FtW Round Table - Core Units - Command Squad

Continuing from this week's FtW Round Table Discussion on the one must-have unit that is always included in the army list. Mine is the Blade Saints Chapter's first company(sword) command squad.



The Archons of Battle, the Heavenblade Command Squad: Terminator Scythe Titus


Brother Sergeant Titus w/ Twin Lightning Claws


Brother Apothecary Saul w/ Storm Bolter and Powerfist



Scythe Brother Balan w/ Storm Bolter, Chain Fist and Cyclone Missile Launcher


Scythe Brother Nebiros w/ Twin Lightning Claws


and you've met Scythe Brother Silas, Standard Bearer w/ Twin Lightning Claws




I've just added the Brother Apothecary Saul and he's already made himself felt in the first battle yesterday.

I've mentioned in/on various posts this week, but this squad is hell incarnate in close combat, and still effective in ranged combat.

Attached to Malthius (Belial), Sword Master of the Heavenblade Company, and getting into close combat on the charge this squad does the following carnage:
Malthius will bring 6 attacks on Initiative 6: 4 +1 for the charge, +1 for the standard. The Lightning Claws will bring 15 attacks (5 each) on I4: 3 +1 for the charge, +1 for the standard.

That's 21 attacks all with re-rolls to wound... by this time the opponents are thinned if not wiped out (small Termie squads are toast) and the power/chainfist are cleanup, but add to that the Apothecary ignoring 1 failed save and this squad's got staying power.

Thanks for checkin it out.

Malthius with Lion's Talons

Well, as per usual - along the lines of changing color schemes mid-project - I've decided to make a change to Malthius and give myself the option of twin lightning claws.



After posting to fellow FtW Blogger site's Wither the Deathwing post about the assaulty goodness of the Belial Termi Command Squad, I re-thought and reconsidered (5 attacks + reroll 1 to-hit? or 6 attacks and reroll all to-wounds? hmmm) and decided to go ahead and do the deed. The arms&shoulders on Malthius are already magnetized so I can now switch back and forth, but I had thought that I'd be playing the SBolter/Sword of Silence config for a while.

These pics show the Claws WIP still. I'm working on an outline for a step-by step on painting my power armor so I also used this as an excuse to make the change.

[click the image for larger pics]




Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!

Rituals, Deployment, Cheating...

This week’s FtW Blogger Group Round Table was about pre-game rituals. Being newly returned to the hobby and having played less than 12 'real' games I know I don’t have any set rituals yet. Now, I’m treating ‘rituals’ and ‘routines’ as things you do to get you ready for the game or because you think it’ll bring you luck if you do them, or bad luck if you don’t. Based on this explanation I don’t have any but there is something I find myself doing pre-game: I second guess my army config until the very last second.

I’ve gone through the trouble of setting up multiple lists at the standard army sizes. So for 750, 1000, 1500 and even 1750 I have 2 sometimes 3 lists. Now, they aren’t very different from each other but, they are different enough, and I’m inexperienced enough, that I don’t have that seasoned intuition on one list that works at a specific size. For each size I lists to field a full Deathwing army, a Deathwing with Greenwing support, a Mixedwing… at maybe for each ‘flavour’, one or two dreadnaughts? A 5 man devestator squad or a full 10 man unit? I’m here to tell you there is such a things as too much variety!

That said I know that as I gain more game experience I’ll start to get a feel for what force I want to field for what army size. But it’s slow going and there’s one aspect that I know I will continue to have difficulty with because it sits wrongly with me in principle:

Having to decide your force makeup before you know what mission and deployment you’re playing; I’m new, but I haven’t found the actual rule besides being implied when reading the book that you would know your army size and makeup before the rolls are made for mission type and deployment. I know there’s a school of army-building-thought that this is what makes the game fair and challenging: having to create armies to be flexible enough to execute in any mission. This makes complete sense to a point. But come at it from the other side, it just doesn’t sit as practical for me to pretend that I (as a commander) wouldn’t know what my general objectives are (mission), what the terrain is like and my direction of travel and patrol (deployment) before I choose the units to participate in an action. So question; for one game my opponent and I ended up rolling for mission and deployment before we took out our models, so both of us had this information before we setup our armies. Based on the info it informed my decision but I don’t know if my opponent did the same. Did I cheat? Would it be cheating to have the units ready for a range of configuration and make the final decision at deployment? oh, and we played to a decisive 6th turn win for me, and I know that I was more comfortable/in control from the start.

Rationalized Dark Angels FAQ

The Dark Fortress has posted FAQ by way of a contributor to the Bolter and Chainsword forum. This FAQ suggests a sensible rationalization of the DA vs. Space Marine codex discussions.

Here's the link to the summary on Dark Fortress

A cursory review looks pretty fair. I have both codex' and I'll likely continue to play the straight DA codex for some time. Fact is, I've gotten very attached to the army builder app and if it aint available in the program then I don't fancy myself competitive enough to have the motivation to count off point by hand and pen and paper.

