Admiral Drax

301 Old Stuff Day

2012-03-02T21:01:00.001Z

Hullo, All!

It's March 2nd - it's Old Stuff Day...the brainchild of Warhammer 39999.

Less activity over the past year, so I'll only include a couple, but posing the whole army together last weekend (Post 300) did make me think a lot about my old stuff. As with many modellers, the first stuff that you collect is often the coolest. However, 10 years ago, when I started to get back into the hobby and to build what has now become the behemoth of my sprawling Guard army, my painting was not good.

Nor did Tallarn Flesh and Devlan Mud exist.

So, my 1st platoon is badly painted; my 2nd platoon are okay, and my 3rd platoon look like humans and even have hand-painted aquilas!

Either way, I thought my first offering would be my now-almost-obsolete Command Squad. Pale, pasty, blobby and gloss-varnished...but at least the flag looks okay:

Secondly, someone else who could use a splash of Devlan Mud - Captain Stephenson ...also known as Stephenson's Horse; with his converted weapon:

Next, one of my favourite (and rarely seen) conversions - the Wyvern ...as it happens, it seemed to spawn a series of other bloggers playing with the slung-back design (usually better than me) and this one now tends to be fielded as the chassis for my converted Hydra:

And finally, some of you may enjoy my short treatise on the demise of the Imperial Guard vox:

Thanks again, 39999!

- Drax.

300 Drax's Whole Army

2012-02-29T23:59:00.001Z

Hullo! ...On the remains of this fine Leap Year Day, and THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping me get to my 300th Post!
As promised, please find below a handful of the 120+ pics I took of my entire army last weekend at The Giant's Lair (my FLGS). It was a blast!

The whole lot:
Rifle company (front and rear):
Hardened veterans:
Armoured Fist platoon, with attached units:

...and some tanks:

More soon. Much, much more.

- Chris

(Drax)

PS: It's not atually my whole army: I forgot my HQ heavy weapons squads - a heavy bolter squad and a lascannon squad.

299 After the War - Regimental Mascot

2012-02-25T13:30:00.002Z

Well then, the next post is the big 300, but having finally based him after only three years, I proudly present to you...

'AFTER THE WAR'

- Regimental Mascot of the 2/24th Cadian Light Infantry:

Here he is in his original incarnation, and post 298 saw some recent pictures of his real-life muse, Cadfael.

Please bear in mind that these models are old, my painting's improved since then(!) and that when Mrs. Drax made him, After the War* was never really degned to be in scale with the GW minis. Still, he's very, very dear to me, and I look forward to seeing him take the table once more!

Here's to the impending Third Century, eh?!

- Drax.

* His name is a reference to a song: if you don't get the reference but would like to, click here. It's an old Drax Family joke.

298 For Long-Time Readers: Drax Family Holiday

2012-02-15T22:05:00.000Z

Hullo,
As I near my 300th post and get increasingly nostalgic, I thought I'd open up a little, especially for those readers who've been with me for a long time and those I've had personal dealings with. In case you're unaware, An old star of my blog is the Regimental Mascot, modelled by Mrs. Drax on our pet corgi, Cadfael.

At 15-and-a-half, Cadfael is now a rather venerable corgi, so when my dad won a small voucher for a holiday cottage, we decided to get away last weekend to Pembrokeshire in Wales - home of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and destination for the First Drax Family Holiday. It was cold, thoroughly enjoyable and fantastically dog-friendly (note the aged hound right up on the battlements!)

If you've read this far, thank you. Please share a glance through a few more pics, and I hope you enjoy the beauty of the castles, the countryside, the regal hound and my lovely girls. The first five are in the awesome 12th Century Pembroke Castle; the last in St David's.

Thanks - D.

297 Three 1500pt Mixed Lists

2012-02-07T00:25:00.000Z

Hullo All,

Here's three versions of a general 1500pt list in reverse order. The most recent is what I played with last week - a cracking game against some Chaos space marines which I lost after a good scrap. Please note, this is the only list in which I ever use 'chimeltavets'...out of principle.

Elements of these variants are interchangeable, but some go better with other bits. For example, the Company Commander is useful with all the heavy weapons, but the Primaris Psyker works well riding with the Str6 grenade launcher vets in the chimera. In the most recent game, I tried the bane wolf in lieu of my normal hellhound - it worked well against the filthychaosscum marines.

Hope all's well,

- D.

296 On the Painting Table...at the moment

2012-01-29T20:42:00.003Z

Hullo, All,

Just to reassure you that I am painting again despite the parlous state of The Shed and the lack of updates...and this is what I am reduced to - I keep all my paints and brushes in an old biscuit tin and scrape a place on the dining table to paint by desklamp:

If you're wondering why I might be painting Catachans (and evil, twisted, traitor scum Catachans at that) it's because I'm painting them up for Zzzzzz over at Devos IV.

Next on the painting list is some of my new heavy support...but I've another two squads of traitorscummortars to get finished first.

- Drax.

295 Female Hardened Veteran

2012-01-28T19:56:00.000Z

Hullo, All,

Allow me to introduce the only female trooper in 2/24th Cadian Light Infantry: one of my hardened vets, and a gift, courtesy of Brian at The Inner Geek:
I changed her lasgun into a kind of shotgun, and equipped her in line with my other vets, but otherwise she's as she arrived. Sorry for the shoddy pics.

