CINDERS OF WAR

Battle Report Blood Angels vs Raven Guard

2012-02-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

No photos this time as this game was played under a time constraint, so I'll have to rely on my narrative skills to relay the events of my most recent game:

Raven Guard (Marc)
Shrike
Terminators (lightning claw)
Vanguard Vets
2 Tactical squads in Drop Pods
1 Squad in a Laser Cannon Razorback
Dreadnought with two Twin Linked Auto Cannons
Scouts
...I think that's it.

Blood Angels (Moi')
Terminator Librarian (Fear of Darkness, Unleash Rage)
Death Company (Hammer, 2 Power Swords, 2 Chain Swords)
Death Company Dreadnought (Mag Grapples, Blood Claws, Melta, Heavy Flamer)
2 Assault Squads of 10 models with Laser Razorback (2 Melta, Power Fist)
Sanguinary Priest (stock load out)
Baal Predator (Flamestorm, Heavy Flamers)

My strategy:
Combat Squad for any mission having 4 or more objectives. Everything starts on the board (except Dawn of War) with Baal in reserve to outflank. For Dawn of War, only Death Co. and Librarian deploys.

Terrain Agreement: True Line of Sight. No area terrain (there weren't any ruins or trees) only two of the 3 spires are impassable. No dangerous terrain.

We roll: Seize Ground (5! Objectives! C'MON!) Dawn of War. Objectives get grouped at the south end of the board. I loose the initiative but he elects to go second. Death Co. deploys as far forward as possible but I divide them: Dread mid board and Jumpers at the south side. Razor back with 5 models deploys across from the Death Co Dread. He then drops infiltrators: Scouts and Shrike attached to Terminators and loiter at the north end with scouts in difficult terrain. I start to think about how to remove Shrike, The Terminators and the Scouts before turn 2. He goes to seize the initiative...rolls a 3.

Turn 1, Blood Angels.

I combat squad my Assault Marines putting the Meltas and Fist of each in their respective Razorbacks and march one towards the nearest objective making a clear and open challenge. Also moving are both Death Co. Then I tank shock the Terminator/Shrike unit with Razor 1 and force them to fall back. Another tank shock from Razor 2 against the scouts pushes them out of difficult terrain. The fourth combat squad comes in behind the scouts. Everyone jumps out of the Razorbacks and start pouring into the scouts and Terminators.

Turn 1, Raven Guard
Shrike and Terminators fall back some more. Drop Pod hits the north end, Auto Cannon Dread marches on. His Laserback grants the Death Co. Dread the Emperor's Peace. Auto Cannon Dread starts to work on the Death Co. Jumpers and I start loosing models.

Turn 2, Blood Angels
Those that can, embark and a Razorback launches after the retreating Shrikenators. The second Razorback hurls itself at the newly arrived Tactical squad but they dodge it. The assault squad that marched in at the north end begins a sprint towards the objectives at mid board. The Death Co. moves in on the Autocannon Dread. More firing into Shrikenators thins the unit out a bit. The Librarian introduces the tactical squad I couldn't shock to the Darkness and they break. No need to assault.

Turn 2, Raven Guard
The Shrikenators and Tactical Squad continue their retreat. Second of his Drop Pods hit along with the Vanguards using Heroic Intervention. More shooting thins down the Death Co. to just a Hammer, Lemartes and a Power Sword. The Vets throw themselves at the assault squad camping out on an objective and reduce them to one guy with a chainsword.

Turn 3, Blood Angels
Baal comes in from reserve outflanking. My plan is to rush the newly arrive tactical squad at the south end of the board and vaporize them. Then, when my last assault marine in the nearby close combat falls to Lightning Claws, fry the Vanguards. Only I roll the opposite direction so the Baal comes in at the north. At least it can help push the retreating units off the table. I claim the objective near my Librarian and make for the mid board objectives. The Death Co. Assault the Auto Cannon Dread and does nothing.

Turn 3, Raven Guard
The retreating units inch ever closer to the edge of the world. Only cursory shooting from drop pods and Dreadnought to no real effect. The retreating Tactical Squad does manage to break an Assault Squad and they fall back towards a Laserback. The Laserback breaks for the south east objective and deploys it's five marines on it. Death Co. finally in sight and range of a target they could fight...but no...they're too busy raging against the machine. Vanguards mop up then hop north to contest objectives.

