to paint Thousand Sons. Anyways, using a couple of my old rubric marines as guide, I started on this test subject.

I must admit, my assembly could have been cleaner (the perils of hobbying in the darkness of Balau), but it was fun to paint anyways. I kinda stopped at this point - discovered that I don't have any Dark Angels Green left. Very important for the gems, lenses and power weapon. Tomorrow, I shall pick up a pot of this all-important and finish this dude up - and start on the rest of his cohorts.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Colonel Straken's Command Squad - kick off!


Started on Straken's command squad. It's a pretty hefty squad - the Colonel himself, his 2 rabidly loyal bodyguards (no prizes for guessing which models those 2 are), regimental standard bearer Sgt Washington, melta-gunner, flamer, medic (my favorite conversion in this squad), brother Jacobus the priest, astropath, and Lt Commander Hudson of His Divine Emperor's Navy.


I originally wanted to kit bash the navy dude from plastic IG officer bits and paint him the tan color you see in Vietnam war movies. But the naval officer model was just too nice to pass. So I figured, hey, it's 40k. The contrast will work wonders


My favorite conversion in this squad is the medic. It was fairly simple. Used one of the medic bags on his back, and converted one so that it looks like he's carrying it with his right hand. The smaller medic bag hangs from his belt. He also carries a holstered side arm and a sheathed Catachan blade. And being a medic, he's got 2 water bottles.


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Vendetta 03 Reporting for Duty!


Finally! After months of moping around cursing at the stupid matt spray, I finally went back and finished the bloody Vendetta. I'm happy with the result, though I must admit it's not as pimp as when I originally painted it in January. Compared to Valkyrie 02, this Vendetta has substantially less weathering, reflecting that it's perhaps a newer vehicle shipped out to assist Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken's crack Catachans.


After all the decals and weathering were done, I proceeded to glue on the wings and twin-linked lascannons on the front of the hull. I also went back to Valkyrie 02 to glue on the wings as well. Magnetized wings just don't cut it, and I don't want to risk wings dropping off and breaking my nice FW wing-mounted twin-linked lascannons.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that both waist gunners have already been completely painted, and all I had to do was to add some glue to the base of the heavy bolters and stick them onto the swivel mounts. I'm using the technique with all my Valkyrie and Vendetta. In the unlikely situation that I don't use my heavy bolters, I just need to swing the gunners into the hull and slide the doors shut.


Due to a nasty habit of not keeping my hands clean, I got tiny streaks of glue on the pilot's canopy. Luckily the streaks were orderly enough to look like weathering. Praise the Emperor.

The bases are actually not 100% done - I have no idea where I put the aquarium vine plant things that's supposed to adorn them. This should give a decidedly tropical feel to it once done, and should contrast nicely with the grey ruins on the ground.


So now I've got 2 veteran squads and 2 transports done. Next up will be the Colonel himself and his nasty Command Squad. After I get his squad done, I'll paint another Vendetta, and at the least I would have the minimal 2 troops and 1 HQ. AND I would then be halfway through the project.

The Emperor Protects.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

AirCav Back to Life!


After a long hiatus caused by the disaster of matt spray fogging up my Vendetta, I've finally picked up the AirCav trail - by fixing the paint-work on the damaged Vendetta.

Entire portions had to be re-sprayed with the base color - Tamiya OD. This includes the top of the wings, the front half of the hull top, and the entire front section. I masked off the cockpit first because the detail on the control panels survived the disaster.

Then it was off with the tank brush to dry brush camo green over the resprayed parts. I had to redo the black block paint and related highlights on the nose section, as well as the the areas to be given the boltgun metal treatment, and the pilot's visor. Then it was the metal bits - the hose things on the engines, the fans, some bits on the helmets and the lascannon barrels. I took out my old catachan green and repainted the flight helmets. These guys were originally painted as a sub-assembly, so painting and highlighting them now when they are already fixed in the aircraft was actually quite a challenge.


That was pretty much it for the night, other than sticking on the AirCav shield on the right side of the cockpit. Next session I hope to finish it. Essentially, the steps remaining would be:
  • devlan mud wash on the metal areas
  • shade and highlight pilot's visor
  • front lamp, and 4 lights on the front and sides
  • paint in the details on the AirCav shield
  • decals
  • weathering
  • stick on the waist gunners
I'm really happy to see this moving again. In the meantime, there are Thousand Sons terminators to paint :)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Death to the Eldar Xenos!

 

The league battle vs Iqbal's Eldar xenos was epic!

The city terrain is always a challenge, and my troopers were obviously not quite urban as time and again they struggled to negotiate the rough rubble terrain. At the outset, the sheer numbers of Brandenburg infantry was intimidating for the Eldar, who were heavily outnumbered (though way more mobile). The IG troopers' anti-tank lascannon platoon deployed in the tallest building in town, with excellent field of fire. They did well, though they quickly drew the attention of the xenos' massive 6 War Walker (with a total of 12 scatter lasers) firepower, amongst others (the platoon survived though, with 6 men making it out of the battle).