Thanks, Brian!

- Drax.

294 Playing Favourites - Chain Post?

2012-01-22T22:48:00.001Z

This is an idea I got from Big Lee's Miniature Adventures - I'd be delighted if others took-up the torch to shed the light on what we do and share a bit more...

Wargames Period: 40k primarily, but of late I've been getting into Flames of War, and I'm slowly building up a small British Late War force; probably 11th Armoured Bde.

Scale: See above. It's interesting to start painting 15mm...it's made me realise just how tatty some of my brushes are.

Rules: I used to love playing D&D v3.5 - not only were the rules great fun, they were also beautifully presented. As a general rule I firmly believe that 40k rules are an absolute crock, and I get annoyed at how boring IG have come to be if they're not played for fun. I still try to play for fun! As for FoW? Man, I just fell in love with those rules!

Boardgame: Probably Settlers of Catan. If you haven't played it, do so. Some great friends of mine introduced me to it a while back. I re-wrote it for a 2-player version too.

Figure Manufacturer: Games Workshop/Forge World. I've been tempted by the likes of Malifaux and Infiniti, but I've had no hands-on experience of either, so I couldn't say for sure. As for Warmahordes stuff? - well, I hear the rules are great, but I simply can't stand the aesthetic.

Metal/Hard Plastic: Well, this sets me apart from most gamers of my generation: I can't stand metal minis.

Club: The singularly superb Cross-Swords gaming club in Plymouth, UK. They meet now in the even more awesome Giant's Lair - 'The South West's Premier Wargaming Centre' and the array of friendliness, sportsmanship and scenery on offer there never ceases to amaze me. And the burgers are ace. And they have Vimto on tap. Win.

Opponent: I suppose - if anyone - then it's my old pal Mike the Merciless. He's a great guy and unbelievably lucky with dice. Wish I got to play him more often...

Film: Zulu. Any questions?

Book: I don't read fantasy (never could stand badly made-up words and over-exposition) so probably Band of Brothers, by Stephen E Ambrose. The epilogue made me cry.

Art: Meh - fantasy art is usually a turn-off for me. I did enjoy the work Mark Gibson used to have in the 2nd Edition 40k rulebooks.

The Interweb: Anyone reading this far probably knows what I follow. No forums and nice folks only. I've met some lovely, lovely people through this blog, and if I've given one thing back, then I guess it's the Excel Painting Chart.

Anyone fancy doing this yourself? I'd love to read it...

- Chris.

293 The Shed: End of Days?

2012-01-18T00:02:00.000Z

Hullo,

The Painting Shed is on its last legs. Over the last month we've had strong winds in the UK and the larchlap slats on the back of our cheap-ol' shed have finally rotted away from their mountings. The wind finished the job nicely.
I've patched these bad-boys up time and again, but now, alas, I'm reduced to pinning recycling bags over the back of my painting cave.

Know what the worst of it is, though? Our lovely apple tree (which somehow died in the frosts last winter) also came down last month. Bugger. [It's a nice view over the village though...]

Still, on the plus side, my landlord said he'll sort us out with a new shed. Huzzah - new painting cave!

- D.

292 Painting Accross the Pond - Drax Edition Part IIIa

2012-01-14T20:53:00.002Z

Dear All,

About a year ago, I swapped models with The Inner Geek over in Texas for the 'Painting Across the Pond' project, in which we took a number of months(!) painting them up for each other. At the end of last year we finally swapped back, and with overhauls in the cottage I never got around to taking and posting images of the minis he painted for me. So here they are. Firstly it's the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Cadian Light Infantry (a Lt/Col whose name I don't yet have) and secondly, his faithful bodyguard - a freebie which Brian kindly threw in.
I couln't be happier. Please enjoy the pics and pay appropriate homage to The Geek's skill:

More soon,

- Drax.

PS: Anyone know how to get rid of these confounded spaces between lines when I post? Is it an html thing?

291 The Emperor Lives! (as does my enjoyment of 40K)

2012-01-02T12:32:00.005Z

Happy New Year, Folks!

It's now obvious that - like a lot of 40k vets, so it appears - I'm getting into an alternative system: I had my first proper intro game of Flames of War the other day and I loved it. That said, however, I did manage to get to the Club last Thursday and had a cracking game against the ever-pleasant Lee.

As it happens, I won fairly comprehensively, after the fellow in the picture above died the Death of a Thousand Guard-Gunline Cuts. But here's the thing: we had a good time. Sure, we spent a significant amount of time bemoaning the ludicrous inconsistencies in 40k; sure the broken cheesiness of the Guard codex made life very difficult for the marines, and sure it was pretty one-sided from turn two, but still, the game was enjoyable and we had a laugh.

Long live 40k.

I should, of course, note that as we were packing up, Lee suddenly cried "Oh no! I completely forgot to field my two thunderfire cannon - they're worth 200pts".

Oops!

Enjoy 2012...

290 Brief thoughts on FoW Modelling

2011-12-26T23:53:00.000Z

Hullo, and season's greetings to all and sundry on this, the Feast of Stephen.