Turn 4, Blood Angels
The retreating Assault Squad Knows No Fear and manages to get it's head back in the game and its collective rumps back in a Laserback. Said Laserback then Mach Vs to the mid board objective and lands its. I'm telling you, dozer blades are so WORTH IT! The Baal mimics and manages to put itself between the two retreating masses of models and withing 6" of each. The rest of the forces push towards objectives which, at this point, may as well be on another table. The Deatch Co Jumpers chase the Autocannon Dread some more.

Turn 4, Raven Guard
More retreating. The Autocannon Dread pulls back into the south east corner. The vanguards are on their way to the Librarian (it looks like that, though he could break east and go to the mid board objective). The south board tactical squad claims that objective. Then the Laserback launches up the hill and bumps into my Laserback nullifying my claim on the mid board objective.

Time gets called and the game ends. Raven Guard wins 2 to 1. We both agree that the Baal's missed opportunity swayed much of the game, but it was my reaction to Shrike, Terminators and Snipers that assisted.

Overall thoughts:

So keeping the Dozer Blades. May be thinking of starting the board with the Death Co. Dread and Deep Striking the Jumpers so that they don't get too distracted. The other option is to loose their packs and stuff them in a Rhino until the time is right. Ultimately, I like to put the Jumpers in a Storm Raven and DoA on select targets but the tourney I'm playing in has a comp and it would cost me. It may also be prudent to start the board with the Baal. It's fast and could easily catch up and support if a deployment goes against my expectations. I'm considering replacing the Razorbacks, or at least one, with Rhinos so I could get the whole assault squad down board if needed when I don't combat squad them.

Some sets of terrain I did for GEG

2012-01-31T12:09:00.000-08:00

It was great seeing my terrain in use during the opening of the CoC. Based on the responses and opinions I got from some of the players, it seems that the terrain not only looked well, but played well. Here's a few pics I took at the tournament.

Island terrain set. I'm planning a fully modeled board with larger pieces of terrain that can be moved about for variety.

Here's a detail shot of the Island center piece. I like the way the cave turned out.

Here's the Snow set. Based on the Battle of Hoth complete with a Wampa cave.

A detail shot of the Wampa along with gratuitous art label nested in the cave. Sculpting the Wampa was a lot of fun. I researched the creature through several sources and noted that it would only be a head or two taller than a Space Marine. I went with a slightly larger scale to make it look more menacing.

Here's a shot of my brother's army on the board I made him. It's 24"x24" on expanded foam based on hard board and included some ruins and rubble terrain.

Great Escapes' Contest of Champions 2012

2012-01-31T00:17:00.001-08:00

1250 Blood Angels
Opponents:
Raven Guard
Chaos Daemons
Black Templars

Results: 3 losses
Impressions:
I feel I performed better with my Tau in last year's opening event than with the Blood Angels which only reinforces what I should have remembered and done: play the army you plan to play. To be honest, I built the list from a gun line perspective with Laser Cannon Razorbacks and a Devastator when I should have remembered that the Blood Angels are all about Close Combat. I gave myself only a few practice games and really should have clocked at least a game a week over the winter break. Familiarization of a list is not something you have just by building it; there should be as many games as possible with that list before the tournament. So I'll not be faulting my choice of units but rather my poor tactics and limited strategy.

As for my opponents: Each was as much fun to play against as I could hope for. It's a good feeling to walk away from a lose and still feel that the game was good.

Some shots of the games and the armies my Blood Angels faced

First Round: Raven Guard featuring 2 Landspeeders, Bikes, Scouts, TermiCaptain with Terminators and two Tacticals. You can see from the first photo that I wasn't really paying attention to the missions and the army.
Sometime along mid game, I remembered that I was playing Blood Angels and having lost the LasCans and Demolisher, dove into my opponent. Live and learn...assault marines are for assaulting.

Not too sure what I was hiding for...old habits?

One fun moment of the game was tank shocking terminators.

Round two was against a beautifully modeled and customized army of Chaos Daemons using mostly Slaanesh units. My deployment felt a bit more thought out. I knew that the Seekers would be fast, but somehow forgot that my Baal Preditor would have more fun with them than the Daemonites.

Daemonette "Mermaids" advance on an immobilized Razorback. It got exploded, so the AMs inside weren't destroyed right off. Lyzz had the Daemonettes encircled about the Razorback.

A Herald of Slaanesh; my VIP target.

Another fun moment: Terminators, led by the Librarian, versus a Daemon Prince/King Crab.

Last round of the day went fairly quick. A single objective with table quarters added to the fun that is the good old fashioned annihilation mission. By this time, I was really getting the swing of the Blood Angels and was having a good time with the Baal Predator. Deep Striking Terminators into the open, while good for avoiding mishaps, is lethal when done in front of a Land Raider. Last time I challenged one of them was the last time I used Tau Stealth Suits with Fusion Blasters.

