MkV Mortis Pattern Dreadnought; Thunderbolts Space Marines

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with a little update on my most recent work; a re-arming of a very old dreadnought. I think this was in fact the 2nd dreadnought I originally painted for my marines something in excess of 10 years ago!
Up until a last year he was a venerable dreadnought armed with an assault cannon and a massive hammer clenched in his power fist, this counted as a power fist and was from way back when I started this army and Marine forces could take traits, I can't remember which edition but the marine codex has changed somewhat! Anyway I used to field a great many thunder hammers, the fluff being that the thunder hammer was a symbol of office for most characters (I'd even converted my old termy Librarian to have a force hammer), I liked hammers I think!
Early in 2015 I decided to update my collection of dreads to have a broader range of weapons, at the time I had 4 venerables with assault cannons. the upshot of all this was a range of dreads (9 at the time) with lots of variety. The big hammer moved onto an Ironclad as a seismic hammer and I was left with this original metal venerable dreadnought with no arms. I figured 9 dreads was sufficient even for the most dread obsessed player! Incorrect! I can NEVER have sufficient dreadnoughts!
So a few months ago I decided to get number 10 armed and active; I'd been long considering a Mortis Contemptor but had just never got round to it, so having recently purchased the Imp Armour book War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes (new version) and already having a quad autocannon mortis mkv I decided to upscale to quad lascannons for that extra punch.
My bits boxes provided me with lots of spare lascannons from many kits, predators, razorbacks, dreadnoughts, flyers and landraiders. The only twin linked ones were from the predator kit but didn't really suit as they are just barrels sticking out from a curved mounting suitable for a turret, not really an arm.
I finally chose to use the landraider lascannons as they had complete power lines and generally looked the best. Admittedly they are pretty huge but I kind of like that, he looks like he means business. It was a simple task to file down the side panels of the lascannons so they would butt up together nicely to form a twin linked pair. The original hole for mounting to a side sponson served well, with a little enlargement, for mounting the pair onto the original shoulder pin, and hey presto...... twin linked lascannons at zero cost! Win!

Pics...

The painting involved a little touching up of the original model where the knife had slipped during the conversion process and some adjustment of original colours (10 to 15 years old!) to match closer to the new paints. I also added a smoke launcher, spotlight and a gothic looking gubbins to represent the helical targeting array.
Overall well pleased for a cut and shut job.
Welcome to the Thunderbolts forge, revered ancient!
That's 10 ready to roll, and number 11 on the way! More on him in the very near future...

C and C welcome as ever....

Bluddtoof

Showcase; Deimos Pattern Relic Predator Executioner, Thunderbolts Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.

Hi All

Finished my new predator executioner and very pleased with it too. I've swapped to Vallejo foundation white instead of Citadel ceramite white, it's not as opaque but it flows better off the brush and along with a new thinners; Tamiya X-20A, it's much easier to use. The final result is less solid white and allows the Fenris grey base coat to show ever so slightly giving the white a very nice blueish tint. I likes it! works nicely with the ice blue spot colour.

some piccies...

With the transfers and iconography I've stayed with the V for my chapters "5th forging"; the equivalent of a codex company, the Thunderbolts use a more flexible organisation than the rigid codex system due to their long affiliation with the adeptus mechanicus based on the forge world they established their fortress monastery on. This affiliation has led to their predilection for vehicles and a larger than usual number of tech marines. The chapters organisation is largely formed around the many forges they maintain and it is a rare force of Thunderbolts that does not contain a tech marine and his mechanical charges.

Next up for the Thunderbolts will be a Typhon heavy siege tank but first I'll be concentrating on my newly delivered Deadzone 2 goodies in the shape of some plague reinforcements and a new industrial scenery set which will probably see action in future instalments of our narrative campaign; The Cypra Incident.

Hope you like the new tank, C & C as ever welcome.

Bluddtoof.

W.I.P. Relic Predator Executioner; nearly there.

Hi All

Another quick update on my progress on this Relic Predator for my Space Marine Chapter; The Thunderbolts.
Everything's done now except for the White panelling on the turret, sponsons, hatches and exhaust guards. I always leave the white til last as it's a pig to paint in the first place and if I do it before any other colours and make a mistake that effects the white finish then it's even worse to do over.
Once the white's done I'll finish with the transfers.

Some pics of it currently...

I didn't like the weathering effects I'd done on the main body so I re painted the silver where necessary to cover it up. After much thought I just don't like weathering on this army, don't know why but I just don't so I'm not gonna waste my time on it.

