Got another squad put together.

I got my shipment of heads and backpacks from Maxmini today, along with a shipment of bits from Neal over at the War Store. Loads of axes, heresy chests, bolt pistols, and the heresy style legs. Along with some other bits that will go into a few special projects.

I did however discover that I should have ordered either more actual meltaguns, or more of the flamer/inferno pistol combo I build. Why? Because I am out of the flamers, the inferno pistols, and the meltaguns. So... for now, screw it, we'll deal.

But, when the bits combined, I've got another full squad done and put together. Basically this is Pioneer squad #2, everyone with a bolt pistol and an axe, or a meltagun and an axe, or a power fist and a bolt pistol. That's 4 fully completed squads, with 3 of them painted, and this one ready to get base coated, sprayed, and painted either as soon as I've moved, or as soon as the weather stops pissing all over us.

After this squad, I've got the parts to put together Construction squad #2 except for one hammer, the meltaguns, and a few bolt pistols. All of which I can fairly easily acquire. Once that squad is assembled I'll get cracking on the Forge World squad and magnetizing them so I can swap their backpacks and jump packs depending on how I feel like using them. Getting them completed will put me up to 6 full 10 man squads, all of them with power fists, all of them with two meltaguns. So, in a generic game, that fills all of my troop slots.

To finish off the army I've got to acquire another... uh... 10 missile launchers which I need to magnetize, another 4 or 8 lascannons for the same purpose, and 3 more power fists. That will fill out all my troops slots, my heavy slots, and leave me with my HQ, which the Terminator Warsmith will fill, and a few special projects that I have working and am slowly acquiring the bits for. After this it's time to get the Rhino's together, and probably a Dreadnought or two. Maybe I'll get a Contemptor pattern Dread, maybe not. It will certainly fit with the Heresy idea for the army.

I have been toying with the idea of doing up a couple spare guys for various weapons for each squad, but right now I'm just not sure of doing it yet because I find myself always just getting meltaguns and using them. That said, I do have a lot of spare plasma pistols, and plasma guns, so maybe eventually I'll make some.

I do have two robed bodies that I'm going to beat the hell out of and stuff with fiddly bits and try to convert into stand ins for various special characters of whatever type once I get around to it. That's another backburner project for the time being.

But that said, after the Forge World guys are done, that will fill exactly half of the Adepticon Team Tournament force that James and I are throwing together. So now... all we gotta do is get the other two members for the team, and he and I can supply the army on our own.

House update, supposedly we close on Wednesday, or Thursday depending. Regardless, tonight may have been my last night fiddling with miniatures for a bit due to packing and moving. Catch everyone from the comfort of my new house, once I get into it.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

What I want from Codex: Chaos Legions (or whatever they name it)

I've obviously been fiddling with my Traitor legion, after all, that is what this blog is primarily dedicated to. That and Heresy era stuff in 40k. Now, as anyone who reads the blog knows, I'm not using the current Chaos Codex, but I know I haven't ever said what my real complaints about that Codex actually are and why I choose to not use it. So... allow me to enumerate.

The current Chaos Codex is a minimalistic attempt that destroys most of the flavor of Chaos and turns it into a bland pile of crap that performs poorly on both the battlefield and in capturing the imagination of most gamers(myself included).

The troops are generic and lacking in flavor. The four core cult forces are just that, 4 different units, and honestly only two of them are worth taking. The Berzerkers and the Plague Marines are, as everyone knows, better choices than Noise Marines and the shambling monstrosities that are the Thousand Sons. When you take them in comparison to other, newer (and older) codices, then you have no reason to even attempt to play as a Chaos army, it's simply not interesting or effective. Sure, the Lash+Oblit spam works on troops out of their metal boxes, but in 5th edition as we all know, Mech is king.

What I want to see in the Legions codex is not just a return to each Legion being unique, but each Legion having different, and viable builds when compared to one another. Obviously, I fully expect that we will see a lot of the same faces as in the previous books, Abaddon, Ahriman, Kharn, etc, but I want to see new characters. And by new, I don't mean just Abaddon with a facelift, I mean utterly new (special and generic) characters, preferably one per legion. The characters should unlock options for the entire army depending on what Legion they are dedicated to.

