Thunderbolts Forges Working at Maximum Capacity!

Hi All

Continuing with my Thunderbolts 1500pt Drop Pod army, I've now completed the 5 man Devastator squad. This is the first unit I've painted exclusively with GWs new paint range and I'm generally impressed by the improvements, particularly metallics, specifically leadbelcher, ironbreaker and runefang steel which I use to layer up the silver armour and brass scorpion which replaces brazen brass, all four give much smoother coverage and a brighter finish too. Instead of ice blue I'm now using Lothern blue which is slightly darker so I mixed in some white for the base coat and then more for the layers and highlights and it worked out quite well I think. The other colour of note is moot green which is used for the cabling and also gives a much smoother and consistent finish. In all this led to me needing less coats to get the desired finish and thus a much quicker process which is a major bonus since I paint at geological speeds!
Here's a few pics of the finished squad...........

 

Next will be their drop pod...
Till next time.......

Gaming Table

no modelling update of the miniature variety, but i have built myself a games table!
i had built myself one last year with some rather thick chip board  but it was far too heavy to move around and not particularly good for gaming on.
this time i have used 3mm hard board and a strengthening frame made from pine. it is nice and light weight ans a big improvement.
The parts (8*4 hard board, i asked B+Q to trim it to 6*4) some 1" dry wall screws and some L brackets

top view

bottom view

in my living room

set up for its first game

my next project is to paint it and my scenery, as well as try and finish some more of my bikes!

Thunderbolts from the Skies

Hi All

With SvaXIII done and dusted I can now concentrate on my next tournament, a one day affair organised by Doc and others from the code. This will comprise 3 games at 1500pt with all comers and using the "Swis System".
I'm going back to my Marine Drop pod list for this as it gives me an incentive to paint up at least a couple more pods and my Sternguard finally.
I've squeezed a suprising amount into 1500pt; 41 marines and 4 pods to be exact. Once it's all done I'll post piccies of the complete force, for now though you can see here the latest addition; a squad of 5 vanguard veterans with jump packs and power weapons..........

Playing 40K a Different Way

Hi All,

So April sees the return of myself and Trevdog to the original campaign we played called CODE40K.  This later became the name of our group and indeed the blog name.  So what is CODE40K?  Essentially its a story driven campaign where the result of each battle affects the choice of next game and any other special rules we see fit to add in.

You may ask why play 40K this way.  Well the short answer is it breaks up the turn up put down and play games.  Its adds a little bit more as to why the battle is taking place.  This Friday we will play the first game in what we proposed to be a 5 battle linked campaign.  As yet we haven't defined beyond game 1 and what the outcomes of the game might mean.

The first thing we did was write up some background to start us off:

Background

The sector is somewhere around the Ultima Segmentum and Eastern Fringe.  The sector consists of 9 systems.  One of which is the Arden System which comprises of:

Arden Prime, Arden II, Arden III (The Code campaign), Arden IV, Arden V.   

The campaign will start on Arden III in the capital city of Pavonis.

 In recent times the planet of Arden III hasn't been keeping up with its payment of imperial tithes and has been subject to small insertion attacks by the mysterious Eldar from the Ulthwe Craftworld.  The reasons for these attacks remains unknown to the Planetary Governor Shonai West.   The world itself is mainly controlled by faction leaders each owning a large production centre.  These faction leaders vote one of themselves to be the planetary governor.  In reality bribes and alliances go on to get a faction leader into power and then the same to get them out of power! 

Payment of the tithes has been dropping for the last two governors mainly caused by a drop in production from the last war and the greed of the faction leaders.  This injustice has also spread to the population of Arden III with poverty and deprivation wide spread.  This in turn has lead to the rise of "The Church of the Emperor's God" as people have sought solace in religion.  The reality is this is against the law as religion is forbidden and the leaders of the church are simply seeking to take advantage of the disadvantaged.  This group has organised many public rallies against the leading factions and is believed to be behind a number of small terrorist attacks, although proof of this has not been forthcoming.  One such attack was foiled by the members of the Adeptus Soritas "Sisters of Battle" who have a shrine on the planet just outside the city walls.  It is believed they took prisoners but as yet are refusing to hand these over to the faction leaders? 

In addition Eldar raids have been taking place across the system but the reason behind the attacks is unknown.  The most recent of which was on a farming community 540 miles south of the city where none were left alive.  On investigation of the site a large metal structure of unknown origin was found to be just below the surface.  This is still being analysed by scientists but appears to be a large structure which dates back for thousands of years.    