The remains of the Terminator unit scrambled up the hill to claim only to be reminded who the true king of the hill would be.

The southern end of the field was pretty much too far away to do anything useful.

Forest Battle Terrain

2012-01-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Forest Battle. Approximately 6 square feet of terrain. This set was originally themed on the Battle of Endor and was to include ruined huts and platforms. (You can see the original notes here) After I began to assemble the core elements I began to see the set for what it wanted to be. So I set aside the original concept for a latter project. This result is more flexible as it could be used for both 40k and Fantasy Battles.
I'm looking forward to playing it.

Enjoy!

Ideas for Terrain Sets

2011-12-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

I've been designing and building sets of terrain for my local game store, Great Escapes Games and it's been a great opportunity and lots of fun. The only problem is that I've yet to build a set of terrain for use at home. So, while I work on a Forrest Battle set for the upcoming Contest of Champions, I began work on a set that could be used in 40k.

After some initial sketches and a rough plan for number and size of pieces, I start off the building process by making a test piece. The one pictured here is near completion with only the windows and door to be detailed. There aren't any other in progress photos because I didn't think to take any...I'll try not to let that happen any more. The concept came from Riddly Scott's approach to set design in Blade Runner - Retro Fitting. I'll have several structures taken from various architectural periods and regions and then muck up the facades with bitz and gubbins. It'll have an overall Steam/Diesel Punk feel but be well within the scope of W40K.

As for the Forrest Battle set: I've completed the test piece. It measures 6" x 9" by 5" tall. The fallen branch was sculpted out of balsa wood, the broken tree trunk was sculpted from polymer clay.

Here's a shot of the notes for the set. As you can see, it's themed around the ruins of a forest encampment. The dimensions indicated are just a rough idea based on 25% table coverage. After the test piece was done, I'm opting for many smaller pieces of terrain that could be grouped together to form large areas of cover or spread out to allow for more open play. Smaller pieces, like the 6"x9" test piece, can be inter mixed with the existing terrain so several tables could benefit from the theme. There will be one or two larger models with multiple levels.

To be updated....

C!nder

1750 Raven Guard vs. the Firewalkers

2011-06-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

I've been playing the Tau for almost three years straight now. There have been other armies: Tyranids, Orks, the odd Vanilla Marine, Dark Eldar (4th edition) and now Blood Angels. I don't know what the appeal really is. The army as a whole lacks in several key places even on it's strong points: having access to some really shooty toys as it is hobbled with a poor BS. In spite of having skimmers and jet packs, they're not nearly as fast or fast enough to outrun assaults which happen to be their weakest point of all even among their so-called "best close combat unit" - the Kroot (which don't even have a save!). So why play them...like I said, it's hard to say. I guess it's really the challenge. With the Tau, there is no forgiveness for shoddy tactics. Strategy is solid and widely accepted: as many Crisis Suits as you can, the minimum troops anyway you want them and get some rail guns and markerlights in the mix. Tactics is where it all comes together or falls maddeningly apart. It's kinda the reward for this army. You know that if you loose, it won't be because you were faced down with an army that rolls 2+ on everything except it's leadership...it's because your strategy went up table while your tactics loitered in the deployment zone. I'm not going to talk tactics because I still have some go-to generals that can talk a lot better on the topic. Just remind you that all the list echoing means nothing if you don't know how to use the units at the right time. That being said, these five little Shas-Las lasted one turn after their Devilfish was vaporized. But it was enough to whittle Shrike's Wing down to one. Ultimately, the game ended with Tau at 8 kill points and Raven Guard at 10. Not bad for a mission Tau don't play well into and it could have been a draw if I remembered that rail guns ruin SM vehicles quite easily.

Tau Terrain - Crashed Lander

2010-08-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've always been impressed with the crashed Aquila Lander that GW included with the Battle for McCragge boxed set. The idea that terrain needn't be just ruined buildings and foliage was exciting. I experimented with a few models of my own: wrecked Dread Naught, burnt out automobiles and mass grave pits. All were kinda fun to build and gave a slightly more grim feel to the game, but lacked any great versatility as they were mostly single piece terrain. I wanted something a bit more complex, larger but without dominating the table. The result was my own take on the crashed lander but with a Xenos twist: The Tau Lander.


