Slow-Motion

As you most likely have noticed my posting regularity has dropped significantly lately. This has motly to do with my Real Life situation at the moment. To make a long story short; I am losing my job and need to go through the hassle of navigating the labyrinthine maze of bureacracy in order to get signed up for unemployment.
I also need to start looking around for a new job. Of course being unemployed (soon) you would think I actually have more time on my hands. Although true enough in a relative short amount of time, it has also seriously done a number on my motivation to do anything related to the hobby at this time.

I am sure I will get back to working on it soon enough but until I do, I hope you're patient with me and cut me some slack whereas a lack of regular updates are concerned.

Thanks.

Heroes of Armageddon, no more.

So yesterday the Heroes of Armageddon drive for Doctors Without Borders ended. Part of me is sad to see it end and part of me is already looking forward towards the next possible one. After all Heroes of Armageddon was their second drive after the Storm Wardens.

I am kinda hoping we can reach the 40k mark with the next one if only to match our hobby there.



"We are very proud to announce that these armies have raised $31,057 for Doctors without Borders"

Friends,

the wait is over. The Heroes of Armageddon project started in April and now, almost 4 months later, we have accomplished what we set out to do: 4 armies modeled and painted to the highest standards. We have here the true Heroes of Armageddon: the Steel Legion and Blood Angels opposite Ghazghkull Thraka's Horde and the Wazdakka Gutsmek's Speed Freaks.

From the start of this project, we have tried to stay close to the 3000 point goal, but as you will see, some armies are bigger, some are smaller. All in all, it has been a tremendous effort, having models come from all over the American continent, from Hawaii to Canada to Virginia. 

For the rest of the post along with images of the armies, extras and a list of the winners I direct you towards the Heroes of Armageddon site. 

I can say that I am glad to have been a part of this and that I have sent in my donation weekly, partly as support for the worthy cause and partly for a chance at one of their weekly prizes. Of course in the latter regard I was emboldened because of winning a weekly prize right after my first donation (the Stormlord mentioned before in my blog).

Still no arrival on my Avatar of War Dwarf Bezerkers so I am going to send out a mail again about it soon. As for my other developments they have been toned down somewhat as RL is being a pain in the ass. Need to deal with losing my job soon as well as getting back on the market to find a new one.

I hope to be able to get back to painting and such soon without feeling guilty for doing so.

Cheers.

Build me an army worthy of....

...Squats!

Alright so here is my request: I would like to see what you could come up with in regards to a playable army using the models I have at my disposal. The army size I leave up to everyone to choose for themselves (if I get any takers that is).

I am aware there is a chronic shortage of Troop Transports amongst my owned models, but is mostly due to a chronic shortage of money in my wallet.

I am also still conflicted whether or not I will use alternative models instead of actual Chimeras. Especially seeing there are kits out now to convert official GW Chimera’s into wheeled versions which I like a lot more than their tracked cousins. This also goes for my use of AT-43’s Red Blok Dotch Yaga stand ins for my Basilisk.

Even though I have quite a number of Kolossus from AT-43’s Red Blok, I have already semi-abandoned them as viable stand ins for Hellhounds due to their smaller than expected size.

The reason I listed all of the models grouped as I did was in order to provide as many possible links to images of my army so you can get an idea of what you are working with (although most of you have seen these pictures before anyways).

Like most forums and such I would ask that you do not list the cost of every component in an army regiment, just list them with the total cost of the unit. For an Infantry Platoon for example the costs for a Command Squad, Regiment and Regiment.

Even though I have lost my faith in some of the models for my Squat army, I will list them anyways because one of you might have a good idea.