My indulgence in 15mm goodness continues apace, despite Mrs. Drax asking me to not spend too much time on my toys this Christmas, and I have en route a set of British Late War paints and a Heavy Mortar Platoon. What joy!

The pic above is from last week - the bases of 1 Platoon have now been built up with filler (Spackle) and sand, and I've undercoated them with black, but I thought I'd use the image as I briefly share some of my thoughts about the construction - so far - of my new soldiers.

Essentially, I very much enjoyed putting these together. Minimal flash to dispose of, and the bases of each model have been easy to level off. I'm amazed by the variety of poses and the models look great together. Naturally the detail on the individuals is good if necessarily chunky, but I've noticed the BF tanks seem far less crisp than the troops. Hmmm. Still, those dirt cheap Shermans from the Plastic Soldier Company look as if they've got gorgeous detailing!

The bases themselves are beautiful! with a tiny, tiny nodule underneath each corner lifting it about 0.75mm to enable incredible ease of lifting. Battlefront, I am well impressed.

They're starting to look good now I've based them better, but after years of 'rubble' bases I've lost my static grass, so I'll need to get some more.

Now...how do I go about painting 127 of these little buggers?

Enjoy the turkey leftovers,

- Drax.

289 Infantry Company...But Smaller? FoW

2011-12-11T21:41:00.005Z

Well now.

After eighteen months of dallying, I've finally committed to my first proper Flames of War purchase:

Thus it begins.

- Drax.

288 Two Games. Two Great Games

2011-12-03T00:18:00.004Z

Hullo!

Well, I've acually got back to the gaming club over the last month - in its FANTASTIC NEW PREMISES! It's huge and friendly and fantastic...and I've played two games there.

Firstly, a 2000pt clash against Chaos Space Marines. I took a fluffy mech list, for fun (always for fun!) and got absolutely tonked by a nice fellow called Mark. Seriously: it was probably my worst game ever - practically everything I did was almost comically poorly thought-through. It was really good fun and though I absolutely deserved the loss, Mark was gracious in victory.

[Image: GW]

This week the Cadian 24th had their first encounter with the Dark Eldar. Jay's 1750pt tournament force went up against my infantry company - 1750pts of basic guard infantry is a lot of infantry, although the only heavy weapons I had were 3 mortar squads, two autocannon squads and one missile squad. Essentially, it was my standard inf company plus legionnaires, Marbo and a dismounted psyker squad.

[Image: GW]

Again, it was a great game, but this time it went better for me. For the loss of not even a quarter of my force poor Jay's Spikey Death Elves were outnumbered and slaughtered to a man [elf]. One thing surprised me - how good DE shooting is! I thought they were all about the close assault. It was a huge eye-opener for me to play a new and utterly unknown foe, and Jay's always a superb opponent. His models died gloriously and it was a great learning curve.

Thanks for the games, chaps.

- Drax.

287 Incoming!

2011-10-31T23:43:00.003Z

Yeah, I'm still alive, and yeah, I've finally ordered one:

Hope you're all well; sorry for the work-induced radio silence of late.

- Drax.

286 Drax Goes to the USA

2011-09-21T20:43:00.003+01:00

Hullo, Faithful Readers,

Just a heads-up: I'm off to America in October (22nd-29th) to visit the in-laws, and on the offchance any of you are in the Greater Chicagoland Area, the lovley Mrs. Drax has given official spousal permission for me to meet up with you...if you so wish. It'd be lovely to meet you face-to-face!

We'll be around the South Side and the Western Suburbs, so if you're around and you fancy meeting up, do please drop me a line!

- Chris.

285 Penal Legion Squad 2

2011-09-17T13:13:00.006+01:00

Hullo! I hope you're well, and cheers for swinging by.

Being a huge fan of penal legionnaires, I decided on a whim to make another squad of 'em. Here they are:

Their shoulder pads are shiny because I varnished them to keep the wretched transfers on; one day I hope to be able to afford some matte varnish.

That is all.

- Drax.

284 Heavy Weapons Squads Re-Based

2011-08-29T22:44:00.001+01:00

Evening, and I hope my readers on the US Eastern Seaboard are okay...

Well now - here's a post that 'does exactly what it says on the tin', just for completion's sake. I've spent a surprising mount of time this Summer re-basing my heavy wespons teams to bring them into line with the newer rules. Mostly these are on 60mm plywood bases I bought cheap on eBay, as I can't afford any more GW ones! It's a quick late-night snap just before Mrs. Drax asks me to tidy up, so excuse the lack of pic quality [the shinier models are the older, glossed ones]:

Along the back row are my three mortar squads, and in front of them are two autocannon squads and a missile squad. These comprise the heavy support for each of my platoons, and in front of these are my heavy bolter and lascannon squads which I hardly ever use).

Keep well, and if you like brilliant IG tank conversions, do please check out Oink's Overambitious Terrain Project(s) - 'coz his really are fantastic!

- Drax.

283 Painting Chart August 2011

2011-08-22T23:13:00.001+01:00

Hullo, All.