I am however a fan of the rusty sponge weathering I did on my recent scenery project; see here  for the final showcase post, and I'll be using that on my recently delivered Mantic Kickstarter Veer Myn for Deadzone along with another rusty wasteland scenery set I'll be making later this year.

But first more to come soon on the Predator.

C & C as ever please.

Bluddtoof.

Deimos Relic Predator Executioner, a bit more WIP.

Hi All

Just a quick one today, an update on my progress with the predator..

Some pics...

Getting there, brass done and even weathered a bit, which is a first for me and my marines. I'm going to try doing this model weathered to see if I like it. Then depending on the outcome I may well go back over my marine collection and apply some subtle weathering effects. Maybe...

C & C welcome.

Bluddtoof.

W.I.P. Deimos Pattern Relic Predator Executioner

Hi All

Just a quick post to show the current WIP on my new Predator.
Here's some pics

I will recommend that if you build one of these then paint the sponsons as sub assemblies, they're very awkward to paint once fitted!

Enjoy. C & C welcome as ever.

Bluddtoof.

Adeptus Astartes - Trained by Mars

Evening All,

So as the title may have alluded to this post is all about the select few marines who get trained by the adeptus mechanius to work with machines.  I have been itching for ages to get some built for a couple of my armies and have been hoarding parts for this purpose for some time.

First up is a basic techmarine picked up by red mist (thanks bud) on ebay.  Clearly a paint stripped model I am looking forward to bringing back to life on the table top.

Next up is a converted techmarine on bike carrying an auspex (I hate over watch!).  Again the biker was picked up by innermech of all people and he gave him to me saying he would be good for your techmarine on a bike (Yes you are correct bert many thanks!).

I have used Iron warrior back pack parts to convert up the servo arm.  Really pleased with this simple conversion.

Last warrior to be trained by Mars is a new Iron Priest.  I have been again planning this for some time.  Like the techmarine on bike the back pack is made using Iron Warrior parts.  The chest plate and shoulder pad are tech parts too showing the correct iconography.  To go alongside the Iron Priest he has 4 converted cyberwolves.  These are simple conversions of the Waargs from the GW lord of the rings range given to me by Hendrix (cheers!).  There appears to be lots of bits accumulated for these projects from many within the code group.

Last on this post I have also based up a load of wolves (former goblin wolf riders wolves) to make a load more fenrisian wolves.  This now takes me up to 40!

Hope you like the simple conversions comments are welcome.

Cheers

DOC

Review of the year....and obviously more marines

I’m going to discuss a little about my hobby experiences throughout the year.

Gaming: this year I have managed to play 12 games. I don’t think that 1 a month is too bad. I would like to play more, but I am not interested in playing at my local clubs and my usual local gamers like myself have very busy “normal” lives, so I don’t see this amount of games increasing next year.

I have now started to move house to a larger place. Hopefully in the course of the next few years I will be able to create a geek palace which allows me to have space for a permanent gaming area. My new place should offer slightly more space for my models but I think it is initially unlikely that they will have permanent place.

Painting/modelling: this year I have been pretty productive. I have managed to paint a range of squads and paint some of my terrain. I have been a member of a forums tale of painting which has focused me on painting at least 1 unit a month.

I have a set monthly budget for models and this year I have stuck to it well.  I have purchased most of the stuff I want to with only a few odds and sods not yet purchased (new data cards for scars and raven guard). I tried to do a log like doc where painting models unlocks money for new ones. Using a pretty similar scoring system to him I only managed to paint 50% of the money I spent. Maybe I should just double the points for each model painted!

This year I have done 2 new things, I have started my first knight and painted from scratch a large marine vehicle (Stormraven). Both of these are great models and I feel more comfortable painting them now.

Anyway here are some pics:

Another squad (2/5) of centurions

Stormraven just awaiting transfers

The start of the knight

Looking ahead to 2016. Hopefully I can clear my back log of models. I did a reasonable job this year and managed to clear 30-40% of stuff I had at the beginning of 2015. I need to go back and tidy up my battle company with correct shoulder pad markings and chapter insignia. This may take a bit of time but I think it will be worth doing.

I’ll sign off now as I need to prepare for the Code's special December treat for you all.

Marine expansion

It’s been a while since my last post but I have been busy further expanding my chapter.

