"It's a project i've certainly been contemplating for a while."
Thus started my previous army build. This one, however, was one i didn't know i was doing until it started emerging from the printer (more or less).
There has been a bit of local chatter regarding playing some 30k Epic (regular is 40k era), so Horus Heresy (aka HH). We're looking at doing some games at the start of next year (2021) to give people time to put together some kind of 30k appropriate army - plus of course we will continue to play regular 40k based for people who don't want to get into the 30k thing too.
So i was looking at my print-queue wishlist and i've long had the idea of putting together a Sons of Horus (a fabulous green-blue army) or my fall back Imperial Fists (which can double down on duty within 40k).
For reasons not entirely know i decided instead on Death Guard (DG). These are back from the lime-light in terms of HH fiction and fluff - a less popular faction from my still limited knowledge.
Not normally the kind of army i'd consider myself playing but i'm actually warming to the idea quite a lot and looking forward to seeing how the project pans out.
They're a chaos/traitor faction and aligned with Nurgle (one of the four chaos gods, specifically of disease and pestilence... perhaps there's a mind-worm regarding the media bleating on endlessly re current RL events).
Generally i prefer running loyalist forces, with the exception of having a mix of 'opposing forces' to i) learn how they work, ii) to be able to mix up the armies being played in the local meta, or iii) provide an opposing force for my opponent if they only do loyalists too.
The 30k era version of the game runs off the normal rules, so a short learning curve there, however the army structures are a bit different - though the differences largely reflect fluff aspects for the various factions rather than major structural changes.
The 30k era is a 'civil war' setting, with 9 vs 9 Astartes legions facing off, plus loyal and traitor guard (regular humans/army), titans, knights, and naval fleets. There are few/no non-human based forces in the 'official' epic lists with the exception of demons; so no Eldar, Orks, Tau etc.
My plan to start on an Eldar force has once again been shimmied down the list. Oh well.
So i started looking at the lists and working out how the formations and units work in general, and also the specifics for the DG. Some time later i've compiled a general print queue and the printer has been off and running.
First off the rank is Mortarion. This is the Primarch (head-honcho) of the Death Guard. Can't wait to get this painted up as it will better show up the contours of the model. He's about twice the height of a regular marine model. The Primarchs were like super-enhanced and generally described as far taller than even the roided up Astartes.
Next i printed some Tartaros pattern terminators.
The 30k models i did previously were a different style so i had to quickly remodel some aspects of the armour. Turned out ok, and there's about 5 different poses. I don't actually intend to be using 'regular' terminators (though they may be required as part of Mortarion's retinue/body guard based on the list), but this (re)model paved the way for a DG specific variant which i was interested in.
The Death Shroud Terminators have space-scythe weapons and i've actually liked these models (28mm/full scale) for quite some time. I have some of the (28mm) helmets around which i intended for a different project (just a really simple style which i liked).
Anyway, these are the first of the 'regular' forces i have on my 'intend to use' list. And i may sub them in on the Mortarion retinue units (will have to check whether they're legal as two different sources say two different things).
Quite a bit to go obviously, but it all has to start somewhere.
This army will probably be a bit more substantial than the Custodes army. There will definitely be a larger variation on the model types being used, and probably 25%-50% larger in terms of model numbers being printed.
Old vs New Death Guard...
The Death Guard has seen some releases in recent times within the 40k era. Generally rotting corpse demons, zombie-esque hordes, and miasma-trailing plague marines are the theme, in sort of a bland khaki-based colour palette.
The 30k DG on the other had are a really neat/tidy force. A 'screaming skull'/bone coloured base with medium-green highlights. Really appeals in terms of painting for some reason. Eyes could do with a break from black or !!BLING!! most likely.
Later 2020-03-31
I remodelled the Fellblade, adding in a bunch of divots and bumps for textural variety. Not that you can see from here... but there is.
Have done all the infantry that was printed. Here the marines on the right are just base sprayed, the ones on the left have a wash of agrax.
Went with the chalky effect paint again, Baudeaux Cream. Quite happy with the finish and colour.
Speaking of paint... again i have accumulated quite a collection of leadbelcher pots (being the base colour for the Custodes probably contributed a bit). Probably four of those are all but empty, with little more than a sludgy smear at the bottom.