Just thought I'd post the latest Painting Chart, which has been reorganised. I know it doesn't look as if I've done a lot, but I've been busy rebasing all my old heavy weapons teams, and that's actually taken a surprising amount of time.

By the way, I'm delighted so many of you still seem to find this tracking system useful: I find it indispensible, it's nice to share, and thank you for letting me know!

- Drax.

282 2000pt Tournament Quarter Finals = Carnage

2011-08-21T23:59:00.001+01:00

Hi!

(Image from Wiki)

Well now. I'm pleased to note that after a win against some mechanised Eldar my Guardsmen have made it through to the quarter finals of my club tournament: quelle surprise!

And it promises to be a fun game. I'll be playing against a guy called Andy and his zombie traitor guard. In the past I had a fantastic game against him and as we both have large, sprawling Guard armies for this forthcoming annihilation game it's going to be complete carnage. Complete carnage.

Interestingly, the deployment is dawn of war so there's likely to be something of a crescendo to the action. Although I rather suspect that a lot could hang on who gets the first turn. Either way, we've agreed to be as gung-ho as reasonably possible, so it really ought to be fun!

Watch this space, eh?

- Drax.

281 Painting Across the Pond: Finished!

2011-08-20T18:00:00.000+01:00

Hi All,

I'm delighted to announce that after only eight months I've finished this project: painting the Ogryn Bone'ead sent to me in exchange with The Inner Geek. Do please check out his site (linked) as he ought to be posting what he's painted up for me, and please enjoy these pics. The challenge for me was twofold: (1) to try painting large areas of flesh tones and highlighting, and (2) to paint something I wouldn't normally paint, so I'd really appreciate any comments and feedback. Close-up towards the end...

- Drax.

280 Drax's Tactics: The Tactical Platoon

2011-08-16T23:10:00.002+01:00

Hullo, All.
I'm writing today about platoons, and how I field them. Please note: this is how I field them; not how one should field them!

Almost two years ago now I revamped my platoon structure in the wake of the then 'new' codex. I even took some pics of them, here. Well, since then, I've played a surprising amount of games and tweaked it, and realising I really need to update the links to the units in my army on the right, I also figured I could explore their practical application too. I may retake the pics at a later date...

To give you some context, my three platoons operate within a flexible light infantry company (there's an outdated link top-left), which was the product of combinng a 'rifle' company and a heavy weapons (support) company from the old codex. Here are my thoughts...

Part I - Composition:

Each platoon comprises an HQ section (always armed with 3 grenade launchers, a flamer and no wargear), 3 infantry sections, each armed only with a different special weapon (1 sect = plasma gun; 2 sect = melta; 3 sect = grenade launcher), a special weapons squad (SWS), a direct-fire heavy weapons squad (HWS) and a mortar squad. That is it. No-one has any upgrades and there are no voxes (since I fell out of love with them).

The only difference between the platoons is the arming of the SWSs and the direct-fire HWSs. They are as follows:
1 Pl has SWS with 2x melta and a demo charge; HWS with autocannon;
2 Pl has SWS with 2x grenade launcher and a flamer; HWS with missile launchers;
3 Pl has SWS with 2x grenade launcher and a flamer; HWS with autocannon.

Part 2 - Role:

In theory, each platoon is a jack-of-all-trades, hence me calling them 'tactical' platoons. Each is able to hold its own for a while, with a varied sprinkling of anti-tank, some effective anti-infantry and even indirect fire support from the mortars. They're not designed for close assault (they're Guardsmen, after all!) but 53 bodies for around 430pts buys you a lot of time in the Alamo.

In practice, I'm constantly amazed by how well they do just that. Even in games where they're gloriously slaughtered they take a respectable amount of time to die, and even then, sheer weight of numbers means that the butcher's bill isn't usually too bad once the dust settles. They sometimes follow orders, they often gun things down and occasionally, they do something cinematically heroic, like the meltagunner of 2 section, 2 platoon, whose kills include a wraithlord, a tank-shocking wave serpent and even (albeit with his section rapid-firing too) a bloodthirster of Khorne.

Part 3 - On-Table Application:

The basic concept behind my infantry is that they're all expendable. The only infantry units I ever field above 100pts is a lascannon HWS (which is a company-level asset I hardly ever use: giving Guardsmen lascannon is an absolute waste) and any veterans with Harker attached (which I haven't used in ages). All my cheap units do is pootle about, shoot ineffectually at stuff, get lucky, get killed, run away, hold up my opponent and loiter around objectives when asked to do so.

I scarcely ever combine squads. It confuses me and it doesn't suit my style of play.

Frequently I just walk them slowly across open ground, catching bullets.

I've found that spreading them out in the deep field of my lines can put-off deep-strikes, and they can also provide a useful infantry screen for my tanks.

The platoon HQ suads are great: 3 grenades and a flamer make for quite a hard punch, and I often use them for sneaking up on unwary foes or as a counter-attack unit.

The gren/flamer special weapon squads are very similar in use to the platoon HQs, but the melta/melta/demo one is almos always a surprise to the enemy. They look so small and unassuming that they're easily forgotten...until the demo charge blows apart someone's elite choice or tank!