Next we thought about what the first game would look like and who the characters involved would be:

Game 1 Ambush on Plaza Drive
The Plot:

The Imperium fed up with the performance of the planet has dispatched an Administrator to get the tithes back on track.     A company of the emperors finest space marines have been dispatched to accompany the administrator and to halt the Eldar attacks.  This game will be set in the inner city as the administrator is travelling to the governor's palace across the city.  After being dropped at the edge of the city the administrator is being transported by rhino apc when they are ambushed by the church.  

The Forces

The Escort Party               Dramatis Personae

Space Marine Captain Kearosen Diritz,                                               

Emperor’s Children, Captain of the 4^th Company. Honoured at the scouring of Galifrax.

Boltgun, Power Axe, Bolt Pistol, Iron Halo, Frag and Krak Grenades

Brother Kol Larz                                                                                                            

Emperor’s Children battle brother 4^th Company. 14 affirmed kills at the scouring of Galifrax.

Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Frag and Krak Grenades                               

Brother Berenito                                                                                             

Emperor’s Children battle brother 4^th Company.  Sole survivor from the frigate Hammer of Justice before it fell to the burning sun at Jea IX.

Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Frag and Krak Grenades               

Admin Aid - Sympath I, Laspistol                                                                             
Admin Aid - Dedidex, Laspistol                                                                  
Liaison to Governor Shonai - Grandis Brinn, Laspistol                     

(uses the profile of conscripts)

Imperial Administrator - Prefect Patrinor (unwilling to fight in any circumstances) If engaged in close combat use imperial guard colonel stats, armed with a power knife same as sword but AP4 and a refractor field.                                                                                                                                                         Free

Grandis Brinn

Liaison to Governor Shonai.   A little unorthodox for some of the other aids but Governor Shonai chose him because of this.

Sympath I

Admin Aid to Prefect Patrinor.  Augments not visual to the casual observer.  Very good at her job.

Dedidex

Admin Aid to Prefect Patrinor.  Heavily augmented.

Prefect Patrinor

Imperial Administrator.  Looks down on others below his station.

PDF - (use imperial guard vets rules)
Gavier, Grenade Launcher                                                                        

Pavonis 10^th Barator Elite Guard.  Keeps to himself.  Good dependable elite guardsman.

Travis, Shotgun                                                                                             
Nikaulus, Shotgun                                                                                          

Pavonis 10^th Barator Elite Guard. Friends before joining the Guard and have both served together for 8 years.

Flex, Shotgun                                                                                                

Pavonis 10^th Barator Elite Guard.  Known for his black and white view of things.  Called Flex because of his inflexible views by his friends.  Also good to have in a fight.

Kearosen’s Spear,  Rhino, Extra Armour                                                               

Brother Torrinium (Reserve, Bike)                                                          

Emperor’s Children battle brother 4^th Company, Fulion bike squad. Fought at Soron plains at Jea IX against the Necrons.

Brother Bransk (Reserve, Bike)                                                                 

Emperor’s Children battle brother 4th Company, Fulion bike squad. Fought at Soron plains at Jea IX against the Necrons.

TOTAL 287

Rebels

Enforcer Irongate, Power Fist, Laspistol, Refractor Field, Causes Fear               

Rocket Launcher Team " Aces High "                                                                                   

Rocket Launcher Team " The Missile Brothers "                                                          

(Fragin Heck and Krakin Joke make up the Missile Brothers)

Renegade Squad "The Rabellions"                                                                                        

Veteran Gravesend  " That's Mr Gravesend to You"                                                      

Meltagun, Stubber Team known as "The Stub Toes"                                                    

3 Hounds:  Lucy, Cameron and Cheryl                                                                                   

8 Mutants " The Undesirables"                                                                                                  

TOTAL 284

The Mission

Kill Team Rules in Effect

Length 8 Turns, Or Administrator Escapes to Plaza Square or Administrator Dies

Game Begins Just Before Dawn

First two turns are under night fighting conditions

Rebels set up and take the first turn. 

Rhino is presumed to be stunned in space marines first turn regardless if damage was taken or not.