I have been working on this captain:

Some more terminators:

This now brings up a total of 30 of the ranged weapon type

My first squad of centurions:

I have loved the models so much I have just built another squad and have a few more in boxes!

I am currently working on this:

I still have a few of the details to do in it, but I am very pleased on how it has turned out.

 I am planning to get some custom water transfers for my marines and will decorate them with some of the chapter symbols, and re do the correct company/squad markings.

This may be a bit of a tedious job but I think it will be well worth it

Showcase; Thunderbolts Space Marines Jump Pack Captain.

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with another new addition to my Space Marine Chapter; The Thunderbolts.
This is my new Captain with Jump Pack, Shield Eternal and Teeth of Terra. He will be leading a demi company with auxiliary support as part of a Gladius Strike Force against a bunch of filthy heretics in the form of Docs Traitor Guard; in a game in a week or so. Beware Doc!
Here's some piccies....

The base model is an old metal one I had in my bits box; one of the old Masters of the Chapter models. He originally had an axe in his left hand I think, I chopped the head off and replaced it with the large chain blade from an old metal Vanguard Veteran; also from the extensive bits box. The jump pack is just a plastic one from the old assault marine sprue.
I'm really pleased on several fronts; firstly I painted this in less than 2 days, pretty impressive for me; my painting occurs at glacial speeds usually! Secondly I built him over 2 years ago and he's been sat in the "to paint" case all that time. Thirdly the white went on so much easier and smoother than I'm used to; only 3 coats as opposed to my usual 4 or 5. Win all round.
And hopefully Win against the renegade filth on the 28th!
For The Emperor!

Bluddtoof.

Big Game report. Nids V Marines

It has been a while since I last posted here. My marines have slowly being expanding. Since the last time I have painted:

• Assault terminators (lightening claws)
• Void Shield generator (started)
• Tactical terminators (heavy flamer)
• 5 man close combat scout squad
• Played some games
• New kitchen

Now I am in the process of buying a house so more time being used up doing no geekery stuff.

Anyway last weekend my local mates and i played a large game. we had been discussing it for a while as with any large games things can get complicated, time consuming, unbalanced and all of the above!

First of all to try and keep it simple we said the marines would defend a fortress in the centre of the table. The nids would come in from both sides (like a mission in Horus Heresy Book 1). The marines would set up and the nids would have turn 1 in which the moved on from the board edge. This would save time in not having to set the nids up then move them. When we setting the board up we decided that it would be best not to have any terrain between the base and the table edge. While this would not give the nids cover it would also not slow them down getting to the marines. The nids aim was to wipe out the marines (not flyers).

We agreed on a time limit for moving and shooting of 30mins (timer paused for the psychic phase). We didn’t time assault as it was felt you could not do an assault for an advantage, so all would have to be done, where if you forgot to move or shoot it is generally to your own detriment. Rather than play APOC we just played a big game of 40K. APOC has even more rules and situations to remember and to be honest we just wanted to roll dice and play!

I’m not going to give a turn by turn report or anything like that, but overall the game played well with very little that needed changing. We ran out of time (as usual) but managed to complete 4 turns, which isn’t bad for 21k points on the board. The marines held out and had a little over 2k left… the nids still had a lot left! The nids did start with 25% more models and could respawn stuff each turn. Their entry point also crept closer to the base each turn. I think it was a balanced game, maybe swinging to the easier side for marines. I think we still would have held out for 1 more turn, after that not so sure!

Here are a few pictures of the game.

More can be seen in my photobucket account here:

http://s856.photobucket.com/user/toonboy78/library/Big%20Game%20Sept%2015

Lessons learned:

• Big games are hard to plan. This took the best part of 2 months of chat to get a rule set we all liked (or at least compromised on!)
• Time: no matter how much time you give you will always run out
• Space: hosting is hard and we needed space for an 8*6 table (no deployment zone for nids) and plenty of space to walk around and put models out of the way. We were lucky and could hire a local room that allowed us to be there until after 11pm.
• Game rules: it was a little one dimensional and as the marine player I didn’t have to think about too much, no choosing between a run for an objective or shoot the nearest enemy. Not this scenario needed it but other games I would like to have a 3 tiered set of objective, turn based (maelstrom), game based (eternal war), secret (special one made up for that specific game, like kill all HQ’s, or hold any 6 objectives at the end of the game). each one worth more than the other so it would be hard to know how is going to win

So that is now over I am cracking on with finishing off my first load of Centurions and I have started the storm raven. That should keep me busy until my house move is complete!