The heavy weapons fire is usually unreliable, but the mortars are bloody brilliant! Even against marines, and they're especially vicious when you're fielding all three squads, making a battery of nine mortars firing from out of sight (and sitting on objectives if I'm lucky)!

Part 4 - Keeping it Fluffy:

I like the fact that my platooons can be put to most tasks (the only thing they don't do well is moving quickly), and I like their cohesiveness, so I always field them as entire platoons. They may sometimes take extra support (for example, an extra SWS or HWS), but I never field them below full strength.

This has led to some interesting tactical issues recently: in my current tourney list I have two platoons, but in the games where I put a platoon into reserve I'll suffer from the dearth of heavy weapons; not least as I know they won't be able to fire when they do eventually amble on.
______________

And that's it, really. It's fun to play with a 'fixed' platoon roster, and so far they've done me proud.

Thanks for making it this far.

- Drax.

Now, if only I could find someone willing to let me field the entire company again...

279 Transporting the Army for a Fiver

2011-08-12T23:10:00.000+01:00

Hullo!

Bought this for five quid from a charity shop, spent two afternoons fixing it up in the woodwork workshop at school, and it's now my army transport case. It's 20 x 11 x 11":

When deployed, it stretches to 56" wide, and this is why I call it 'the Galleon':

Currently, it contains my 2000pt tournament army plus a bunch of other models (removed for the pics) and all my playing aids. Here's the left, with platoon infantry, HQ choices and some other bits on one level, and on the other a hellhound, a devil dog, a chimera and a griffon:

On the right, five heavy weapons teams, spare snipers (and other bits) on top of two chimeras, my objective marker and assorted turrets and bits. In the tub are all my veterans, and the multicoloured slottabases thereupon are some playing aides I'm currently working on (vehicle markers etc.). In another pic below you might also see the 5 orange objective markers I mocked up last night.

In the bottom there's stacks of room. Currently, the blue washing powder box on the left holds a griffon and my salamander, and the lilac one on the right has two Leman Russes:

Please find a selection of details below:

This thing weighs a ton...but it's characterful, different and definitely Draxian!

More coming up soon...

- Drax.

278 Chimera Freehand Aquilas

2011-08-09T19:27:00.000+01:00

Hi, All.

At last I've finished up my spare chimera, Bulwark, and she's all ready for whoever needs her; be it the company commander, my veterans or the psykers. In a moment of bloodymindedness I took the uncharacteristic step of painting her differently to all my others and really making her stand out. Essentially, I had an idea for how cool a large aquila could look , so after a LOT of sketching and trial-and-error, I managed what you see before you. And I'm quite chuffed with it, to be honest!
The orange and black design ought to draw enemy fire nicely, eh?

The aquila on the turret is a decal/transfer, but I also took quite a lot of time on the orange band on the port side of the turret and the freehand circle on the rear door.

Also, the photo doesn't do it justice, but for the first time I tried my hand at painting a 'lightning' effect across the sphere above the searchlight:

I'd love any comments on this one, please...

- Drax.

277 2000pt Tournament; List and Update

2011-08-08T13:26:00.001+01:00

Despite the fact that I've forsaken tourneys, the excellent Jay at my club was after people to participate in a 2000pt contest, and as I knew things wouldn't get too competitive there, I figured 'What the hell - I'm on holiday, right?I've deliberately not documented the process, as (a) it might've been unfair to members of the club who read my blog and (b) I knew I wouldn't have time to take photos, but here is an overview, in case you're interested...

My List:

Coy Cmdr w. 4 snipers and chimera
Marbo
1 Platoon (HQ w 3 gren+1 flamer in chimera; 3 squads w. plas, melta+gren; SWS w. demo+2 melta; HWS w. a/cannon; HWS w. mortars)
2 Platoon (HQ w 3 gren+1 flamer in chimera; 3 squads w. plas, melta+gren; SWS w. flamer+2 gren; HWS w. m/launcher; HWS w. mortars)
Penal Legion
Hellhound w. h/bolter
Devil Dog w. h/bolter
Leman Russ MBT w. lascannon
Leman Russ Demolisher w. lascannon
Griffon Mortar Battery (2 vehicles).

Now, the astute amongst you will have noticed that this is not a 'competitive' list. In fact, some of the choices are just bloody stupid, like putting sinpers in a chimera, putting my mortars in separate platoons or fielding griffons, but here's why: Rather than starting with 'What will play well?' I started with my normal HQ and 2 of my platoons, and thought 'How might these troops be supported?'.

First, I gave all the command units a runaround. I know snipers can't move-and-fire, but if their boss is given a chimera what else are they going to do? Then I added the griffons, as they're cheap, fun, and no-one expects them. Next the Hellhound (always) and the Devil Dog...which you'd see everywhere if GW hadn't rubber-stamped vendettas and melta-weilding monted veterans, which I refused to field on principle. A couple of Russes to help my anti-tank capability and that just left a few points for the Penal Legion and Marbo, both of whom are always great fun to field.

Progress so far:

Well now. We've finished the first round (20 players in 5 groups) and the three games of round 1 were all the same: Pitched Battle with 5 objectives; tracking secondary scores for victory points (hooray!) and kill points (boo!). I played James's Blood Angels first, and after a great game I just pipped a win. Next was Josh and his generic (gold?!) marines - the game dragged a little and ended up an anticlimactic draw. Finally, last week I played Lee's superb Eldar: a really fun game which ended in a win for me, but only after he assaulted and destroyed pretty much half my army!

