Imperial Entanglements Part II

 And Now The Thrilling Conclusion ...

WM: Imperial Guard – Turn 3: The majority of the army continued their advance towards the Dark Angels deployment zone or shuffled around to create better fire lanes.  The infantry squad in the center of the table, whipped to a fervor by the exhalation of their commissar and accompanying priest, charged the scout squad in the middle of the table!  The Legion of the Damned troopers opened fire on the remaining members of the Devastator combat squad, opening the flankfor a final drive.  Once again the Terminators outside of combat weathered the fire of almost the entire Guard 

army.  Almost.  The missile launcher team, detached from the squad charging up the center, opened fire and struck the assault cannon armed terminator, which promptly failed its save!  I’m not sure two turns of firing was worth a single Terminator but it sure felt good when one finally died!  The Librarian must have been struggling to control the warp in the close combat phase as he failed to kill any of the mortar crew members he was fighting.  The Priest's zeal was a little misplaced as he was cut down by a Scout in close combat, buta pistol shot through the eye brought down a scout!  The Deathwing were also having a hard time making their superior skills pay off and only killed a single Infantryman in close combat.  

Follow along after the jump to read the rest of the battle report

Imperial Entanglements Part I

40K 2nd Edition Battle Report!!!!

Next on the list of projects: a bed sheet sized matte painiting to hangup behind the table on game days for better looking game photos.

The Wachtmeister and I had a chance recently to play a game with all the forces we had painted for the first two rounds of the 40K2ndAC.  We both wrote up a report on the battle, with the Wachtmeisters report being slightly more chronological and mine is a little more after game analysis.  I will switch back and forth with our relevant paragraphs and intersperse with a few photos taken mid game.  The Wachtmeister is a much better photographer than me so be sure to click on his name and check out the report on his blog for a lot of great pictures.  

Follow along after the jump for the first half of the action, then tune in later this week for the thrilling conclusion...

WH40K 2nd Edition Battle Report Incoming!

Forces Preview 

An opportunity recently arose to play an amazing  2,400 point game of 2nd edition WH40K and it was fantastic.  My opponent and I both wrote up our takes on the battle plus we took plenty of photos so an expansive battle report is inbound.  In order to ensure the whole report does not turn out to be TL,DNR I am splittling it up into several parts to make it more managable to read.  The glorious attention grabbing photo of my army above is to lure you into today's post about the army lists involved.  Our opposing forces were made up of all the models The Wachtmeister and I painted for the first two seasons of the 40K2ndAC.  It was awesome to play a game with fully painted models and scenery all with a 2nd edition flair, it felt straight out of the battle reports of old that I encountered when first reading White Dwarf in the early 90s.  Click on the name of the unit to find out mopre details about them from their original appearance on this blog. 

Army list Dark Angels 4th Company — 2,390 points total with 50% points cost increase for teleporting terminators - Floyd Lawton

Company Master Zakeal Korlael 133 points

Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, Conversion Field, Member of the Deathwing

Techmarine Hephaestus 48 points

Servo Arm, Plasma Pistol

Terminator Librarian Azathor - 207 points

Storm Bolter, Force Axe, Member of the Deathwing

Tactical Squad Zanthor 362 points

Veteran Sergeant Zanthor with Chain sword and Bolt pistol, 7 marines with bolters,

Marine with Meltagun, Marine with Missile Launcher plus Frag and Krak missiles

Tactical Squad Astelan - 362 points

Veteran Sergeant Astelan with Chains word and Bolt pistol, 7 marines with Bolters,

Marine with Plasma gun, Marine with Missile Launcher plus Frag and Krak missiles

Devastator Squad Scalprum - 485 points

Veteran Sergeant with Power Axe and Combi-weapon: Bolter and Meltagun, 5 marines with Bolters,

Multi-Melta, Lascannon, Missile Launcher with Frag and Krak missiles, Heavy Bolter

Deathwing Terminator Squad Cadmus - 387 points

Sergeant Cadmus with Power Sword and Storm Bolter, 3 Terminators with Power Fist and Storm Bolter,