For example, a Word Bearers Acolyte or whatever their Chaplains are called could unlock something like making your generic marines into something akin to "Devoted" and give them all stubborn and relentless instead of whatever generic rules all chaos marines get. A Warsmith from the Iron Warriors could give all troops armed with a special or heavy weapon the tank hunters special rule and the bolster cover rule like the Tech Priests. The Alpha Legion dude could give something like all marines gain stealth and/or infiltrate. Things that make it obvious that your entire army, or at least parts of it, are actually acting in synergy with other parts of the army.

And really, the World Eaters deserve a bit more than just furious charge. Maybe more specialization in their assault troops or similar. Hell, give back the old Chain Axe rule and allow the Khornate Berzerkers to have rending or something like it in CC. Make the Legions unique and interesting again. Make me want to pay money to buy that codex, make me want to play my Iron Warriors as Iron Warriors.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

The Iron Warriors

Ladies, Gentlemen, and all points in between. Allow me to present some of the Iron Warriors. Now, I know this isn't anywhere close to all of the Iron Warriors I've got done, but it is all of them that I have with dry bases. Yes the bases are currently a very boring gray rock color. That will be changing tomorrow once the rest of the bases are dry and I can paint them with my volcanic ash scheme.

Until then, enjoy the current paint level. Part of two squads, the Pioneers and the Engineers. Also two missile launchers, the Sanguinary Priests, and some of the lightning claw and thunder hammer & storm shield terminators. Every head except one of the Sanguinary Priests is from Maxmini, as are the back packs.

With luck as I said, I will get more of them based up tomorrow and closer to finished, and maybe I'll get a chance to start cracking on one of the war smiths. Probably the terminator one.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

Working on basing right now.

Expect at least a few pictures in just a little bit. Working on part one of the basing as I write this.

Team Scabbard introduces new podcast.

So, myself and a few other members of Team Scabbard have been fiddling around with the idea of creating a podcast.

So, last Saturday, we did just that. We sat down after a local tournament, and we did a podcast.

Have a listen to the first ever Battle Plan Roll 6s podcast.

http://bpr6.podomatic.com/

Well, that was expensive.

Put in another order from Maxmini. I decided that I didn't want to bother with the extended wait for the shoulder pads to come out and I went ahead and ordered another 50 of their heads. 40 of my regular guy heads, and 10 veteran heads.

I also ordered another 50 backpacks. I'll use the last of the ones I have, and the heads that go with them this week when I put together the second batch of Devastators and do a couple other guys.

$85 later I should have my stuff eventually. Until then, I get to wait. Wait and see if I can finish fixing the rest of my guys up.

Right now I'm in a bit of a crunch with work and the overtime I'm getting, and the house, and working with the crew of gamers I play with in a SUPER SECRET AWESOME IDEA that may involve a large room, lots of tables, and the initials G.T. That's up in the air for now. What is not up in the air however is Adepticon.

I'm not in the Team Tournament, but I am in the single tournament. However I am #10 on the Team Tournament wait list, and I've got two other team members who have committed to joining the team if we get a spot. Currently the plan is James using his preheresy Space Wolves, and me rolling with my preheresy Iron Warriors in a partial recreation of the great crusade. We've got an army list worked out (or at least, mostly worked out), and luckily, James has enough of his Wolves to do half of the army already.

Now, I've got one list done for it, which means we are 3/4 done with the list, I just need to finish another... what is it... 50 marines? Hmm... my my my, how many heads and backpacks did I just order? Of course, this is all just building of the guys, this doesn't even begin to worry about the painting ordeal. Which honestly, I am horrible at, and hate with the heat of a newborn star.

So I talked my buddy Ben (who paints wonderfully) into painting my guys for me. Luckily, he doesn't have to do a basecoat, I already did that and an awesome hammered steel coat on all my guys. I just don't want to do the rest, because on the one Terminator, and one power armored guy I did, I hated the job I pulled off.

Which just proves my point, that I suck at painting. I may have been decent at it 10 years ago or more, but that 10 year laps in painting murdered me.