Result? I won our group, with Lee second, and as such we're both through to this week's 'Knockout' round 2. This will be hard for me as round 2 is 5 objectives with a spearhead deployment, and trying to usefully deploy a gunline guard army with 120+ infantry in the corner of a board is tricky. Ho-hum, we'll see.

Unit of the tourney so far?

Definitely the Penal Legion. In 3 games they've destroyed 3 units: Blood Angels lightning claw terminators, a whirlwind and 10 Dire Avengers. Nice. The heavy weapons teams have done an admirable job for once, and have even survived fairly well, and the mortars and heavy mortars have caused no end of casualties and pinning.

The main failures have been the HQ snipers (no surprise, really - they're really just there for anti-MC work) and my demo charges which have been uncharacteristically lame...although one did sail comically over the enemy landraider to blow up a bunch of Guardsmen!

The biggest thorn in my side has been a unit of Striking Scorpions. Gits.

More posts coming up!

- Drax.
PS: Sorry about the weird spacing. Does anyone know how to stop Blogger doing this?

276 Why I Absolutely Love the Penal Legion

2011-07-31T21:53:00.003+01:00

I don't know if any of you lovely readers ever glance at the section of the left sidebar titled 'Cool things my Penal Legionnaires have done...', but this post is about the our felonious little friends and why I love them so very much.
I've fielded them in at least ten games of note, and of those games, the Legion have been absolutely brilliant in all but one of them. Seriosly, check out their record on the left.

All this for 80pts. That for a stubborn objective-claiming troops unit which can scout and has a fun set of randomised special rules!

One of the things I love most about being a Guard player is when things go wrong. I love it when my mortars drop short, and it was fun last week to watch as an over-keen Guardsman lobbed his demo charge in a beautiful arc which propelled it straight over the targeted landraider to obliterate three of his mates from the other platoon. Fielding the Legionnaires is simply an extension of the same thing: will the come on the right table edge? Will they roll the ability that'll really help me against my foe? That (and BS3) is what being a Guard player is all about.

Of course, like all the infantry units in my army, they are utterly expendable: like Marbo, once they've done their thing I expect them to die; it's a pleasant surprise if they don't! Worth it though: compare the bare points values of some of what they've destroyed to their paltry 80pts, and then think about the tactical edge this will so often have afforded me... I'd say they've been game-winners or game-changers about 90% of the time. Most importantly though, they're fun*.

Any thoughts on the little chappies?

- Drax.

* And they're the only unti in my entire sodding army not painted green!

PS: Astute, long-time readers of this blog may have noticed that the pic I've included is in fact their work-in-progress pic (follow the label, below, to see the finished squad) - this is beacuse the composition in this image is far better than the other one, but what;s missing is the barcodes on their left shoulder pads. As it happens, quite a few of these have come off in transit, so I may be painting up some alternatives, to commemorate some of the squad's 'battle honours'. I think I may just have persuaded myself to paint up another squad of them, too! Hmmm...

PPS: If you're bored, sad, or musically-inclined, check out this link for fun with an 80s US interpretation of G&S's classic comedy British Bobby. Crimefighting at its best form 3'00". If you're really bored, I'd like to think this next scene is essentially a theatrical manifestation of my Legionnaires sneaking up on the foe. Look out for a young Kevin Kline as the athletic, comic and verbally dextrous Pirate King. Even better here and especially here.

275 Paris, je t'aime

2011-07-18T00:29:00.002+01:00

Hullo All,
I'm off to (a very wet and rainy) Paris for the week, but when I get back I'm on Summer Holiday (vacation), so look out for me catching up on some hobby time and some blog posts, eh?

Au revoir...

- Drax.

274 Assault Craft Finished! [pics]

2011-07-03T23:05:00.000+01:00

And here it is!
Actually, the pics have reminded me that I need to give it a wash down, to take the sheen off it. As usual, the transfers were disappointing (I may yet replace the numbers beneath the aquilas with handwritten ones), but please check out the pics and let me know what you think. I think my favourite bits are the stretcher and the stubber's ammo box, but the ladder and exhausts turned out alright on the back...

All thanks go to the Guardsmen of 1 Section, 3 Platoon for 'modelling' throughout this process. Plans and maybe even rules to follow...

- Drax.

273 Assault Craft Homemade Aquila

2011-06-21T23:08:00.005+01:00

Well now.

I've been too tired to paint this week, but your justifiable clamour for an aquila on the front of my assault craft's ramp (or prow) is something I could do. Cutting out the 'proper' aquila is really tricky, and near impossible to get symmetrical , so as with the rest of this project, it's designed to:

be relatively easy to do (this almost exclusively follows straight, geometric lines)

require minimal tools (ruler, pencil, knife)

keep material cost to a minimum (it's from what would otherwise have been wasted plasicard). Here it is:

If you're wondering about the streamline moderne look, its inspiration lies in the actual WH40K logo itself. Different pics below, including sketches, next to my trusty 'Irwin' knife (with which I do all of my cutting(!) - it takes Stanley blades)...