Terminator with Assault Cannon and Chain Fist

 

Scout Squad Rhellion - 109 points

Veteran Sergeant Rhellion with Chains word, Bolt Pistol, 4 Scouts Bolt Pistol and Combat Knife 

 

Catachans Imperial Guard Army – 2, 376 points – The Wachtmeister

 

Command HQ w/Colonel w/Power fist, bolter, comm-link operator, Plasma Gun, Grenade Launcher 159 points

 

Commissar w/ Axe, hand flamer 47 points

Infantry Squad – Sergeant w/chain sword, bolt pistol, Heavy Bolter Team, melta-gun 120 points

Infantry Squad – Sergeant w/chain sword, bolt pistol, Heavy Bolter Team, melta-gun 120 points

Mortar Squad 120 points

Stumper Muskstart 45 points

Basilisk 175 points

Leman Russ w/ Heavy Bolter sponsons 205 points

Command Squad w/ Lieutenant w/bolter, Vortex Grenade, comm-link operator, 2 plasma guns 152 points

Infantry Squad – Sergeant w/ laspistol, power sword, Missile Launcher team, melta-gun 140 points

Lascannon Squad 150 points

Demolisher w/auto-launchers, dozer blade, plasma sponsons, storm bolter 275 points

Hellhound 165 points

Ratling Squad 80 points

Legion of the Damned Squad w/ Sergeant w/bolt pistol, chain sword, Heavy Bolter, Flamer 413 points

Priest 10 points

That wraps up the introduction of both army lists, tnue in this week to get a battle report in a few parts.  Be sure to check out the blog that started all this madness, Dr The Viking's C0wabunga

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - Complete!

Reinforcements!

Still trying to figure out what makes me filled with more nostalgic glee, the hazard stripes on the chainswords or the hazard stripes on the Terminator's power fists?

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - August - Final Month WIP

 Readying The Banners

One last work in progress shot from season two of the 40K2ndAC.  Dr The Viking will post the final summation of the challenge's second season soon so pay attention to that space to see all the amazing work of the many participants.

The Wachtmeister posted an excellent and much more detailed recounting of our 2nd edition battle on his blog so be sure to check that out here:  Wachtmeister's Patrol 

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - August WIP

 Almost There...

Closing in on the last month of the challenge.  Squad Astelan here needs a few final details and then I'll need to put everyone together for a Season II full army photo.  This last year involved in the two seasons of the challenge have helped me complete more models in 12 months that I have in the past several years.  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all the fun over at the home of the 40K2ndACII

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - June Completed!

Combat Squad Astelan

The variety of units that I've painted in the second season has been a lot of fun and make for a more dynamic looking army next to the models I painted for the first season. 

Squad Astelan bears the grey eagles and trim of the 6th Company, composed of all tactical squads as a reserve company to reinforce the three main battle companies (3rd, 4th, 5th).

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - June WIP

So Many Greens To Blend...

Well you can tell my kids got out of school two weeks ago for the summer since my blog out put suddenly dropped to nothing.  Almost all of my hobby time has been tied up in getting my painting done for the 40K2ndAC II.  Some quick pictures to show this month's entry as I worked on them over the last few weeks.

Dr The Viking will be posting the monthly summary for the project in the next few days so I won't beat him to the punch with pictures of the finished minis, but be sure to check back in a few days for pictures of everything I've painted for season two so far.  Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!

Battle Report Incoming!

 Ready The Cardboard Bunkers And Freshly Flocked Hills!

One of the members of the 40K2ndAC community lives in my area and we are going to get together in a few weeks at a neutral venue to have our first 2nd edition game with the 1,000 points we painted for season one of the challenge.  This will be a warm up and refamiliarization game for both of us since we haven't played with the classic rules since the early 90's.  In a fun bit of bonus news, Dr The Viking is busy planting the seeds of a gaming meetup for many members of the challenge in August.  The idea is for us to all to play with our closest colleagues in the challenge but in many separate locations of the globe: Australia, Europe, Asia, and North America where the many participants of the challenge reside. More details on this global gaming meetup will appear in the future so stayed tuned to this space dear readers!