Classic
- 2 Living Ancestors (Pictures  One and Two)
- 5 Officers (Picture)
- 3 Sergeants (Picture)
- 3 Officers, Vox Caster and Standard Bearer (Picture)
- 9 Squat Troopers (Picture)
- 4,5 Exo Squats (Picture)
- 4 Heavy Weapon Teams (Pictures: One and Two)
- 10 Squat Bikers (Pictures: One and Two)

GW(ish)
- 1 Techpriest / Enginseer (White Dwarf Model) (Picture)
- Colonel ‘Iron Hand’ Straken (Picture)
- 5 Model, Platoon Command Squad (Commander, Vox Caster, Standard Bearer, two Plasma Gunners) (Picture)
- 30 Infantry (3 Infantry Squads, 1 Veteran Squad) (Pictures: One, Two, Three, Four)
- 3 Heavy Weapon Mortar Teams (Picture)
- 2 Leman Russ Executioners (Picture)
- 1 Basilisk (Picture)
- 1 Stormlord (Picture)

Other
- 10 Servitors (Converted Epic Landraiders, 4 Plasma, Pictures: One, Two, Three)
- 12 Guardsmen (B’Dass Troopers, No Picture)
- 2 Commissars (B’Dass Commanders, Picture)
- 10 Ogryns (Grizzly Exosuits / Holocaust Judge, Picture)
- 20 Penal Legionaires (Avatar of War, Dwarf Bezerkers)
- 10 Stormtroopers / Veterans with Carapace Armour (Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps, Picture)
- 4 Sentinels (Robogear Werewolves, Picture, the model on the right)
- 3 Basilisks? (AT-43 Red Blok Dotch Yaga, Picture)
- 9 ??? (AT-43 Red Blok Kolossus, Picture)
- 3 Valkyrie / Vendetta (Robogear Condors, Picture)


* Most of the images are mine....but not all of them. So credit goes to the owners of each image.

Of course if you do not want to bother don't worry about it, at least you can take a look at the models I have collected so far. Thank you all for reading, appreciate it, you are what keeps me motivated.

Midas VI - Squat Homeworld

So here is what I came up with as a backstory for my Squats as well as reasoning how they are still around when the Squat Homeworlds got hit by GW's Banhammer the Tyranid Hivefleet Behemoth.


Midas VI

Discovered by the Squats during their golden age when they were a part of the Imperium of Man. From their homeworld they supplied the Emperor’s armies with their advanced plasma based technology. In order to continue their expansion and advances in technology the Squat Homeworlds continuously searched for possible worlds to colonize in order to continue their supply of resources.

Midas VI was one such planet, rich in minerals but with a strong magnetic core. It’s heavy gravitational pull made it uninhabitable by humanity at large but to the Squat the gravity was only slightly above what they were used to. Located on the fringes of the galaxy outside what was the Imperium the Homeworlds sent off a small colonization fleet along with the troops to protect them against the unknowns of the fringe.

The Squats landed and colonized Midas VI and for a small time things went according to plan, their new colony prospered and the Squat Homeworlds were close to revealing their success to the Imperium as the Hive Fleet descended on them. Midas VI has been cut off from the Imperium ever since. Unsure of what occurred to the Homeworlds they have been reluctant to seek out contact with the Imperium, fearing they had chosen to continue the war that initially consumed their two races.

As far as they were aware they were the only remnants of the Squat race and thus strive to protect and preserve it at any cost. Having to fend for themselves they adhered to the rules and dogma they had been grown accustomed too. Their foundries and factories crafting new tanks and weapons for their own armies, converting industrial machines where needed.

Once again the Squat had become a race apart from the Imperium, isolated and yet enduring. The Tau emissaries were tolerated by the stoic Squats, they neither joined nor opposed their Greater Good and found in them occasional allies and the two races formed their own trade routes.

In the long years they have been on their new planet they started to reach back to the traditions of their forefathers. As their community grew they expanded downwards into the ground, almost all of the Imperial Architecture above left to the harsh elements of Midas VI. From orbit the planet looks all but abandoned and is mostly ignored by the sentient races.

Slow week

So an entire week actually went by without me posting here. So what has been going on lately, well I've been sick for starters and have been in a poor mood related to my ongoing trouble at work and soon lack thereof entirely. So what I did do is the following, I did finish off my first infantry squad (without the Heavy Weapon Team's weapon). The reason the metal is a bronze color has two reasons, one it suits the dwarf/squat models really well and two a friend of mine is into Steampunk and the bronze just helps bring that out.