- Drax.

272 Assault Craft Initial Concept Sketches

2011-06-19T13:25:00.003+01:00

Afternoon, All,

I did say I'd share these, and as the cutting plans aren't quite ready yet, here they are to tide you over. You can see the genesis of the idea as well as some weird little tangents, some of which really didn't make the cut! These are scanned from my latest working notebook (The Sixth Book of Arcane Scribblings):

- Drax.

271 Grim-Dark Peacekeeping? (Progress Shots)

2011-06-16T22:52:00.001+01:00

Hi All,
Just to keep you updated, here are four pics. The first is at my wife's suggestion upon seeing the project in its white form, and the others are in order to prove that (a) I am painting it (yes, basecoats of Dark Angels Green always look rubbish under a flash!) and (b) having received the textured plasticard, I've done the treadplates in the bottom. There are a couple of bitz in the last pic too:

- Drax.

270 Assault Craft Construction Complete!

2011-06-13T00:19:00.000+01:00

Hi, All!

I've completed the construction of the assault craft - the pics are below. Remember that the aim of this project is to keep the concept and execution as simple, cheap and straightforward as possible: even the new twiddly bits are pretty basic. Sorry for the quality of the pics, but you get the idea:

C&C appreciated as aye,

- Drax.

269 Dinosaur Safari Time!

2011-06-12T09:05:00.002+01:00

Hi! I was due to be out of town, so I put this together on Friday.

Essentially, I was amused by a wheelie-dinosaur bring spotted in a recent post, and my 19 month-old absolutely loves dinosaurs at the moment...so I thought I'd take you on a brief, non-GrimDark safari of the dinosaurs surrently residing in the living room/kitchen of our little cottage.

Look out for inlfatable 'Dan', 'Spot' the wheelie dinosaur, the dino coat, 'Rex' who was a well-loved dog toy but who has recenly become a firm baby favourite, the two knitted dinosaurs, and the bath dinosaurs. Just for fun, eh?!

- Drax.

268 Oh, Alright Then - A Hinged Assault Ramp It Is...

2011-06-10T00:48:00.004+01:00

So I caved.

Having worked out how I'd do it (simply and cheaply) I couldn't resist attacking the assualt ramp of my vehicle and making it lower.

Dead easy: all you need for this stage is the trusty 1mm pin vise bit, a bit of sparky tape (electrical tape - I like its faint elasticity), clippers and a paperclip. The pics tell the rest of the story, and there've been more deatils added since then too:

Cheers!

- Drax.

267 Assault Craft - Detailing Begins

2011-06-05T19:25:00.004+01:00

Hi, All - and I hope many of you had fun at Blogwars today: very sorry I missed it.

For those of you following my current project (see label, below) I got some more work done last night. In an attempt to keep the detailing as straightforward (cheap and really frickin' easy) as possible, I'm trying to concieve some really simple, repeating motifs that can be whizzed out of the 1mm plasticard. So far it's all based around identically-sized rectangular hatches and (yet again) right angles.

Again, because I (and other modellers) find rivets a pain in the backside, I've opted out. Instead we have the Drax approach for a very similar effect: standard GW pin vise 1mm(?) holes! Here's the pics - no further notes as I have work to do, but I'd be delighted to answer any more questions (obviously, there's more work yet to do, and the pics are work-in-progress):

The inside of this hatch is actually straighter - this was just held briefly in place!

Cheers,

Drax.

266 Assault Craft Progress

2011-06-03T23:13:00.005+01:00

Well, it's coming on a treat. This post is mostly just photos - you can make your own minds up, but thanks for the support you gave me following my last post! In case you're wondering, this is about £1.50's worth of plasticard. Yes there are some frills to add, but this is the barebones, simple and cheap effect I was going for.

NB: I'm having a lot of trouble commenting on your posts at the moment: sorry. Some great stuff to read though, thanks!

C&C appreciated, cheers,

- Drax.

265 Taking Stock and New Projects

2011-05-30T22:55:00.000+01:00

Hi All - here is the news:

1) Work pressure has just eased massively*;

2) I've actually been getting some painting done on the Inner Geek's Ogryn once more, and

3) I've started a new project, the rationale for which follows anon...

The new project is simple and born of frustration. The thought process went like this: (1) I've almost finished my Guard, whichever way you look at it; (2) I really want something new to build; (3) Money's really tight, so I honestly cannot justify spending more than a few quid on anything at all hobby-related, so a valkyrie (for example) would be right out; (4) GW seem to be bumping prices yet again (5) I'd quite like to get into another (small, self-contained) system, but see point 3 above, and no-one else plays them (yet); (6) What can I buid? (7) More scenery? (8) No - I never ever play at home, so that's pointless. I could donate some to the club, but then I'm losing money which I can ill-afford to a club that doesn't really need it (9) Can I build something out of bitz or plasticard? (10) Hmmm...

Hmmm... After some sketching, which I may reproduce in a future post, I came up with some ideas for a dead-simple-to-build-and-reproduce, characterful and cheap-as-chips solution: a decidedly blocky 'landing craft'-type assault vehicle!