Battle Suit to show scale

The ship itself is from the sci-fi story Perry Rhodan and is called the Glador. The kit was fairly unimpressive and had been knocking around on my hobby table until it got knocked off the table. That's when the idea hit me to build a xenos version of the Aquila Lander. The crater walls are polystyrene, plaster and HO scale coal all coated in a heavy application of glue. The lander was called the Twin Blade. Here's some more photos. Enjoy!

UPDATE

The Lander terrain is now on consignment at Great Escapes Games.

Old Collectable to Functional Terrain

2010-06-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

A few years back these cold cast statues were released for Warhammer 40K. I bought two, one of the Firewarrior and the other a Space Marine. During a recent foray into some storage boxes, I found the Space Marine...off his base and busted. Seems that was one of the boxes that got dropped during a move. It happens and isn't the end as I'm well versed in the repair of fragile collectibles. As I worked on the statuette, I got an idea: why not convert it to terrain. GW has released several monument styled models for use in Imperial settings, this statuette is just the right for that job. So, with a few rough ideas, materials and a handful of hours, I was able to produce this monument to the tactical marine.

Enjoy.

Field Testing BatRep 20100512

2010-05-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

Here's the set up:

Capture and Control, Spearhead, 1750.

Goals: Training game for the Great Escape Games' Contest of Champions 1750 tourney. Both my brother and I are trying out some recent tweaks to the lists. For him, it's a no frills mechanized army with meltas,heavy flamers and late game outflanking. For me, I'm exploring the possibilities of Piranhas and Monats Deep Striking: late game objective rushing.

Marc loads everything but the Vendetta and Valk onto the board. I place a scoring Devilfish with Firewarriros, the Hammerhead, both Broadside teams and the HQ goes as close to "Boot Hill" as possible. Two DF, Piranha and the three Monats are in reserve. It seems clear we're both going for a late game rush on our opponent's objectives.

Marc has turn one and immediately begins pounding away at the HQ. I loose both bodyguards. Unlike most other players I face, Marc's not ignoring my Broadsides and makes good a few direct hits to start working on them. On my turn, I launch missiles and Plasma riffle from the HQ with no real effect. The Broadsides and Hammerhead begin dismantling the Chimeras to get to the troops inside. One pops and dumps the survivors. The Hammerhead delivers a pie full of sub-munition and his troops eat it up.

Turn two: The Vendeta arrives outflanking opposite side of my Objective. He begins to push across his deployment zone with three Chimeras then his las-can teams pulp the Commander. I loose a drone off Beta Team Broadsides as well. I manage two Monats to Dead Center behind his Vendetta. The 'El AFPs the deployed team and the TL MP immobilizes the Vendetta; Broadside Beta then Shakes it. On the IG side of the board, I focus my Railguns on the advancing Chimeras. Lots of cover on the board, my set up is pretty terrain heavy...which some would complain about being too distracting.

Turn Three to Five: I'm seeing an effective draw here. With his Valk arriving then wrecked, the loss of one of my Broadside teams and the shredding of both my Monats, its down to his creeping Chimeras and the second of my Devilfish with the Piranha as support. In a selfish act of preservation, I don't race the Piranha up as originally intended. Bad choice, it becomes the focus of IG fire for the next two turns until it's demise in turn five. In the meantime, the Tau have managed to cripple two of the three remaining Chimeras and fend off an assault of IG with Firewarriors. The FW get cut down by return fire in turn six after routing the IG, but the decidedly non-Tau move pays off again and draws fire away from my castle. By turn Six, Marc has run a Chimera right up to my doorstep. The Devilfish, Broadsides and Hammerhead go Robotech on the disembarked passengers and take them out to the man in the fifth turn. I've no pressence even near his deployment zone let alone his Objective; not for trying with one last Monat's attempt to deepstrike and fail. The game goes to turn six and here we see the Tau do what they're not supposed to be able to do. The last Chimera makes a 12" rush on my Objective. Railguns fail to do anything but shake and stun. Then the Broadsides assault...out of six dice, one penns and rolls a five. The game draws.

Battle Report - Weds 24 Feb 2010

2010-02-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

GREETINGS.

Here's a summary of Wednesday's game at Great Escapes Games:
IG vs Tau at 1500
Pitched Battle/Annihilation (AGAIN!!!)

Tau won the initiative but yielded it to IG with the idea of being
able to see how the IG would set up and be able to score the
last KP of the game.

Here's the deployment:

and from the other end of the table:

As you can see, the Tau should work more on deployment...
Which would prove to be their bane for the game.

