Another Guy's Sisters?

   As part of the build up to the campaign I was chatting to probably my most regular gaming opponent - a guy who sees gaming as a reason to get out of the house and have some company more than a gamer per se*, so who uses my other side in every game** - and he was saying it was time he bought his own army and this might be the excuse. So on the train to Salute we were chatting over options and he decided to buy into Sisters of Battle.

*I don't think I'm being unfair there

**if I post a photo of a game where both sides are my figures, 80% of the time, he's on the other side

   The one thing he made clear in this discussion was that he was very unlikely to paint his own figures, lack of time and perceived lack of skill meant that he had no interest at all, so he was looking at various options online to buy painted figures. In the end I offered to do the painting as long as he accepted my caveats;

1. It would be to my paint quality - I'm not an 'eavy metal painter and I'm not going to try to be

2. I'm not going to spend weeks just painting his stuff - it will fit around my things, but I would try and make sure he wasn't ignored

3. I wanted colour schemes and any load outs ahead of time as I didn't want to be chasing mid project.

   As a project it's turned out to be quite fun, these are the first few batches I've been painting for him - the focus has been on two fronts;

1. Get a Kill Team painted up to start our campaign

2. Make sure I've got him a minimum 40k army painted so we can jump straight into 10th edition.

   He decided on a colour scheme early on - I won't lie, I did talk him out of a potential white armour colour scheme - which was a homage to his army when he first played 40k back in 2rnd edition, the Dark Angels. I painted up a test figure for him to check I was happy with painting them and that he liked the colour scheme, the red lining was a fairly late addition as we both felt it just needed something else.

The first battle sisters squad and test cases

Redemptia - minus the superior who I forgot to photograph before I handed it back

Arch-Flagellants - poor sods

Rhino transport

Second squad of battle sisters

Seraphim

Canoness

   He's bought himself (from various sources) the equivalent of a couple of combat patrols (one minus the rhino) and a unit of Paragon suits, so while I've broken the back of this project and achieved my initial aims, I still have a fair bit to go.

   The only thing I did notice when I was finishing the last batch of these off was how we've used the same colour palette for both our armies - green, bone and red - thankfully different greens and reds.

Thanks for reading

Bigger Bugs Pt 2

   This post is about a single model, the Hive Tyrant*, the beast in charge of my whole swarm. Of all the models in this army so far, this is the one I thought the longest and hardest about, and annoyed my brother the most in the process and that was on the question of how to equip it**. In the end, I decided she had absolutely no right having wings and flying off to be shot to bits while her swarm staggered on, so once I knew she was a ground pounder, the choices got easier, left with either full combat or a mix. 

*who needs a silly name

**yes, I probably should have magnetised the arms

   I decided to go for a mix as there just aren't enough big guns in a Tyranid army for my liking and this is a fairly easy way of getting one more in.

Any names in the comments, I'm tempted towards a Tiffany or Milly but happy to see if there are better ideas.

Thanks for reading

The Swarm Pt 3

   A slight variation in my Swarm™ series on my Tyranids with the first of two batches (so far?) of gargoyles. For all intents and purposes these are just flying termagaunts as they even have identical weaponry but they were a unit that I was envious of in 3rd edition but was never ever going to buy in metal*. In the initial excitement of looking at Tyranids properly, I found 20 of them for about the price of one new box, so it was an easy decision. 

*those things fell over so easily and broke nearly every time they did

   I am probably going to swap the bases out for solid bases like I tend to do all my flying stuff nowadays (a see through stem into a solid base rather than a clear base) but that is a problem for the future.

Thanks for reading

Bigger Bugs Pt 1

   Another part of the process of getting this project onto the table the moment 10th edition hits is getting the hard hitters and synapse creatures built and painted - the swarm is important but its not the whole story. I've got the all important Hive Tyrant on the painting desk as I type this but as we are also playing kill team I wanted to get some figures useful for that game done first, plus something I got a tad over excited with.

   So first up are a unit of Warriors. These are the mid sized choice that you can either take as troops as part of a monster bug list or as cheap synapse (keeping control of the small stuff) in swarm lists. Weapon wise, I went rule of cool quite hard on these guys, with an assault gun on each model and a pair of swords. In my head the point of this unit is to keep up with the swarm, supplying mid range shooting while on the move, then hitting fairly hard if cheap assaults come into range.