Skip ahead several session and the infantry are done. Not a great deal of variety in the type of units. 3 sets of Tacticals, 1 set of Regular Terminators, 1 set of Death Shroud Terminators, 1 Mortarion.
Mortarion turned out ok. Good enough anyway.
He's a bit of a shag-on-a-rock within the army. Most of the infantry models are quite solid and chunky, where as Mortarion is smooth planes, artsy contours and overall a bit nebulous. I don't hate it as it kind of adds a 'wraith-like' feel maybe.
I decided to leave the vehicles behind... hahaha apt (given fluff for this army)... and press ahead painting just the infantry to keep progress going.
In part because i was 3d modelling transports etc (which is still a WIP) and wanted to batch paint all the vehicles as much as possible. Now my printer is waiting for a part so i might end up doing the vehicles i have... which is just 6 Sicarans and 2 Fellblades.
Anyway the army is coming along nicely, with possible the majority of small fiddly painting done.
Until next time...
I have a new project underway at the moment. Another army... spoilers (expect posts soon).
After looking around the usual sources for a particular model i couldn't find what i was looking for. And the model i had made previously (even without looking) wasn't going to cut the mustard in resin.
Specifically I'm looking at a 'Storm Eagle' transport, which is a smaller variation of the Thunderhawk.
I decided to remodel a new one from scratch, which is well underway, but i thought i'd also lightly document the process i go. It's all very basic really, it's not super-pretty either but it gets a model made. i'm definitely no graphic artist, but in this instance - since no one already put in the work for me damn it - i guess i have to make it.
As a starting point this is my first iteration at a Storm Eagle (left - the right one is a Fire Raptor). It's super basic and it works for fdm - and that's all that can be said for it.
It would look rubbish amongst a resin resolution army.
The way i make 3d models is a VERY manual process. Normally i start with pictures as end/top/side-on as possible (schematics). I then trace around the image to get a starting point. Which end/top/side is used as 'picture 1' depends a lot on the model being done - here, it's 'top'.
In the diagram above you have the original pic (right), the traced over object (i have mirror imaged the two sides so what i do in one happens to the other, thus showing a 'complete' model), and the boxes show the relative 'end size' (wireframe) for a Thunderhawk (bigger), and Storm Eagle (smaller). I did a tiny bit of interwebs research to find the relative sizes of the two fictional vehicles.
In this case i also did a side on trace which wasn't as helpful as i'd thought. Anyway the process at this stage is all about connecting lines and extruding rectangles and triangles (pulling them into 3d solids from 2d shapes) until you get something vaguely resembling the desired object.
In the pic above i'm working on making the overall 'body' shape. the wings, trails and any fine detail are in the far future at this stage.
We skip ahead by many hours here...
The general 'blocking-in' of the vehicle is almost done. In the wireframe you can see a 'rescaled' version of the object at the front. this shows a more a less a print scale object.
In this instance i just worked straight off the size of the image - the object at the front is the main 'workspace'.
This is where it's at at the moment. Looks much like the previous, but i've pretty much finished the overall shape and will now continue on to add some finer details. i say finer deliberately because even though we're talking resin over fdm there's still a finite limit on the resolution you'll actually be seeing on the printed model i.e. there's no point going overboard.
[aside: this is something i notice on a lot of models from thingiverse. the modellers aren't necessarily printers so even though their models are fantastic on screen and full of wonderful detail, they lose a great deal of detail when expressed on a printer. i mention it only because it's sometime frustrating to have models lose that available detail or more practically become so thin that they are virtually unusable.]
In this model there are several pieces that are a darker grey (excluding the bonnet and windscreen). these are all individual objects so they can be repositioned easily or handling separate of the main 'body' object. Eventually i will merge them all together and making this a 'one-piece-print'.
I was able to mainly reuse the landing gear from the Thunderhawk model, which is always a consideration to save work.
[Later 2020-03-29]
So here we have (almost) the final model that i released on thingiverse (sans-underwing guns). i smoothed some edges, added some 'gills' and 'fins' as required to make the shape a bit more interesting... basically breaking up large, flat, plain surfaces which are considered a bit dull.
Consider this one of those puzzles they used to have in newspapers... 'There are 7 differences between these two pictures. see if you can find them all.'
hint: there are far more than seven...