Still on the To Do list. Meltaguns, combimeltas, and more hammers/axes. I guess some time in the nearish future I'll be buying around 4 more boxes of tactical marines and then scavenging them for the bits I need. (Torso's, legs, meltaguns, missiles, hands, shoulder pads) and taking the rest of them and dumping them into the bit box over at the other store for other people to pick through.

I gotta admit, getting free access to the bits trays over there has been a godsend when it came to getting more axes and hammers the last time. Hopefully there will be more of what I need there soon.

Ben promised to have my marines painted and handed over to me by this Saturday. Which is convenient, as there is a 1750 point tourney at the store this Saturday. Maybe I'll finally get to play my Iron Warriors. We'll see. In the meantime, work and overtime tomorrow night, followed by a Wednesday full of making the last 5-6ish marines I can put together with the heads and bits I have on hand.

Until Wednesday then.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

Finished reading Outcast Dead

I got the Outcast Dead last night. I opened it and got nearly half way through the book yesterday, and I finished it tonight. I loved that while it didn't deal with the overarching Heresy, it did deal with the Big E and showed him as a more sympathetic character than the arrogant prick he has been portrayed as in earlier books.

However, I am still rather upset that we have still only had 2 glimpses of the Iron Warriors. One in the short story in the Age of Darkness collection, and a bit more than that in The First Heretic.

I want a glimpse into the actual Legion.

And less Rogal Dorn, seriously, that guy is a gigantic dick.

Iron Within, Iron Without

Project log update. 11/7/11

Ok, so I finished off the Pioneer squad. I finished fixing the Sergeants for the three squads I have finished.

Right now we have the following finished.

Garrison Squad. 8 marines with varying weapons, either axes or chain swords plus bolt pistol. 2 guys with real meltaguns. 1 Sergeant with powerfist and bolt pistol. The Sergeant has the head that I have denoted into being the veteran helmet. These guys were pictured before on the blog.

Construction Squad. 8 marines with bolt pistol and hammer. 2 guys with meltaguns (1 real, 1 Duncan brand kitbash that I need to do a tutorial on). 1 Sergeant with powerfist and bolt pistol, as the above Sergeant he has the veteran helmet. No pictures yet, will get those up ASAP.

Pioneer Squad. 8 marines with axes and bolt pistols. 2 guys with meltaguns (1 real, 1 kitbash). 1 Sergeant with powerfist and bolt pistol. Again, veteran helmet, and still no pictures.

Now, I have gone through all my bits boxes, I scrounged, I scavenged, and I finagled my way into finding enough bolt pistols, kitbashed meltas, powerfist, heads, backpacks, and torso's to do up a total of 7 more marines. Sadly, doing this will use the last of the heads I have from Maxmini so I'm going to have to order more before I can continue building. Now, if I pull the heads from the two built devastators, I can bump the squad up to 9, including the Sergeant. Only one problem. No legs. Not a single set unless I crack open my last box of tactical marines to steal their legs, which I will probably do.

But I won't have any devastators built, except two without heads. Now, I've got a different weapon batch for this squad, the Chaos Warrior/Chaos Marauder swords to go with their bolt pistols. Which gives each squad built so far individual appearances. One with cloaks, one axes, one hammers, one swords. Sure the sword squad will only have 9 marines (if I pull the heads off the Devs), but I won't have any of the Devs built.

I also won't have any characters built in the style of the army at all, which I really need to do. Also, all the marines so far have the regular, shitty style shoulder pads which I hate. Also, the majority of pieces in each squad are imperial, with insignia shaved away. Sure they look heresy, and sure the backpacks, heads, and weapons look damned good, but that's about all.

What I really need to do is put together the Forge World stuff and magnetize them with the 10 spare backpacks I'll have left over after doing whatever it is that I end up doing with the Devs/Sword squad.

I guess I better lay out a plan for the next little bit.