Turn one saw moderate weapons fire and the Infiltrated
Stealth Team began to work on the Guard holed up in the
pillbox (The "newer" looking bit at the North West corner) in
classic Jump Shoot Jump style.

Turn Two brought in both the second Stealth Team and the
Monat TLFB/SG Crisis suit (called the Arbiter). Concentrated
fire then brought down the Hellhound. The IG began to bomb
the board in earnest.

Turns Three and Four were straight attrition as both sides
worked the dice. Tau rolled a 14 for Armor Pen!

However cool that was...it's still a cocked die and had to be
rerolled for a stellar null effect on the Russ.

By the top of the Fifth Turn, both Stealth Teams, the Arbiter, a Devilfish, a
6 man Firewarrior Team and 2 man Broadside Team decided
they'd had enough and left courtesy of the IG. The Commander had been playing prairie dog with the Vets via the hanger which has no fire points. The Vets got bored and booted out.

Closing of the Fifth: Tau 1, IG 6

Here are some more photos of the well painted IG and WIP Tau:

Battle Report: IG vs. Tau 1500 points

2010-02-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

originally posted by me on the Great Escapes Games forum...go check it out!

BatRep: 05-02-2010: Friday Night 40K League

Opponents: Chris (Tau) and Chris M (IG) at 1500

This was a great game with lots to learn from.

Our game started off with a stellar roll: Annihilation, Dawn of War. The Tau won the initiative; the IG attempted to seize and did not.
Turn one saw every unit enter the board except the Pathfinders and Stealth Team. Tau took to the center of the board with HQ and Broadsides. To either side of the table were a team of Firewarriors in Develfish. The IG set up fairly evenly…I’ll try to recall all the units: two Russes, a Demolisher and two Chimeras at center with a Vendetta at either end and the HQ with a Combined Squad camped out in area cover and behind hills. By the end of turn one, it was very clear that the Demolisher would be the bane of the Tau.

Mid Game: the IG was well ahead having taken out both Firewarrior Teams' Devilfish and a Firewarrior team. The Tau HQ lost all its Drones as did the accompanying Broadside. The second Broadside did well against the Vendettas, downing both and forcing the IG out; however, once on the ground, the North end squad (forced out of the downed Vendetta) pacified the disembarked Firewarriors from a previous Destroyed Devilfish. Near the end, the Stealth Team finally “materialized” and attacked the North end squad, eliminating them. While the Broadsides worked feverishly to wreck a few more armor, the IG hung back and relied on its cover to last the day. By game’s close, it was Tau 3, IG 5.

This Commander’s Retrospect:

After my deployment, I made several key mistakes: most notorious was attempting to press inwards with the Fish/Warriors and Pathfinders instead of falling back to the hills and staying out of LOS. Disruption Pods do wonders at keeping 4 shots, that don’t need line of sight, on the table…if you make the rolls. I didn’t need to gamble that as there was no need for the Fish/Warriors to be active in this fight. The Pathfinders would have had plenty of room in the area cover that I had. The other mistake was keeping the Stealthteam in reserve. They did their points worth once in and could have done more if brought in on turn one. Aside from the Devilfish (which failed their Obscured rolls epically) , they were my most mobile and hard to hit unit.

The Tau doesn’t do attrition, assault or armor very well (they really can’t “surf”). What they do well is bend the rules of the game with Jet Packs, Smart Missiles and Markerlights...essentially; they hide and sap their opponents until either the force in ineffectual to the mission or charging into a kill zone. Each time I've tested a tactic counter to this, it ends very badly. The key will be to minimize my army's footprint and cover its tracks.

Chris M took the photos. We agreed that set up, mid game and closing would be enough with alternate vantage points.

Selling off my War Table...

2010-01-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm selling this two part 4'x4' table to make way for a larger, single piece table. The table is composed of two 2'x4' pieces made of wood. As you can see, I've reinforced the underside to keep the thing level. I used this laid across a 3' x 4' folding table. The texture is very light and was achieved with a rattle can of textured paint. Paint was then sprayed on in layers and sealed in a semigloss over coat. There is no flock, grass or surface detail as I intended to make several area terrain pieces that could be moved about for different effects. The edges are painted black. Both tables can be easily lifted by an average sized adult in decent health. I have them currently leaning up in the entry way as temporary storage.

If you're interested in purchasing these, respond to the Craig's List Ad I have. I'll remove this post, the ad and the link when the table sells.

I'm asking cost of materials with a little extra to compensate the time to put it all together: $25 each or both for $40. I'm looking for Sacramento local sales only unless you're willing to drive here to pick them up.