Overall... very happy with the result. Went to print out the two i need and accidentally punctured the final spare vat film i have for the printer... dagnabit!
So printing on hold until replacements parts arrive.
I have another model to make for this army. a ground transport this time which i won't bother documenting. Point of this one was to give an overview of the process which is probably covered sufficiently. It took many hours of dragging lines and faces around by minute amounts (literally 0.2 of a mm at a time). Several sessions of may be an hour here, half an hour there... early mornings, late nights... basically whenever the tv is the most rubbish and the partner is watching it.
Actually can't wait to print these bad boys out. always nice to have a physical proof that your model is 'as intended'.
Until next time...
First off, some really basic road segments.
Just mdf, then sprayed chalky charcoal, then light dry brush of texture paint (which doesn't show in the pics) then couple of layers of clear matt varnish to stop the sand rubbing off.
As i didn't know how many people were going to be at the Convoy mission i figured i should have a spare set of roads. Didn't end up needing it.
Am vaguely contemplating making a whole bunch more as they're super-easy and super-cheap, but can't really find a reason for them.
Next month i'm hoping to have a Titan Showdown vs another local and i'm thinking i'll probably use these roads as a side-to-side road and then use my pretty roads to create a 'urban'/building area in the middle. With titans you REALLY want things to hide behind... tall things.
The new roads don't have lines and will represent a bypass of the urban area.
Am actually looking forward to setting up a fancy table for that game.
Secondly (and lastly), finished off and boxed my converted Eversor Assassin.
Not 100% happy with the model but it will do, and better than having the whole 'wall' feature attached.
This guy will be a option for Blackstone. I gave him a trial run a couple of weekends ago on a randomly drawn combat map.
The rules suggest playing him as a solo character (no other explorers on your side).
He was up against two squads of traitor guard, and one of negavoltists (and a twist).
The first game he got cornered and shot to pieces.
The second game he managed to win.
This came down to luck of the dice and not overwhelming combat superiority.
Don't get me wrong he's probably better than the majority of the explorers, but even the add back of dice didn't keep the enemy out of range.
I was not able to get him inspired, which may have helped.
Just from this limited experience i'm thinking that maybe he'd be as suited to maybe replacing 2 explorers if running a proper campaign. I don't think he'd be able to run a full campaign end to end by himself, it would be more a case of how far can he get before he gets axed.
Certainly a fun little twist to add to the game.
Until next time...
March 2020 was (another) Epic Scenario Day at CoD.
The scenario we played was called 'Convoy' - a summary would be that the defender had to get a 'convoy' model across the table in 4 turns or less, and attacker had to destroy the convoy before it could escape.
We had three tables set up; six players for the first game and dropping to four for the second game. I was hoping to get four tables of players, but three tables is hardly a failure.
A last minute cancellation meant i was able to play rather than just linger.
I think that overall the scenario worked. I have since tweaked the definition and rules for the convoy model slightly, to clarify questions and issues that arose on the day... but generally people just got it.
Titans (attacking) vs Kreig Guard (defending)...
Kreig Guard (attacking) vs Templars (defending)...
Necron (attacking) vs Eldar (defending)...
The road on the right side of the table was the path that the convoy had to remain on.
Games underway...
Some notes from my own first game...
The Assault Terminators did an air engagement against a heavy tank within the Kreig deployment zone. They were subsequently counter-engaged by a Rough Rider formation which resulted in the Rough Riders being destroyed and the Terminators not losing a model. They were particularly vicious and went on to destroy a nearby tank as well before eventually being destroyed themselves. Three formations of casualties was a fairly zesty performance, and far exceeded expectations.
Rather than drop pods, my Crusader formations were all deployed in rhinos and padded out with Neophytes. Felt weird and vulnerable deploying stuff at the start of the game for people to shoot at (especially artillery toting guardsmen)!
My defender list was packed with as many bodies as possible to create a literal meat-shield for the convoy.
By the end of turn 3 the convoy model had lost its shields and was down 2 dc (of 8). There was however not a lot of attacking models in a position to continue the attack, and it was able to move off the board without further damage.
As a summary... My opponent could/should probably have rushed the convoy target more and earlier in the game. It felt very much like overwhelming the convoy (especially with engagements) was the easiest (and potentially best) option for victory on this scenario.