At most I'll ask "hey, mind if I count the CML as Heavy2 per C:SM?" after that I'm good. One sticking point though... I am still disappointed though, that Ravenwing bikes can't boost during their scouting move :(

Brother Silas - Heavenblade Standard Bearer

Brother Silas is the standard bearer of the First Sword of the Blade Saints Chapter: the Heavenblade. The men of this Sword (as companies are known in the Chapter) are grouped into 5 man teams called “Scythes”, and each one strides onto the battlefield clad in revered suits of Terminator Armor. The brothers of the Heavenblade represent the veterans, the heroes, and the legend of the Company. But of these heroes, Silas and his fellow Brothers of the Heavenblade Command Scythe represent their highest aspirations; beside their Lord Malthius they are Sovereigns of Combat, the Archons of Battle.



The Heavenblade banner depicts an unnamed Angel in a moment of exhaustion from the eternal battle for humanity’s salvation. The sword presented by the Angel is said to be the spiritual weapon taken up by the brothers of the Heavenblade as they fight when all others would rest. The words “Acies Caelum” comes from the Old Earth Latin; Caelum to mean ‘sky’ or ‘heaven’ and Acies holding many meanings such as ‘keenness’, ‘edge’, ‘sharpness’, ‘battle-line’ or ‘battlefield’. Every word appropriate to the intent.

Hope that bit of fluff was not too over-the-top.. but now I just want to ensure that proper.. well, props... I guess, is given to the source of the inspiration for the Banner. The general aesthetic I took from Ron's Banner Tutorial over at From the Warp. A great resource, make sure you check it out. I really liked that Ron's Banners were stylized and graphically strong designs rather than attempts to do real life portraits. You'll see his Helbrecht banner influencing the overall feel of my own. For the Angel, I took my starting point from an awesome collection at this site http://art.thehomeofjon.net/ specifically this one from his collection of Battle Angel pieces. Fantastic work, really! Make sure to check it out.

Anyways, this wasn't the how-to-do banners post. Not sure if there's any merit on going deep into it; I took the templates from Ron's Tutorial, freehanded the initial design and then scanned it, colored, cleaned it on Paint. and printed onto DIY Decal paper as per BOLS' Custom Decal Tutorial. As you can see I am a master at taking other's hard work and making it pay off for me :) but at least I try to give credit where it's due. :D

As always, thanks for stopping by, and hope you enjoyed the visit.

Blade Saint Color Scheme on Test Marine

This is the final color scheme on the Blade Saints chapter. As I mentioned in my first post, they are a Dark Angels successor chapter and, being that, I wanted them to line up more closely with the pre-heresy all black armor rather than the green of post heresy Dark Angels.



This is actually my second pass at this color scheme. In fact, I was almost done (80%) through a 1500pt army before I made the hard decision to change it. In the end it was because I was satisfied but not 100% happy with my first cut. Below is an example of the first scheme.



My method of painting is all about multiple washes and I had original used Badab Black to work up the shadows and in the end I felt it made them a little too muddy. Let me explain… Most shadows are never completely made up of blacks and grays, it contains tints and hints of the color that the object actually is. That being said, what color are the shadows and highlights on black objects? Well I don’t know the scientific color theory answer to that (so you science and art majors leave me alone :) but for my tastes, it depends on whether you’re trying for warm or cold feel to the piece. In the end I found a shade of wash that pleased me and gave me the results I wanted and not just making the model darker. That blend ended up being a 3:1 mix of Thraka Green and Leviathan Purple. And that’s how black armor ended up looking like it’s built up with highlighted blue rather than gray. The next pic just shows the 2 side-by-side.



So I’m moving forward with re-painting my Blade Saints army, wish me luck.

Keep coming by to see if I end up changing my mind again in the late period of getting it done. I already have a bad feeling about this… I used to tinker with airbrush art in high school and the citadel spray gun is giving me bad ideas. But maybe I’ll be able to control my compulsions until I’m working on my son’s Fallen army. Thanks for looking in. Come back soon for a more detailed outline of my “cheater” way of painting armor.

FtW November Challenge Plug

I’ve recently linked up with the FtW Blogger Group and I’m REALLY looking forward to being a part of the community and (hopefully) making a contribution to it. The FtW Blogger Group will not only like each participating blog together but will also initiate activities that members will participate in:

“A weekly Round Table discussion where you can throw your 2 cents in with the thoughts of the FtW bloggers on a different 40k topic each week. Each weekend, a new topic will be put up for everyone to comment on and see what others are thinking. From tactics to tips and everything in between, each week will be something new.

In addition to the weekly Round Table discussions, each month the FtW bloggers will be given a challenge. As a reader, you'll be able to follow along here and on their individual blogs and then see the results when it's all done. From contests, to downloads to step by step articles, you'll benefit from all of it and seeing what the guys come up with.”

So this month’s Challenge and this week’s round table feel to me fairly over my head as a newly returning player; the round table is to discuss any pre-game routines. The Challenge is to create your own 40k scenario. As previously mentioned, I am definitely out of depth on the scenario creation as I haven’t played any of the 3 x 3 combinations more than 3 times each.

That said I am very much looking forward to the output of this group because – from the inside looking out – it is a great collection of collaborative minds. I’ll put in my two cents into the Round Table though, but I know it’s a function of my lack of familiarity with the rules... That said I’ve committed myself to doing my best to contribute to the group and not just be dead weight.

So, thanks for dropping by, come back soon for my description of my own brand of pre-game strangeness.