Burnt Toast....

2009-11-03T20:29:00.001-08:00

Tau Utility Building from Cookie package

2009-09-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

This article is more a "How I did it" than a "How To"...hopefully, it will inspire you to reconsider your grocery packaging...

As any gamer I know will tell you, the main groups of approved snacks when miniature gaming are: nuts, m&ms, pretzels, veggies (without a dip) and cookies...these are "approved" as they generally don't leave a greasy fingerprint on your minis or get your dice all gummy. In my house, cookies are king! However, since I'm lucky enough to have family that loves to bake, I don't come across very many package opportunities. Well, I scored a few weeks back! I was craving ginger bread cookies and so, I was rewarded! The tray disappeared over the course of a couple of games and soon I was off to convert it!!!

So, the first step was to look the tray over and get an inspiration...this one was pretty obvious: SHIELD GENERATOR!! though I decided on a generic title just so that I don't put any preconceived notions out there and limit the scope.

The next main step was to decide if I wanted a ruin or intact building and how much of the package I was to use. I decided on intact and to just use the bottom half...saving the lid for something else...maybe a landing pad!!

After cutting the parts apart and trimming off the ridge, it would just get in the way for my vision, I marked out a pattern on some 5mm foam board to act as a base. I don't like using foam board for a base on intact buildings because it curls over time...but I wasn't feeling like waiting around to get to the shop to have some board cut...so FB for now.

Because these packages are typically vacuum formed, they will be somewhat fragile and wont survive some gamer leaning on it as they get a better reach for their minis. So, you'll need to brace the structure from the inside...I used 5mm foam board and constructed a simple T brace with supports.

These were glued into place. White glue works well enough for this as they will just need to be held stable until bonded to the base.

As you can see, the structure supports the plastic form well enough to endure at least seven pound patio stone.

Now to hide the seam between the plastic tray and the base...If this was a ruin, I'd just use the typical debris and ground cover to obscure the seam...however, since I decided to build an intact model, I'll need to use something else...FENCING!!

The photo shows progress a few steps ahead...it's all basic..so I'll give you my technique... When working purely from inspiration and no plans, it's best to start your barriers from the corner of the model. As you can see in this photo, I cut a section of foam board into a strip about half an inch tall and long enough to round a corner. Now curving foam board isn't too easy, so here's a trick: remove the paper from the side of the FB that will be inside the curve! That's it. Practice with removing the paper will produce better results. You can wet the paper with water to soften it up or just have at it with a fingernail until you get a corner going. Again, once the corners were in place, I custom fit the straight bits to finish the perimeter then custom fitted some posts to again hide the seams...well...sort of.

To give the model some points of interest, I cut some squares from FB and slotted it to receive card stock fins to act as a radiator...not sure if the Tau use such things, but I like the look and it breaks up the surfaces.

Additional detail came in the form of some panel lines cut into card stock to be fitted to the tops of each half of the model. The easiest way I find to do this is to draw out your pattern then, using patience, a metal straight edge and a hobby knife, make shallow cuts along those lines. Afterwords, take a sculpting tool with a fairly blunt end and score into the cuts, widening them slightly. I glued these panels down with PVA and then ran a bead around the seam to seal the edges of the card stock to keep it from flaring during painting.

After I glued the cookie tray to the base, added the walls, radiator fins and roof panels, I scored some lines along the perimeter of the base to indicated slabs of concrete and again, break up the simpleness of the model. Now for priming...I use clear acrylic glaze or gesso to cover the foam parts...even if it's under paper. I tint these so I can see where I've already sealed and get an idea of how well I sealed. This is important if you plan to use spray paints as they will eat up the foam pretty bad.

Once all that has been done, I got ready to paint....Primer was Skull White from GW...I like the smoothness and it bonds pretty good to most of the materials I use. Be sure to give a solid, even coat and don't linger when you spray as you'll get what is called "draping" and runs. So use several light coats and let them dry a bit between sprays. Now that priming is out of the way, off to painting. For my Tau, I reference a lot out of Star Wars, especially Tattooine. I wanted to build an atmosphere that the building is part of a quickly built up outpost on some nearly barren world...good for it's resources and current strategic significance. So I use a lot of Vomit Brown, Bestial Brown and Scorched Earth for deep recess and Bleached Bone, Skull White and Snakebite Leather for details and raised surfaces. When making several buildings for a table, try to use some colors throughout them that are common...it helps to tie things together visually and looks rite polished besides.

And here's the finished Utility Building!