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - May Completed!

 Dr. Jones Said That Crystal Skull Should Be Here Somewhere...

Epistolary Azathor Commands the Deathwing squad holding the ruins of the xenos temple while scout squad Rhellion advances in search of the foe.

Another family picture of all the units I have painted so far for the 40K2ndAC II.  Epistolary Librarian Azathor was an awesome model to paint this month.  It was nice to have a whole month to focus on one miniature and I have always wanted to paint one of the original Terminator Librarians ever since my early days of reading WD in 1990.  The intricacy of the Aegis hood and force axe were interesting details to explore and painting blue armor was a nice break from all the usual dark green. The lessons I learned from wet blending with the greens and last month's bone white were able to be applied to the blue armor and gave it a look I really liked.  The banner is a slight cheat since it came from the 3rd edition codex, but I think the visual meta in early third still hewed very close to the banners of 2nd edition.  Sometimes the geek in me lives for sentences like that one where I can make the 30 years I have spent in the hobby sound like I had a career in very esoteric academia :-)

Three months into season 2 and I have already painted 700 plus points so I really need to start thinking about bonus models.  I have already planned out how I have enough models left if this endlessly enjoyable project goes into season 3, so I'll have to plan carefully not to dip into that material.  There's a fun twist on the bonus models that other participants have taken in the past that may be the route I go.  So that cliffhanger will hopefully have all you bat-viewers tuning into the same bat-time and same bat-channel here in the future.  Stay safe out there...

Be sure to follow along with all the great entries from all the participants for the month of May over at:

Dr The Viking's Cowabunga

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - May WIP

 My Least Favorite Stage

Trying to get all the base coats on these very detailed and very old minis is always daunting.  As I have written before I feel like the base coast stage always make the miniatures look clownish.  On my particular models, my choice to add many different colors to all the details and blow the three color rule out of the water probably only magnifies this comical appearance.  That will change once all the colors are on and the shades start defining the different areas by darkening the recesses.  I have to rely on my prior witness of these transformations to keep me going through what seems like an endless process just to cover up the primer with my chosen colors for all the different parts of the model.  Make sure to follow the links to see all the great work completed by the participants in the challenge for the month of April.

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - April Completed!

 

Just a quick post to show off this month's entry for the 40K2ndAC II, plus a group photo of what I've painted for season II of the challenge so far.  These Terminators add some heavily armored punch to my second edition army list.  Once I have some decals applied to the Terminators I'll add a post with all the angles of the minis, they were a lot of fun to paint.  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all the great participants in the challenge:

https://c0wabunga.com/2021/05/01/40k-2nd-ac-ii-month-2-wave-1/

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - April WIP

 So Much Bone White To Paint, So Little Time...

Work is cruising along on this month's entry.  It feels like it takes forever to get the base colors on and to get everything shaded, but after that the detail work does proceed more at the pace of a snowball rolling downhill.  Although the models are very old, I think my approach to these is going to be more modern than 2nd Ed.  The author of the amazing Old School Gaming blog turned in the picture perfect 2nd Edition Deathwing Terminators early in the first season of the 40K2ndAC that mimic the Deathwing look of the time that was more pure white than the bone white of today.  As with the scouts last month I will once again try to work with the same general colors but come to a visually distinctive result.  The readers of the 40K2ndAC II have to put up with three participants painting Dark Angels armies so the least I can do is put a little thought into how to distinguish among the entrants via the models paint jobs.  Thanks for checking in with my progress and stay safe out there.

40K2ndAC II March First Wave

 Check Out All The Fun...

The first wave of particpant's March entries are up over at Dr The Viking's excellent C0wabunga blog, head on over to check out all the amazing painted 2nd edition miniatures:

Dr The Viking's C0wabunga

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - March Completed!

