40K2ndAC III Flashback - 1st Month (January 2022)

Codicer Astrovel & Lexicanum Daskhorael

The firestorm background is soooooo METAL!

Catching up on past challenge entries that did not get posted due to interference from the warp, here are two Librarians from my Dark Angels army.  Codicer Astrovel is a model I've owned since '99 and it was a great pleasure to get him painted and added to my army.  I printed out banners from the Angels of Death codex but due to the use of extra long RT era banner poles I added extra tabbards with the Dark Angels chapter symbol below the heraldry of the librarian's rank.  This post is a great reminder that I need to add that scan of the banners from the 2nd edition codex to my banners page to add to the resources available.

      You can read them here along with several other fantastic entries from month 1 of season III:  

                        https://cowabungajournal.com/40k2ndaciii-month-1-wave-2/

Season V of the challenge is underway and has a new home at: https://wachtmeisterspatrol.com/

"It is I, Prince Vlad of Wallachia!  Please do me the honor of visiting my mountaintop castle"

Codicer Astrovel – Level 2 Librarian – 130 points
Force Axe, Plasma Pistol, Aegis Suit 

Lexicanum Daskhorael – Level 1 Librarian – 63 point
Force Sword, Bolt Pistol

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge Season III - Complete!

Another One In The Bag 

It's hard to believe but the third season of the 2nEdAC has finished!  Since I have been remiss in posting monthly updates, I will roll out the big picture here first and then add some blog updates with the indivdual units completed.  A little reverse order roll-out due to being so busy with gaming and hobbying that typeing about those activities has fallen behind schedule.  My low model count, high points value army has successfully been finished.   I was also able to add a bonus model this time which was a first for me.  Thanks to the good Dr The Viking and his fabulous challenge I now have 3,000 plus points of fully painted Dark Angels, all in a gorgeous technicolor 2nd edition style. This is the largest fully painted army I have owned in 30 years of gaming and is exactly the kind of army I wanted when immersing myself in the 40k universe via reading White Dwarf in the early 90's.

In addition to making my army buidling dreams come true, the challenge has opened up a new community of gamers for me to enjoy games with as well.  As I write this post I'm preparing for a game against my usual challenge opponent, the Wachtmeister.  My panoply of characters from season III will take on his most recent contribution, a few Valhallan squads and a BANEBLADE!  New challenge participant Valhallan Winter also lives in our area and will stop by to see how our tanks versus heroes challenge will turn out.  Stay tuned to this space to see if you can use 7 second edition characters to kill a super-heavy tank.  Thanks for reading after such a long hiatus, and be sure to follow all the links in the texts to check out fun contributiuons to the great hobby!

 

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

And We're Back

 My Dreadtober Project Is Really Running Late...

Wow! That was the longest publication break in this blog's short history so I appreciate anyone who has come back after the hiatus.  A combination of a lot of Real Life activity and an addiction to Boardgame Arena online led to the severe lack of posts.  Fortunately I was stilll hobbying and gaming while not posting so there is plenty of content in the pipeline.  My Venerable Dreadnought above is almost finished but way behind on the end of Dreadtober deadline.  In other fun hobby news, the 3rd Season of the 40K2ndAC is underway and I am painting a charatcer heavy 1,000 points this time around to give my Dark Angels 2nd edition army a bevy of heroes to choose from to lead them into battle.  I have finished the first months contribution of two librarians and will feature some photos of the finished models this week.  Thanks for rejoining our program already in progress and stay safe out there...

My low model count project for season 3 of the 40K2ndAC

Dreadtober 2021 Week 3

 Bring Out Your Dread!

Dreadtober 2021 Week 2

The Walking Dread...

This week almost all the base coats for the many details were finished.  I'm feeling like it's about to crest that wave where it goes from looking a mess to the downhill side of model painting where it finally looks like something and you're continuing to improve its appearance each time you paint.  The next step will be washes and highlights.  Check out all the great fun over at the main Dreadtober site.  Also, thanks to Marc over at Old School Gaming who is coordinating all the action for Dreadtober.

Dreadtober 2021 Week 1

 Better Dread Than Right Said Fred…

Work on my Venerable Dreadnought is coming along well.  I have the base colors, shades, and part of the highlights done on the legs, as well as beginning to base coat the upper body.  As a tribute to the huge 2nd Edition army I have painted in the last year, I attached a 2nd edition bolter (slightly glue scarred from a tween years attempt at kit bashing combi-weapons) to the base.  Be sure to check out all the great work at the main Dreadtober site and we will see you again next week, same Dread time, same Dread channel.

Dreadtober Begins!

 In The Grim Darkness Of The Far Future, There Is Only... Snow????

So excited to be here for my third Dreadtober.  Two years ago this month, this blog was created for the purpose of sharing my Dreadtober progress so this is always one of my favorite painting projects of the year.  This time around I'm adding another member to the Deathwing portion of my army, a Venerable Dreadnought. The picture of my primed model above will show my amateur's attempt at a zenithal highlight for the first time in my painting career.  Since I don't have an airbrush, my rattle can combination of primers may or may not bring the desired effect.  It will be a fun experiment nonetheless and I'm excited to get working on this project.  Clink on the link to be sure to check out all the fun at the main Dreadtober site.

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

Imperial Misunderstandings...

Or Camo And Feathered Wings Clash At The Cooling Towers

"Master Korlael, the Catachan unit that witnessed the ravings of the Fallen we ran to ground this morning are deployed on the other side of this subterranean manufactorum's cooling vents.  Squads Zanthor and Scalprum are moving into position to ensure that whatever the guard may have heard will not leave this world." 

The long awaited meeting between my Dark Angels and the picture perfect Catachans of the Wachtmeister's 40K2ndAC army finally occurred and it was great fun.  It was my first game with the 2nd edition ruleset since I was a teen.  The combination of nostalgia for the old days and the satisfaction of fielding the colorful 2nd edition army I've been working on for the last year was an awesome feeling.  Unfortunately that feeling didn't translate into onboard success since the Catachans defeated my Dark Angels 12VP to 5 VP.  However since I play more for the love of the game rather than competitiveness, getting our asses handed to us by a bunch of baseline humans was only a small speed bump in the road to pure happiness that this classic game generated.  The Wachtmeister took notes during the game so I will leave the detailed battle report to him.  Follow along after the jump for some awesome pictures of the action and a version of the events that fits with the perceptions of my members of the 1st Legion...

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!

2nd Squadron, 2nd Company

 Squad Validus

Let's ignore for the moment the fact that the two flags in this picture are going in different directions, physics in the 41st millennium are weird ;-)

Roaring into battle this month are the first finished Ravenwing models I have added to my army.  Composed of the three bikes from the Dark Vengeance starter set plus an attack bike I lightly kitbashed to make it more Ravenwing.  They have been seeing a lot more use for me on the tabletop lately as my son and I play through a crusade campaign and I explore the new rules upgrades for Ravenwing in 9th addition.  These were the first unit out of the Dark Vengeance box that I painted, but do to a lack of confidence in my transfer and bannering skills I only recently fully finished them so I'll take the easy win of posting them here.  Follow along after the jump for pictures of these fast moving battle brothers of the Ravenwing...

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #134

 

Ahhhh 1991, when you didn't have to contemplate why a Dark Angels officer with Terminator honors was leading a squad of Blood Angels tactical marines on a space hulk :-)

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.