The Krieg did have some artillery, mobile heavy guns and Titan Killer guns available but these weren't really brought to bear in the quantity required to really shoot the target to death. They were perhaps distracted by the quantity of marines on the board... (??)
This wasn't a situation where you needed to have forces sticking around to the end of the game holding objectives, more a bum-rush forward at the target.
In this case some of the attacker's strongest tanks had been targeted by the terminators to remove some of that incoming threat, and the best engaging units were still too far back across the board to hit the convoy in a decisive way..
All in all a learning experience and i'm sure next time a rematch would be more tightly contested based on lessons learned here.
Next door was the Kreig vs Titans game...
The Kreig convoy made it a couple of turns across the table, also looking to shield incoming assaults.
But a close-combat Reaver titan in the its path eventually smashed the convoy to bits.
The Third game...
The Necron vs Eldar game ended quickly due in part to a misinterpretation of the rules. Though i believe the Necrons were solidly engaging the convoy which seemed a solid strategy. Additionally the defender was largely unfamiliar with their own army (something of a head-scratcher).
The draw wasn't perfect but with limited players and hoping to avoid i.e. kreig vs krieg and titan vs titan it was what it was.
In my second game i was attacking vs the Titan army...
My ground forces were largely held back during the preliminaries stages of turn one, potentially waiting to jump forward during turn two to provide support fire, and generally trying to avoid unnecessary casualties to the Titan's guns before that could happen.
A series of air assaults on the Titan convoy played out at the end of round 1. First regular Terminators flew in bringing the convoy (i believe, though the dice show differently) down to 3 DC.
And then the Assault Terminators flew in and finished it off in the last activation of the turn.
Doing close combat attacks ignored the Convoy's Void Shields which were hardly dented at this stage.
Which made me felt like a big jerk of course, but the plan kind of... well... went to plan.
As retrospect the Titans may have been better deployed as a protective clump around the convoy, potentially denying direct access to the convoy for the terminators. With few activations it was admittedly a large ask for the Titans.
Based on the content of my list the Templars had almost nothing that could effectively shoot up the convoy as it passed - so i had no choice but to assault.
Again, i'm sure lessons were learned.... and there was now time for a beverage and to watch the other game play out.
The Necron vs Krieg game continued on to turn 3...
The Kreig certainly held their own against the Necrons and managed to launch engagement actions against the Necron convoy, weakening it (down to 1 DC) but not destroying it outright (turn 2).
In turn 3 the Necrons tried hard to whittle down the nearby threats to avoid further assaults.
But as one of the final activations of the turn an accurate shot from a volcano cannon inflicted TK(3) damage to the fleeing convoy, destroying it before it could scurry away!
A far more suspenseful conclusion than my own game and well worth watching it play out.
Conclusion
This was, as far as i'm concerned, an introduction. An opportunity for all of us to experience another alternative scenario. None of us had tried anything like it before and imo it generally worked as advertised.
I'm sure that if/when we try it again people will be more attuned to what they could/should bring list-wise and how they should approach the roles and risks of defender and attacker.
In discussions re the standard Tournament scenario it's commonly said that the various armies would probably be more suited to this or that scenarios (rather than tournament).
I think this kind of actually went towards proving that to be true.
We've previously tried the 'domination' scenario, which was almost entirely about holding objectives continuously from turn 1 to earn victory points.
We've now tried the 'convoy' scenario, which was almost exclusively focused on "destroying the BTS".
And of course we all know the ubiquitous GT (grand tournament) objectives.
It's nice to have these scenarios actually tried (as opposed to just theoretically) and i hope that in future sessions we can endeavour to play any of the above (and other scenarios yet to be revealed!!), and not just fall back on 'cruiser clash'.
I was relatively happy with the composition of my lists. I expect my opponents next time would be more diligently in contemplating role focused lists too.
I freely admit that "focus on the mission" was foremost in my mind, and having contemplated the scenario for the whole month would definitely have helped me.
Overall i feel it was a successful event and hopefully everyone got something worthwhile from it.
Also - Alternate Lists
Something that we tried that i think worked quite well was the optional utilisation of multiple/alternate lists; so you could have a 'defender' list and also an 'attacker' list with different load outs/formations on each list. Both had to be built from the same faction/army list though.