Some additional details may include Cadre specific markings, maybe an aerial or perhaps a input/output panel...None of my works are ever truly finished as I'm always thinking of ways to improve them...

Enjoy!

Cinder

Something a little different

2009-08-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

In addition to 40K, I also play Magic: the Gathering and a few of the Wizkids Pocketmodels games...namely the Pirates of the Cursed Seas game. I've been collecting and playing this game since it first came out; and while I have since traded/sold off a lot of the collection, I still have quite a bit left.

A few weekends ago, I got into a conversation with an other PotCS player and the topic of custom islands came up...

Now, I had sculpted four such islands almost within of month after the game's premier relese, but hadn't done all that much of detail to them other than paint and light flock...

Since that conversation, I had started designing a whole new set of custom islands, pictured above, to compliment my play mat, made from a section of artist canvas that had been laundered about a half dozen times to get the right texture and effect. For the islands, I wanted to present elements from the game and popular pirate themed stories...

See if you can figure out what key elements each island refers too...

...te...cal....fa....re...

2009-08-26T20:26:00.001-07:00

Lost the camera over the weekend, so I'll be posting without pics for a while...either that, or in really low res ones (by means of an old Mavica I have...ew).

I hope to have a battle report for the blog by this Saturday...and will most likely rely on my golden story telling skills....

Finished the Comms Relay

2009-08-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

This piece is Communications Relay, or Comms Relay, to be used in games of Planet Strike...

Of course, this one is Imperial specific, though Orks could loot it...

The next project is to build one for Tau and perhaps something a wee bit more Orky.

-Shas Zam

Tau City Defense Base for Planet Strike

2009-08-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

This little project has been limping along for a month or two...now with Warhammer 40k, Planetstrike I have no excuse but to finish it up. I'll have to order the Rail Guns for the Defense Pods and perhaps take advantage of the forthcoming Gun Drone spru as well.

Essentially, the Defense Base will consist of the elements shown above with a defense line and minefield markers to come soon. There will also be another Hanger as well as a ruined one, just for fun. Okay, now I've opened my big mouth and put in print...no turning back!

Craters are Fun

2009-08-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

With the release of Planet Strike, I've been given yet another reason to build up my terrain stores. Typically, I'll go through a run of builds then sell them all off for army elements. I've gotten a bit attached to these results, however, so I'll have to make more (darn) to fund my Ork and Tau expansions.

MiniWarGaming Group Build #9 Planet Strike

2009-08-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

So, MiniWarGaming.com has these monthly building challenges. Each is themed and you have a few weeks to complete the challenge. My entry for this month is a Bastion to be used in a forthcoming game of 40K Planet Strike. Click HERE for the topic that features my earlier posts.

Now for the details:

I started off with a $1 store Styrofoam cooler. Kinda small as coolers would go, but just the shape and size for an Imperial defense post or Bastion, as the game calls them. Of course, I could have just as easily used foam board for the whole construction, but the cooler was an easy find and 60% of the structural build up already done. Maybe the next Bastion will be all foam board...who knows.

First some idea bashing...how to get this to look like a defense post and not just an upside down styro cooler.

...I start by trimming off the bits that don't make sense or I'll be converting to something else...

This baby's gonna need to loose some weight to get that nice, tower like balance....

After a test fit of the parts...I decide more chops are needed, plus I consider fire slits ...
but change my mind and go with traditional fire points...the large ones on the third level are for heavy automated weapons like Heavy Bolters (I'll have to either scratch build or buy the bits). I also ditched the ornate gothic blast door (save it for a later project perhaps) and go with the quick and easy octagonal one...

A bit more detail and off to sealing and priming... I used Liquitex clear gesso...it has a fine grain tooth and seals the foam nicely in case I use arisol paints. Prime is Chaos Black...

While this dries...I made some servitors...well, that's the best I can equate them to. I think they're like a combo flood light, siren, camera and comms node. I only need four, but since I plan to build a couple of bunkers/bastions, it was a good idea to make more.

The components were styrene stock from a train hobby store, some bits off a refinery model (also hobby train related) some wire and polymer clay for the skulls. Rather than "cookie cut" (use a mold) I decided to hand sculpt these as it would give each one just that much more individualism...the idea is that there were actual skulls; metal coated (why they're slightly larger than an in scale one would be) as a means of honoring a fallen warrior. The final touch was a drop of hot glue to form the lenses of the optics.

more on this as progress proceeds....

UPDATE 11 AUG 2009

Added more details and tightened up the paint job a bit. Still more to go, but it's table worthy as it is now...

