Some weird Aeronautica shenanigans...

I have a small amount of old Legions Imperialis stuff I painted a year or two ago - but we never did anything with it.  While we debated trying to find some suitable rules for the stuff recently, I picked up some Legions Imperialis kits recently from our local store which is getting rid of their stock at 50% off! (woohoo!).

 

I built and painted these Avenger (ground attack aircraft basically...think an A-10 in 30K/40K).

 

This whole project will probably end up on eBay, but I enjoyed painting the things - didn't enjoy building them.  GW has made the Legions kits artificially complex...basically to sell you "fake" value in parts count, rather than model count.  Even at 50% off, I felt the kits were barely worth their price.

 

 

A 'summer project' for a friend.

A buddy mentioned the other night in Discord that he had an old 10-15 year old Baneblade sitting around in pieces.  Assembled when he was younger, it was missing a lot of pieces, poorly built, covered in sprue gates, etc.

 

I told him I'd paint it.  He joked it would be my 'summer project'.  I patched it up in one sitting and painted it the next day.

 

I normally hate grey, and prefer camouflage tanks, but he asked for a basic utilitarian grey.  I hid/removed all the aquilas so it could be used in Horus Heresy for either side (the game they're currently playing).

 

All in all, not too bad for 48 hours of fixing an old teenager built tank from bits.  You'll notice a lot of patched bits from plasticard and random vehicle bits --- lots of the hatches, engine were missing, etc.

 

 

Games!: 2nd Edition Warhammer 40K (Angels of Death vs. Tyranids)

Nearly 5-6 years ago, some buddies of mine and I decided we should try some co-op 40K from 2nd edition --- all of us painting up some space marines to face a collective horde of Tyranids (owned by two of the three of us).

 

I slowly painted up some models, and we finally played the first game.  The concept was pretty simple:

 

• Blood Angels and Dark Angels each have 750 points, will fight co-op against Tyranids.
• Each chapter gets two explosive devices, assigned to squads or characters - these must be used to blow up two generators (which in turn will cause the overheating of an orbital defense platforms' reactor).
• Tyranids are generated randomly each Tyranid turn using four separate nodes, and some random tables.  Tokens are generated - and when spotted, we used a D20 table to place random Tyranids.
• Tyranids activated using a simple beahviour table (mostly consisting of "eat their faces").

The end result was that the Blood Angels managed to blow up both generators, though they lost 19/21 marines in the process.

 

The Dark Angels held off many Tyranids including a Carnifex.  They made it out with 9 marines...so not too bad.  Some random pics from the game.

 

 

Breaking my own rules...(Space Marine Bikes)

Deciding to finally maybe actually play some modified 2E 40K that my buddies and I have been planning for...maybe 4-5 years, I broke one of my own rules and bought some (poorly) assembled Space Marine bikes off ebay.  I normally don't mess with pre-built plastics, but these were too cheap to pass up.

 

While I wasn't happy with the state of them (ended up with a ton of cleaning as the minis were - expectedly - poorly built with too much glue, weird components, etc.) I can 'cope' with using these.  Similarly I hate painting stuff assembled, so this was annoying.

 

 

And now for something...completely...different.

I've made a decision to start knockin' out random stuff I've got sitting around.  In one of my many "we're totally going to do this..." plans, my buddy and I want to finally put some of our space marines into the table against Tyranids (likely using non-GW rules).  Thinking a cool co-op, but difficult, bug hunt with Blood Angels and Dark Angels.

 

To that effect I snagged a 'cheap' set of plastic push-fit terminators for my Blood Angels.  I painted them in a single sitting today and then finish the basing and decals shortly thereafter.

 

As someone who generally dislikes almost every modern GW sculpt, product, game, etc...these were nice, and it was nice to fire up the 2E codex and paint them to match the old school style (though not nearly orange enough).  It's nice to go back to when normal space marines and terminators were cool enough without 150 new fancy versions and 'special' units, etc.

 

Just...classic...space marines. You can keep your Indometrixus Procagastrators...just give me some reliable Blood Angel terminators.

 

 

Forgotten Angels

I painted up these five Blood Angel terminators the other week - but forgot to take pictures or post them.  I'm not overly pleased with them - the sculpts are okay, but the prints were...mediocre.  A decent Etsy purchase though at half the cost of normal GW product.

These are an interpretation of the classic 'Saturnine' terminator from Rogue Trader days.  I wanted something different for 2nd edition, so these'll work.

The Forgotten Scout Squad

 I forgot I was waiting for some decals to dry on this Space Marine Scout Squad from 2nd edition when I posted earlier.  Another five models (10 total) for use with Scrapheap and/or a possible 2nd edition 40K game we've been kicking around lately.

All aboard the struggle bus! Wooo woooo!

 Been struggling to be motivated to do anything lately.  However, I had primed these five assault marines a while ago.  My enthusiasm for 40K has all but diminished, but I will try to see through this small 2nd edition force project.

Oldhammer: Blood Angel Space Marine Scouts

Struggled to get a good picture of these guys for some reason, but a squad of nice old metals, recovered from eBay minis.

Slightly...rough when picked up off eBay.

Stripped, cleaned, re-based, repainted.

Some ancient heralds, and some ancient Space Marines

 I had two leftover cavalry I decided to make into stand-in heroes, and stand-in couriers (which can be used to guarantee command rolls once a game) for FSF.

Given the cheap Horus Heresy Mk6 space marines all over eBay I grabbed a few sets to make some marines for possible 2nd edition games in the future (my buddies and I have been talking about doing some cooperative bug hunts).

Not overly stoked with the results, but Space Marines are Space Marines.  Amusingly the very first "expensive" thing I bought at age 14 with my first job was a painted squad of the original RTB01 Beakie marines from a local hobby shop.  They happened to be painted red, so this is all coming full circle now.

Games!: 2nd Edition 40K and Battlegroup: Kursk

 Just some pictures from two games over the past few days (and I missed taking pictures of some games over the past few weeks).

 

Soviet deploying to counter a three-pronged German assault.

Soviet armour is caught by Stuka dive bombers and artillery, pinning and sowing chaos.

Soviet armour and infantry being blasted by artillery and bombs.

Though I lost the game, my final moment was a lucky AT rifle team firing a round at a Panzer IV, needing an 11 to pin it, and a 12 to kill it....mission: accomplished!

 

Late in the game...things looking dire for the Dark Angels as they retreat toward the landing platform.

A poor shot of the table.

The Eldar Exarch lands to assist the Dark Angels - protecting the Tarantula turret from the nearby Genestealers.

A Carnifex ignores the dangers of the acid lake and attacks two Shining Spears.

On the other side of the table, a squad of Fire Dragons stands their ground against a Carnifex - buying time for the Dark Angels and other Eldar.

Early in the game, the Swooping Hawk Exarch skirts along the acid lake, firing at the Genestealers.

Early in the game, the Dark Angels withdraw as the Tyranids chase them onto the table.

A second unit of Hormagaunts is hurtling at the Dark Angels as they withdraw toward the platform.

The Tyranids swarming toward the Dark Angels.

Flying from the other side of the board, the Swooping Hawks land, dropping grenades and breaking the Hormagaunt unit - and then opening up with lasguns.

After defeating the Hormagaunts, the Swooping Hawks grenade a unit of Genestealers...making one mistake; leaving one alive.

The Inquisitor Chaplain and Techmarine organize the retreat to the landing platform.