The xenos' fearsome Fire Dragons in their Wave Serpents sped right down the IG left flank, intent on knocking out the Imperial Laser Destroyer and Leman Russ Executioner shoring up the flank. Intense lascannon and missile launcher fire could not stop the xenos onslaught, and the 2 hapless tanks were blown up by 2 squads of Fire Dragons. The Eldar tank-busting elites were quickly cut down with cold steel in a spirited charge delivered by 2nd platoon.

On the right flank, the xenos Fire Prism quickly lost its main weapon to melta fire, but managed to survive the battle. In fact, the tank managed to contest one of the objectives. In general, the Brandenburger anti-tank shooting was less than impressive - destroying only 1 Wave Serpent, immobilizing another 2, and damaging the Fire Prism. Leman Russ concentrated battle cannon fire was quite effective in cutting down enemy War Walkers (although a couple survived).

The most epic action was when the Company Command, backed up by 2nd platoon command, made a dash to contest the sole objective held by Eldar Dire Avengers (the only other xenos troops, Guardian jetbikes, was fleeing after suffering 70% losses due to lasgun and grenade launcher fire). The Eldar could still master a pretty impressive weight of fire: 3 scatter lasers (twin-linked or guided), 1 shuriken cannon (twin-linked), and 5 Dire Avengers. The Company Command squad was mercilessly cut down by massed scatter laser fire - except for the standard bearer, who heroically held his ground, bleeding from several gaping wounds, uniform and armor battered by the intense xenos firepower. Unfortunately, the ensuing charge by the War Walkers brought this brave Guardsman, who shall forever be remembered in the annals of the great warriors of Brandenburg.

The battle ended up in a draw. Thanks to the xenos' superior skimmer technology, they managed to contest 2 of the objectives held by 1st platoon. The Eldar were badly mauled though, losing all their Fire Dragons and a Farseer amongst others. Shoulda been a Kill Point game :) ... it was tons of fun! Thanks Iqbal for a great game!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Truimph and Anguish for the Brandenburgers!!!


Season 4 of the 40k League kicked off last night, and the 6th Assault Grenadiers stormed into battle with fervor and ferocity characteristic of the Brandenburgers. However, the very first game of the season turned sour as daemonic forces of the daemon world battlefield cast its unholy magicks to help the Chaos Daemons defeat the Brandenburgers (note the unnaturally cocked dice in the picture above. I needed a 6 and it stopped mid-roll - and stayed that way! It never dropped ... spooky). From the moment that dice stopped in mid-roll, I knew we were doomed!

Eager to exact revenge on whomever comes next, the 6th literally ran into xenos Eldar of the Saim Hann tribe. The xenos fought hard and well, using their speed to take on my far right flank, with the obvious intent of rolling up the flank with a combination of Banshees, Seer Council and Eldrad. But 2nd Assault Platoon got in the way and held up the xenos attack long enough for the rest of the company to secure victory. While 2nd Platoon was eventually wiped out, they gave as good as they got, wiping out xenos Dire Avenger, Howling Banshee and Fire Dragon squads in close combat.

The battles were hard fought and bloody, but it is only the very beginning. Much more glory is to be gained by the 6th as we dive into Season 4.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Finally Finished Something in 2011!


After much (much much) pestering from deathkorps, we've finally moved to Blogger! And many many thanks to Jeff for helping set this up and getting the banner done. Sweet!

I finally finished painting something in 2011. Not a very productive hobby year to date, with a few projects started off, but not much to show for it. This includes some pretty expensive stuff (FW pre-heresy Thousand Sons, some matching bits from various brands, Mk II Land Raider, etc, etc.)

In the end, the trusty Brandenburgers came to the rescue to break the duck. In preparation for the 40k League Season 4 which kicks off tomorrow, I painted these 4 guys to round out 1st and 2nd Platoon of the 6th Assault Grenadiers. The 6th is a pretty heavy force, with over 100 infantry in 1750 pts. To make it easier for myself to tell which platoon is which, I employed a simple method - use the figures! So, the infantry squad of 1st platoon is made up of RT-era (1st ed) models, 2nd platoon is made up of 2nd ed models, and 3rd platoon is made up of 3rd ed models.

Sergeant Hofner, in this pic sporting his trusty old power weapon and autopistol ("laspistols are for wimps"), is really really OOP. A veteran from the rural regions of Brandenburg, rumour has it that the sergeant was formerly a Captain, but was busted down to NCO because of some uncertain incident involving the regimental OC's wife. It is not known why Hofner chooses to don his NBC gear every time he goes into combat. Nevertheless, he is among the 6th's most solid NCOs whom the men treat with the utmost respect (and fear).


The other 3 guys are from 2nd platoon (OOP Cadians). I really like this old metal Cadian range, and have a couple more squads still unpainted. These figures will be among the last to be painted for the Brandenburg (as well as a squad of stormtroopers). After more than 10 years of building up the Brandenburg force to over 300+ infantry and 20+ vehicles, I feel that it is time for something different, as far as my IG armies are concerned. All future IG will be the Catachans, starting (or re-starting) with the AirCav.