Something Else:

Also found at the Dollar Store/99cents are these tortilla keepers. Again, flip, chop the lid, add a blast door...

On to textures and paint...Tau Bastion!!!

UPDATES ON IMPERIAL BASTION

Dug out three Heavy Bolters then realized that I was one short!! So, since I'd pretty much have to scratch build one (or buy a kit-too spendy right now; order the bits online-too impatient right now) I figure I might as well build all four! No need to build the whole weapon as only the muzzle sticks out of the fire point, which made my job really easy!

Here's the scrath built muzzles with the three actuals I used for reference:

Once I get the coin together, I'll be picking up a couple Razor Backs to add to my Orks' Looted Wagons and then I'll have my Heavy Bolters along with some other Planet Strike fodder!

The next step was to build a comms array. This was designed using photos out of the Planet Strike book. Took less than an hour and a half to put all this together...

It's about 50/50 GW bits and hobby stock... the comms relay isn't really part of the project, but since I had the materials out already, I figured it'd be a good addition...

The mini is from an older version of the Mutant Chronicles game, Doomtrooper. He's been my size reference on terrain for nearly five years now, though I'm pretty sure he's older than that.

Once the glue dries on all this, I'll get to painting and installing the Heavy Bolters. I may actually be done with the project after that...unless another idea hits me...

UPDATE: 14 AUG 2009: PROJECT COMPLETE!!

Defense Post LM-17 is now complete and ready to serve!! Overall, I'm happy with the results! There will be other details added as this model sees action...one of the things I do is add battle damage, kill markings and various other elements as games progress...there's a building I have that had gotten so consistantly "bombed" throughout games that I've finally converted it into a ruin...but for now...this piece is done.

I decided to hold off on the Comms Array for now...other ideas taking over and all...

Shas Zam out.

Mini of the Month entry for June at Miniwargaming.com

2009-06-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

This was the "extra" boss I had from the second Assault on Black Reach set I picked up a while back. When the contest for MiniWargaming.com's Mini Of the Month came up, I couldn't resist converting it into a Boss in Full WAAAAAGH!

Hmmm...after a quick and gratuitous primer and paint of the fleshy bits, I can begin to see where this mini is heading....to the CHOPAS!!

Now to put it all back together the way I want it...

As usual, I dove into my bits box and grabbed a few bits along the theme of a debris strewn battle field which included cut offs from hole punches, plastic rod and a deck plate looking piece. I then added some cut down model spru and fine sand. I beefed up the shoulders with styrene card and fabricated a custom Boss Pole. The helmet is from a Fantasy line Ogre. I raised his head and filled in the gap with a Humie's skull. The belt was from a Dark Eldar jet bike and the balls and chain came from the bits tray of a local games store. Not sure what figure set they're from. The final touch was the chain blade from an Ork Nob. Not sure how that piece will play into the rules for the mini, but it LOOKS KOOL!!

Platinum Brush entry for MiniWarGamin.com

2009-04-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is my entry to the Platinum Brush Contest titled "Tau Pathfinder Shas Zam". The name actually comes from my brother's jeering about the Tau's name for Warrior. So, in true annoyingly Tau fashion, I adopted it as the name of my Cadre's Captain. Here's the post at MiniWarGaming.Com

And here's a few pics as well...

Next post: Zam faces off against the Black Knights Space Marines!

Gunnery Sergeant Apone

2009-04-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my entries for Mini War Gamming's Platinum Brush Painting Contest.
I spent a few more hours than I care to remember on him, but am happy with the result. Entry deadline is April 13th, and I'm hoping for a win. You can check out the entire entry at:

Sgt. Apone

Meanwhile, just outside of the Ore System....

2009-03-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Tyranids and Orks contest a Space Hulk culminating in a decisive attack in the hulk's agrihold...

The Ork force quickly splits in two in a maneuver to pincer the Tyranids...

...yet as fast as the Orks are, Tyranids are just that much faster and close the distance before the tactic bears out. The Boyz Mob takes a serious wallop...

But int the end, a lone Warrior is all that is testimony to the might and brutality of the Ork Beast!!

The Enemy Is On The Move

2009-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

War has broken out in the Sedio V Sector of the Semtexian system.
Colonel Veers of the 503rd Cadian Responds! More to follow............................

So...what's going on?!?!

2009-03-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

My brother and I have been playing a few games a month now for about 5 months under the 5th edition rules. In that time, we have taken enough photos of the games to pretty much compose a story board of mayhem, destruction and all kinds of fun!

So, coming soon: PHOTOS!!