   Lastly, we have a Carnifex. This particular model is a bit harder to explain. I was just looking online at second hand figures while I was painting the first genestealers and found myself on Troll Trader, when I noticed that Carnifexes seemed to vanish off every time I reloaded a page, so as the price was fairly sensible I just ordered a pair before I really thought through what I was doing. I gave the combat beast to my brother, as it suited him, and kept the shooty one for myself. This one's gun choices aren't exactly what I would go for if I am building one from a kit, but with assault guns, its another beast that will keep up with the swarm, providing cover as it goes.

Back to the swarm then

Thanks for reading

The Swarm Pt 2

   Carrying on with the ongoing swarm, next up are another 12 termaguants. There's not a huge amount to say at this point that hasn't already been covered but I will definitely be looking into some kind of movement tray for them - just moving each batch around my man cave has been hard enough.

   As this army will hopefully be played with fairly soon*, I'm probably going to start having a look at the bigger bugs next but I do have a fair few small bugs I need to keep in mind.

*its just a question of whether I hold out for 10th or do a cheeky game or two of 9th before

Thanks for reading

The Swarm Pt 1

   As I said in the post about my genestealers, I see the Tyranids as a swarm army. I totally get why people like the big monster list with warriors as their troop choice or (like my brother plans to do) the slightly sneaky list with Mawlocs, raveners and stealers as their main troops, but for me there needs to be a carpet of gaunts for the bigger stuff to march with.

   The swarm theory has two major downsides, cost and sheer painting time. The first I am mitigating where ever possible, the second is just a matter of painting in bulk when/while you have the motivation. On that note, here are the first 12 Termagaunts and an extra pair of genestealers to bulk my unit up to the 10 I wanted.

   I'm mostly planning on just churning these out for as long as I have the motivation, then when I don't, I'm hopefully only adding odds and sods rather than 2 or 3 digit numbers of bugs.

Thanks for reading

Genestealers

   With a new edition of 40k coming, I've gotten a bit excited about the game again* and chatting to my brothers who both want to start with this edition we decided to do a mini-campaign between ourselves. One brother picked Tyranids and the other Space Marines, which left me unsure what to play to keep the story simple.

*I really wanted to get into 9th but it just bloated so quickly

   On the way to Salute, however, chatting to a mate who is a regular gamer but doesn't own an army, he decided to join the campaign with it being the perfect opportunity to buy his first models - the army he bought being Sisters of Battle. Which then made my choice easy as I would just balance the sides.

   The first things I bought were a box of Genestealers, while I don't want a horde of them in my proposed army, they are too useful not to own. 10 of them gives me a whole kill team for small games and a unit of something a bit sneaky won't hurt in bigger games.

   As I'm joining my brother's fleet, I purposely copied his colours, matching his green and bone but slightly varying elsewhere, so that our armies should mix fairly well but not look identical.

Thanks for reading

Fratribusia Campaign

+++ Astropathic message incoming +++

Governor of Fratribusia, your planet is in the path of a tendril of Hive fleet Jormungandr.

In the name of the God-Emperor and his regent on holy Terra, defend the relics at all costs and do not let the planet fall.

Help is coming.

Thought of the day: By the blood of martyrs does the Imperium grow.

+++ Message ends +++

+++ Message incoming +++

Precinct-Fortress Primus, we have reports of xenos activity at the freight docks, please investigate.

Thought of the day: Vigilance is it's own reward.

+++ Message ends +++

+++ Message incoming +++

Holy Canoness of the Orders Militant, Arbites squads Alpha and Gamma sent to investigate xenos activity at the docks have failed to return, we require your zeal.

Thought of the day: A wise man learns from the death of others.

+++ Message ends +++

+++ Message incoming +++

Xenos creatures identified as Genestealer abominations have broken out of the freight docks.

Investigations will continue in extremis to find the culprit and punish accordingly.

All Imperial forces on Fratribusia to be put on high alert.

High Marshall Hecate.

Thought of the day: Suffer not the alien to live.

+++ Message ends +++