Space Marine Bikes Turn up in turn 3 automatically

Outcomes:

If Prefect Patrinor escapes it makes the removal of the church the no 1 priority over and above the investigation of the eldar attacks.  If Enforcer Irongate is killed in a challenge with Captain Diritz he is presumed captured.  We could play an attack game on the rebel stronghold.  Maybe the sisters carry this out as they already have info? 

Escapes by turn 6 = 3 rebel units delayed in attack scenario

Escapes by turn 7 = 2 rebel units delayed in attack scenario

Escapes by turn 8 = 1 rebel unit delayed in attack scenario

(units randomly determined)

If Irongate is  captured it gives Captain Diritz the causing Fear rule as the rebels are in awe of someone who took down Irongate!

If Prefect Patrinor doesn't escape the rebels grow in confidence and push forward to attack the governor's palace. 

Two options if by some miracle Diritz is brought low by Irongate then we could have a rescue mission for the captain!  or The attack on the Palace or both as a combination??

As you can see we havent fully mapped out what will happen post battle.  That will allow us to let our imaginations take us where we go next.  The ideas above just get the ball rolling.  We will post up some pictures and a run down of what happened in game 1.  Then discuss where the CODE40K campaign goes next?

Trevdog also wrote this short story to accompany game 1:

A low moaning noise ending with a metallic screech pierced the pre-dawn stillness above the street.  A cool breeze had picked up just as the morning sun was about to rise at the far end of Plaza Drive to the east.  Across the gantry spanning the road was an aerial walkway circling a short curved tower that housed the local sewerage machinery for the pumps below.  As the low moaning started up again a silhouette appeared against the dark grey metal walls of the tower.  The figure took a cigar from its mouth and wedged it into the heat extraction flaps to stop them vibrating.

“Thank throne for that Mr Gravesend”, said Krakin in a hushed voice.  “It was starting’ to give me the creeps”.  The tip of Gravesend’s boot poked firmly into the soft flank of the prone man as he lay looking down the sight of his hand held rocket launcher.  Krakin recoiled with a grunt.

Gravesend hissed through his sneer, “Krakin, just keep your eyes fixed on that street.  They’ll be here any minute, then you’ll have something to worry about”.  Gravesend’s voice faded as he moved away, “We’re relying on you to stop those Imps dead in their tracks”.

All was quiet again.  To his right Krakin could just make out the features of his loader and close friend, Fragin, crouched next to him.  Fragin’s angular jaw looked all the more prominent in the shadowy dawn.  He peered across to the ruined building opposite to see if he could see the forms of the twins they called Ace’s High, manning the other rocket launcher from their lofty position, but he couldn’t.

The other members of The Church itching to take the fight to the heart of Governor Shonai’s seat of power would be in their positions now having primed the explosives for the ambush.  They all looked to their leader Enforcer Irongate for the next stage of the plan to unseat Governor Shonai.  Irongate had inside information about an Imperial Administrator coming to meet with the Governor to take her to task over the shrinking tithes collected from Arden Prime.  If the Imperial Administrator didn’t make it to the palace for the meeting, or was even killed, then the Imperium would come down hard on Shonai and could even remove her from office.  If not it would certainly weaken her position and favour amongst the other government members.

A rumbling noise from down the street broke the silence and Krakin’s thoughts.  He shifted his weight to adjust his aim.  Coming quickly into view was an APC.  The growling engines shaking the metal gantry even from that distance. Krakin sucked in through dry lips and felt a trickle of sweat run down his face.  This was it. 

Until next time 

DOC and Trevdog

SVA round up

First here is a picture of my biker list:

i just completed it in time for SVA, despite being let down by online retailers i managed to paint up the 2 storm talon in a week

these performed really well over the weekend and i will look forward to using them in the future

here are some close ups of the bike captain (converted from a DV biker sarg), 3 typhoons (who i one turn of shooting took out 20 ork boyz!, a small unit of scouts and the 3rd bike squad.

i still have a few of the details to pick out on the models but over all they have a good cohesive feel about them.

over the course of the weekend HYPASPIST ghost was with us. a few years ago he had built 2 warhounds for his dark angels army. When moving to the wastes he was unable to take them with him so he donated them to me and REDMIST. mine got repainted in my chapters colours while the other has fallen to the empty whispers of Chaos.

here they are facing each other in battle.

it didn't end in a glorious way for either titan, both being wiped out by the end of the game.

i am on a bit of a break for the moment, but when i am back i will complete my bikes and plan for something new.......