The Regiment

When basecoating and painting these I did make some mistakes but hopefully the next group will come out better. Some of the models basecoat is way too thick but in the end they turned out okayish.... After all I am nowhere near a paint expert. Im just happy to get something painted for a change ;)

Vox Caster

Plasma Gunner

I am still waiting for my Penal Legion soldiers....as in the Dwarf Bezerkers from Avatar of War. I actually had to order some more paint in order to have colors for the beards on the Squats. For a Squat without a beard is like an army without beer.... Or something.

So besides painting I have been doing a whole lot of nothing really. I am still waiting for my Dwarf Beserkers to get here from Avatar of War, as well as my spare parts for my broken down Landraider. I did put in an order for several Holocaust Judges (thanks Inso) who I will assemble with parts from the Grizzly Exosuits (mix and match) in order to build my Ogryns. All of the models will be assembled with the drill part from my Hardsuit model in order to give it a more mining related appearance.

The only thing I have been tinkering with a little bit has been one of the Servitors to belong to my Enginseer. Based off of Wall-E somewhat this is what I ended up with.

Front

and Side

The model actually ended up being taller than the Enginseer himself and is about as tall as an Imperial Guardsman even without this model being based. The figure ended up being too big for me to use binoculars as its head so I used a targetting system from my broken down Landraider.

Squat Test Model

 As I am not too sure on how the images will look once uploaded to the interwebs, Ill just run through the colors used. What I used are the following:

- Color Primer Leather Brown (Army Painter).
- Charadon Granite (GW Foundation)
- Dheneb Stone (GW Foundation)
- Elf Flesh (GW)
- Chaos Black (GW)
- Dwarf Bronze (GW)
- Quick Shade - Dark Tone (Army Painter)
- Anti-Shine Matt Varnish (Army Painter)

I started out with the usual basecoat, I picked brown because I wanted to stick to earth tones. Earth tones relate to their miner and industrial side as well as relating back to fantasy.

This was followed by picking out the seperate colors, making sure to add a dark gray almost black to offset the mostly brown of the uniform. The haircolor was made greyish for the simple reason that I do not have too many colors that would work as hair. Lasgun was made black and originally I was going to go with the traditional boltgun metal but partly due to Viktor von Domm from Dakka I decided to give Dwarf Bronze a go to get a more Steam Punkish feel.

Squatting or Forming the Guard

Due to my items arriving I continued work on my regular and veteran guardsmen. These models were what I started out with and were always meant to be the core of my Imperial Guard army. Now finally all are assembled so no more empty bases on my table as reminders where models still need to be added.
Each and every Squad has its own Vox Caster as well as a Special Weapon trooper carrying a Plasma gun. My reasoning behind having a Vox Caster is that I might not need them but if I do there is no need to scrounge for bits when that time arrives, the Plasma gun is based around the Squats being generally more technologically advanced than their human counterparts (with my luck this means my Squats melt a lot!).

Platoon Command Squad; two Plasma Guns, Vox and a Banner.

Infantry Squad 1; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun

Infantry Squad 2; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun

Infantry Squad 3; Heavy Weapon Team, Vox, Plasma Gun

Heavy Weapon Squad; Mortar Teams

I actually messed up during assembly and ended up with one regular Squat trooper less than I needed so I demoted the model originally converted as the Platoon Command Officer to the unit Sergeant for Infantry Squad 3 (behind him if you look carefully you can see a model I was going to make the unit sergeant at first). I do realize that the names of the Squads are not very imaginative and they will most likely get proper names in time.

Veteran Squad; Vox, three Plasma guns

All the models in my Veteran Squad are wearing capes which I might try to paint up with a camouflage team so they can serve properly as Camo Cloaks. At the moment this unit is the only one I am sure of that I want to run as Veterans. I do have twelve B'dass models as well but I am still not sure as to what their purpose is going to be, at the moment it is either Veterans or regular Infantry. Something similar about the Warmachine models, though they are definately Veterans and possibly Stormtroopers.

Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corpse with a regular Squat for size Reference

I did assemble my unit of Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corpse, though I am leaving off their shields until after I get them painted up, attaching the shield now will make it a lot harder to paint it properly. Also the Squat in the image above belongs to Infantry Squad 1, which is why there are only nine models in the unit as I forgot to put it back for the group picture (Oops).

Iron Hand Straken, and two spare Plasma Gunners

With the arrival of my bits I also finished my version of Iron Hand Straken and I equipped two Squats with my last metal plasma guns in order to potentially field a Command Squad with all plasma weapons equipped.

Possible Ogryns, with an actual Ogryn for scale

So I came across the model on the left on Tabletop Fix (damn you Falk!) and just loved the Bioshock vibe the model has. It is called a Hardsuit and is available from Recreational Conflict. I do like the model but I still need to toy around with it's posture and the arms and legs seem to be a bit too thin for my liking. The model on the right is a Grizzly Exosuit from the Starship Troopers range, which I envision as actually being operated from a Squat seated inside the bulk of the machine. Problem with the Grizzly is that I would love to get my hands on some more models but they are now Out of Production and Out of Stock at Mongoose (where I purchased the five that I own now). So if anyone can point me to finding some, id be appreciative.

Hardsuit

Grizzly Exosuit

In my eyes both are viable options, so if anyone out there has an opinion feel free to share and enlighten me.

I did paint up my first Squat model as a test to see if my color scheme works alright as well as to test some of the Army Painter stuff I got in. I went with a brown and gray color scheme, I figured Earth and Rock tones would work for them, I did the metals in Dwarf Bronze as opposed to the usual Boltgun Metal. At the time of writing the model is still drying from paint and me 'splashing on' the Quick Shade - Dark Tone, so once it has dried properly I'll dose it with anti gloss and take a picture.

So far so good.

Whats going on... Part Deux!

Whats going on:- My bits order from Bitspudlo came in (the magnets were suspiciously absent though). 
- My five Grizzly Exosuits from the Starship Troopers came in as well and they are awesome... And now no longer sold by Mongoose....so if anyone can find a place where I can get some more....yes please. 

With my current bits restocked I can work on finishing off my Squat Veterans, add the Special Weapon Troopers to my Infantry Squads, make three more Heavy Weapon Mortam Teams, and last but not least another Infantry Squad of ten Squats. 

And of course the rest is on the way and then I have to start on the really scary bit.... Painting. Well after I assemble my 'Ogryns', Stormtroopers and Penal Legion soldiers ;)

Whats going on...

Just a minor update (not even any pictures!).

At the moment my paints are starting to come in slowly, figured I give the Army Painter a go to see how I will end up. Am awaiting the last few bits for the Emperor's Pride. At this point I am not even sure how many Terminators I will be able to assemble, I figure I will focus on building an Army List and assemble as needed. I have been reading up on tactics and such, of course the rumors of a new edition for 40K is somewhat unsettling (moreso seeing I only now ordered in Codex: Dark Angels).

Any suggestions on loadout are much appreciated. I do know I will go for a 'Unkillable' Unit of 5 Terminators with Thunderhammers and Stormshield with one of them toting around a Cyclone Missile Launcher. I do have an Assault Cannon or three laying about as well as some Heavy Flamers. Of course if I can swing it I might just make 5 Lightning Clawed Terminators, and 5 Regular ones rounding it off with an Apothecary and Standard Bearer (Note to Self: Need a Logo).

A month and two e-mails further Bitspudlo finally shipped my ordered items, so as soon as they come in I can resume my Squat goodness as well. I did found even more possible Ogryn models, am expecting Avatar of War Dwarf Beserkers, and some Warmachine models. These will most definately be my last acquisition for a while due to some less than stellar news on the job front.

I'll not bore you with too much detail, but suffice to say I might get more time to work on my hobby than even I could wish for.

Oh alright then, one Picture:

Imperial Guard Veterans with Carapace Armour