Scout Squad Rhellion 

It's probably not obvious from the quality of these photos but I think these minis rank among the best painting I've done on my collection so far.

It is very exciting to be engaged in the second season of the 40k2ndAC.  Not only were these scouts my favorite models to paint in the challenge so far, I also reached a personal goal in the first month of the second season and finished this unit several days before the entry was due.  No more midnight emails to Dr The Viking on the day of the deadline or not painting the back of the backpacks , this entry was actually submitted a full 36 hours before the cutoff.  Follow along after the jump for more photos of these great looking sculpts...

Twelve Days Of The Deathwing - Day Twelve

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part...

The last model to be featured for the proposed Deathwing project is one of my favorites and also, in a another bit of synchronicity, the character model for my 40K2ndAC II 1,000 point army.  This beautifully sculpted Terminator Librarian dates to the era of Rogue Trader but was present in many 2nd Edition and even 3rd edition studio armies.  These highly detailed Terminator character models always held my fascination when they were featured in White Dwarf and I am very excited to finally get to paint one of my own after a 30 year wait.  It is also fitting to have the last entry in this series be a classic and gorgeous model that is both long time wish fulfillment and is detailed enough to field beside modern Terminators (after some sleight heightening is added in the pre-production process).  There will be posts in the future as these models get painted and join my ever growing 1st Legion, so for the current state of the project of updates in the future just click the tab for the Deathwing page above.  Also in case anyone was keeping track, this series I started to coincide with the twelve days after Christmas actually wrapped up in mid March which is about par for this blog ;-)  Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!

This picture's imprint on my teenage brain is the thing driving my excitement to finally paint a Terminator character model from this bygone era.

Twelve Days Of The Deathwing - Day Eleven

 Galactic Synergy

The next project on deck is a level of synchronicity that occurs for painters only during periods of rare interplanetary alignment.  The unpainted member of the Deathwing shown above will be my April entry for the 40K2ndAC II while also being the first terminators I will be painting as part of my project to get some units that are currently good in the "meta" into my army that will hopefully see some use on the tabletop as things seem to be improving here in the states.  Follow along after the jump for more words and a Deathwing project update.

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II March WIP

 Squad Rhellion Inches Towards Completion

The blending and highlighting are almost complete so I'm hoping to wrap up this squad by the weekend.  That way I can submit my entry before this month's deadline and begin work on next month's miniatures well ahead of schedule.  These scouts have been so much fun to paint and I'm really enjoying picking out all the details on these classic metal sculpts.  Thanks for reading!

The WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II Has Begun!

 

A little behind on our promotional work since the challenge was kicked off at the start of March, but better late than never even when it comes to the ephemeral world of WH40K blogs.  There are 24 challengers this time so that means double the amount of fun that we all had last time, and so many more cool models for the spectators to take a look at. Head over to Dr The Viking's site to check out the starting point for the participant's projects.

WH40K 2nd Army Challenge Link

Squaduary 2021

Not Quite Mission Accomplished 

Well Squaduary 2021 wasn't quite as productive as I hoped it would be.  However I did get a lot done on these amazing models, and it was fun trying to figure out how to paint these scouts in my exaggerated 2nd edition style.  Since I bought these (and other metal scouts) in the days of third edition, I didn't realize they were 2nd edition models until the subject came up in the chat for the 40K2ndAC.  These sculpts are so detailed it's like painting 5 character models, I caught myself dumbstruck the other night at the idea I was painting the grenade pins on the models.  When you add in the different colors for the different grenades, hazard stripes on the chainsword, and two color shotgun shells, I'm breaking all the rules about three colors on a model.  On the other hand, making it even more cartoony than it was even in the pages of White Dwarf of the mid 90's is the way I like to paint my miniatures and as my favorite podcast is always emphasizing you have to "find your joy".  I will keep on working on these models for my first month of the 40K2ndACII and I hope you will keep following along with the fun here as well as at the main site for the challenge:

https://c0wabunga.com/2021/02/26/40k-2nd-armychallenge-season-2-launched/