I've been considering for a while that this might make GT tournaments a bit more flexible/better for the players there too.
Not everyone had alternate lists but for those of us who did i think it kind of proved the effectiveness of having a list (somewhat) appropriately tailored to the situation, as opposed to attempting to field a 'generalist' list - which is not how Epic works.
For GT tournaments this might translate to something like taking two lists with i.e. one for 'infantry hordes' and one for 'war-engines' or something like that. You can't possible cover all possible scenarios or opponent types with two lists, but it might be nice to have something even slightly more suitable available.
It's not how things are (historically) done, but given we're the meta and the game's dead, don't we make our own rules now??
Anyway it didn't add a lot of extra overhead to how things ran, and i banged out my two lists in 20 minutes the night before. It's hardly an imposition (except if the TO needs to diligently check 2 lists instead of 1... i get it... but worth it, imo!!)
Until next time...
There's a concept in the gaming sphere known as Your dudes.
It's about as informative a label as you can get, where you develop characters, story, history... aka fluff for the models that you've built and that you use in your games etc.
As someone whose reason for hobbying might be graphed something like this...
...developing something for My dudes is a fairly reasonable progression (and not the first time it's happened).
There are as many different ways of fluffiffying Your dudes as there are reasons for hobbying in the first place (my graph is not comprehensive).
Campaigns
It's extraordinarily common for gamers to contemplate the glory of running and playing campaigns. The concept is multiple games played over several sessions with a big picture result at the end.
The reality is that campaigns tend to start strong and unless you have a particularly dedicated and forceful CO (campaign organiser) then it generally fizzles out within weeks.
This despicable pessimism is based on personal observation - people have full-time jobs, families, other commitments... what gamers refer to as 'Real Life' (or RL).
This is not to say that campaigns aren't a wonderful idea - the idea of applying concepts like resupply, building on victories or clawing back from defeat, is ace - it's just that unless you're living in a group house and have oodles of time on your hands and so do your mates then it's a tough ask.
Battle Honours
A concept I'm trying on for size is one I'm calling Battle Honours.
Partially in order to play-test my Templars list and partially in order to get better with them I'm on a campaign (pun intended) to try to use this army frequently, rather than swapping to a different army every session.
This also helps my local opponents work out what I have and what they do by playing them more frequently, and gives me experience 'muscle-memory-ing' the units and stats etc.
I mentioned at the end for the Big ol' Cancon 2020 Wrap Up that I'd done some this and that with campaign colours.
It's not a complex concept; just a matter of recording the actual, historical events that the army has been a part of. Each event or expedition gets a 'fluffy name' and a 2-tone colour identifier...
Here we have a Thunderhawk that has been part of both expeditions. It has two sets of colour tags on the side of the cockpit.
Only models that have transparent acrylic bases (generally the larger models) are being marked on their chassis. I've painted over all previous markings as well.
These Stormravens were part of the most recent event (lime/fuscia) only...
These infantry and Land Speeders were part of both expeditions...
So basically I'm using a short-side of the base to display the expedition colours. This might have the additional/practical benefit of identifying units from multiple formations that are jumbled up in big assaults etc.
Standard Colours...
The following section is in no way looking to endorse any paint manufacturer over another. It is however helpful to have a commonly available, unchanging standard - so the following are citadel paint colours that approximate the expedition colours.
Infernum Centralis Campaign - Cancon 2020
Diabolus Rift Intervention - CoD Convoy 2020
Shields...
So a chart in your lists book, markings on the unit's bases... you done yet?
Nope. I also decided to model and 3d print some little plaques which I will attach to their storage box. Still a WIP, but something like this...
6 printed, 2 needed = spares...
Spray painted with 'hammer finish' metal (silver)... because I had that sitting around.
Wrap Up
So nothing taxing like a novel or fancy articles or anything but something easy to keep it interesting when there are no dice to be rolled.
My dudes now have history and the records to back it up.
Update 20200331
The Templars have been rehomed in the largest size modifx bag available. Substantially lighter than the toolbox, plus lots of foam to keep them snug.
Managed to fit everything in, but I did lots of diagrams and model counts before pulling the trigger on it.
Whipped up a quick mdf plate to put the badges on. Velcro on the back given the bag already had a patch for it.
Until next time...