#1. More heads and backpacks from Maxmini. Either I've got three fully completed squads and two Dev squads fully complete (I've got two spare of the Veteran helmets, but not enough missile launchers), or I have three fully completed squads and one nearly complete. I figure I'll bulk it out to 6 squads of 10, just in case I ever field them, say... in Ard Boyz or something. So, just on the assumption that I'm going with the Devs being complete... I need 27 heads for the three squads, minus the 10 for the Forge World guys, and 3 total of the veteran helmets. Which still leaves me without having completed a single character figure. I guess I better figure to finish off the third squad of Devs also. Even if I just bump the Devs up to 6 people in total (if I ever feel like playing as Space Wolves, or as a just in case for the rumored Chaos Legion codex next year) and don't go with a single body after these... I'm going to need...26 heads. Truthfully... I may as well grab 40 heads of the regular heads, so I can build more special weapons as needed (I have plenty of Plasma Guns laying about), also that way I can bump the Devs up with a few spare bodies. Vet heads however, I only need 4 of. Better push that to 20 of those heads, so I can do a swap in when I start making characters and so I can make more Termies. Though I may want to get different heads on them just for differentiation. Backpacks... crap on a stick. I need nearly 50 more.

#2. Legs. Better buy more. Ditto with some meltaguns, the kitbash works, but I prefer real meltaguns.

#3. Hand weapons/bolt pistols. Yep, gonna needs some of those. Just for the one final squad, that's 10 bolt pistols, and 10 of some kind of weapon. Maybe I'll go with chainswords for those guys, I dunno yet. Must ponder.

#4. More missile launchers. I may have enough to finish the one squad of Devs if I go that route. But that still leaves me either 8 or 10 short. Better get that corrected.

#5. Shoulder pads. Ugh, I really hope that Maxmini gets those new pads released soon, I wanna buy them and cut the shitty pads I have now off my guys. At a ballpark if I only go with one shoulder per guy, that's still nearly 100 pads, and if I go with two pads per guy, as I want to... that's probably 200 pads. Lemme see here... 50 guys in the troops section, 15 in the Devs, misc in the characters/spares... call it ballpark 150 in reality. So, just on the safe side... 160-170.

#6. Vehicles/Dreads. Contemptor pattern dreads are fairly obvious. The Rhino's I can go with the ones I have and just add bling, or I could go all nuts and order Forge World Doors. I also should grab a Land Raider or two for my guys.

All that on top of painting. Fucks sake, this is going to be expensive as shit. But, I knew that when I started this project, and for the first time in a long while, I am going to follow it through when it comes to building this army in the way that I want to.

After all that... painting. Which I truly hate to do. I'm going to need more paint and shit.

Thank god for the new house I'm getting, at least I'll have a dedicated hobby room/man cave to build this stuff in.

For now... sleep.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

Building update.

Two squads, the guys with cloaks, and the builder (guys with hammers) are both complete minus a bit of rework I've decided to do on the Sergeants for both squads. I figure I have a number of the heads I used on the termies left, so I'll use them to denote the veterans in the army, aka, the Sergeants. Which means I need to cut and redo three heads on three guys.

Other than that, I got part of my first Devastator squad built. Tonight I plan to finish the pioneer squad (Axes). I've got four of them done so far, tonight I plan to finish the last few who need it for that squad, and fix the Sarges. Maybe even get a bit more done on the Devs.

Wish me luck, photo's come later tonight.

Iron Within, Iron Without.

Why is it, that when I want to work on miniatures...

Instead I have to work on other stuff? Huh? Whatsupwithdat?

Got an early day tomorrow. Going to meet with the house inspector at the place I made the offer on. Going to see how that works out.

Also, I have to work a double tomorrow night. Why? Because some people can't seem to come to fucking work. Lazy bastards.

Got my new Librarian/Termie Lord

Thank you Scibor miniatures. I picked up an awesome fig that will work perfectly to either be my new Iron Warriors terminator lord, or a terminator librarian. Came with a shield that is awesome, and a really nice sword... that is kinda fucked up and badly molded.

So I ditched the sword and replaced it with the Thunder Hammer I got from Maxmini, which made it look perfect.

Other than that, I didn't end up going to the Ard Boyz Finals. The offer I made on the house was accepted and I'm going through that ordeal, so I figured that I would rather spend the money on the house rather than dropping around $500 on going to the tournament in Pennsylvania when I live in Kentucky.

Maybe next year.

But, I just got home from working a double, so I think I'll go to sleep now and try to get either some painting or some modeling done tomorrow.

Iron Within, Iron Without.