Here's the very rough initial cardstock mock-up, with only one track mounting. The idea is that there's a separate engine inside each of the track cowlings (what - are GW going to pick me up on vehicular 'realism'?!):

By the way, if you're interested, the floor space is 3x4" (less 2 square inches for the driver/pilot's cabin) which leaves space enough to physically carry 10 Guard infantry models.

I'm looking forward to building this out of plasticard - I think I'll shell out for some 'treadplate' texture for the floor and ramp.

Do please let me know any thoughts,

- Drax.

*For those in the UK, I'm head of year 11 at my school and they just left!

264 Four-Way Combat Patrol Clash

2011-05-21T13:26:00.005+01:00

Hey!

This post's been a long time coming and - like most of my recent posts - will doubtless NOT be formatted properly. Bloody blogspot. It's my interpretation of the fun and frolics we had at Zzzzzz's place a fortnight ago...the first game, that is - not the apocalypse game. Here 'tis:

Combat Patrol Doubles Clash 07/05/11

4x400pt IG forces –Karitas and Drax defending fixed Loyalist positions, with Zzzzzz and Soviet Space as the attaking Rebel PDF

Overall Summary:

After days of waiting in prepared fortified positions, first sight of the rebel scum made Lt Woolpack see red, so he immediately took the brave and fearless decision to order his men to leave their nice safe trenches and walk slowly down the open glacis slope towards them – forgetting even to run!

The embedded Elysian sniper team had called their elite reserves in, but they were a long time coming, leaving both snipers and allies to the onrushing local PDF – the ‘Tigers’.

Facing only piecemeal resistance on their flank, the lead squad of the Tigers leapt down into the salient bay of the trench and fought their way through the autocannon squad before also destroying the stalwart mortars. Lt Woolpack arrived too late to save them, but after a fight he did at least cleanse the rebel scum from the trenches.

Strangely, their steely march forward in steady, disciplined lines enabled 1, 2 and 3 section – over the course of the skirmish – to rout the entirety of Soviet Space’s force, for overall platoon losses of about 30%.

The Elysian valkyrie, veterans and stormtroopers finally turned up and cleaned out the last of Zzzzzz’s PDF, leaving just Harker and two others.

Good Bits:

The 24th’s ill-advised yet disciplined and amazingly successful slow advance in straight lines over skylined open ground; Soviet Space’s very patient CHQ missile launcher hits the valkyrie and removes a rocket pod; Zzzzzz’s ‘Feather Duster’ Tigers (Catachan PDF) assault and destroy both my heavy weapons squads in turn; my 1 section’s Sgt ‘Hans’ walks his squad right up to the enemy commander and makes him run off; On turn four I realise there’s an objective that I was supposed to have been pursuing. Oops.
Thanks to all who took part - it was a blast! Sorry for the time it's taken me to get this posted...

- Drax.

263 "Back In!"

2011-05-15T23:40:00.001+01:00

Hi, All - just a brief one. If you know COTBT, please point him in this direction...

Blogger deleted my last post and its comments(!) before mysteriously reinstating it. Without comments. Now, as I had in fact been about to post a reply to COTBT's question, I lost the chance. Therefore, please find my answer below, complete with an appropriate pic for us all to revel in - the majesty and testosterone of Squadron Commander the Lord Flashheart!

Here's the answer:

Hey, Cobber!

For some bizarre reason, ‘blogger’ has deleted my last post without a trace, but you asked me a question; namely, what did I mean by:

"Real Life (TM) is currently giving me six-of-the-best, trousers-down."

Real Life (trademarked) is that annoying thing that gets in the way of all good bloggers from time-to-time; and the latter part (taken from 90s British sitcom Blackadder) is to take a well-administered spanking, private school-style.

Normal service will resume shortly. Thanks for your patience.

- Drax.

262 +++Interrupted Transmission+++

2011-05-11T23:03:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

Apologies for the radio silence: Real Life (TM) is currently giving me six-of-the-best, trousers-down. This is particularly annoying after last weekend was filled with the absolute awesomeness of gaming with other bloggers. Please see here. More to follow - Hopefully this weekend, eh?

- Chris.

261 I'm Stylish...Apparently!

2011-05-04T23:10:00.002+01:00

Wowzer.

Thanks to Tristan over at GWpertinent I'm pleased to note that my blog has been nominated as 'stylish' - and I'm absolutely delighted, thanks! Here are some details (plundered from Tristan, whose stuff is always worth a damned good read...though I daren't comment on his dubious choice of football club...)

The Stylish Blogger Award (given from one blogger to another, one might say), is like a pat on the back for a good job. It's definitely a viral, zombie-like spread of good will so it's too good to pass up. The best bit is I get to nominate my own choices, too...

There are four 'rules':

-- Thank and link back to the person giving you the award (see above)
-- Share seven things about yourself
-- Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award
-- Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

Seven things about me, eh? Hmm...

1) I'm a high school teacher and only two of my colleagues know of my secret hobby. I hate the kids knowing, as the geeky ones'd bug me with questions, so my gaming club is well and truly outside the school's catchment area!
2) I served a few years as an officer in the British Territorial Army - something which permeates my model collection. [My father was a CPO in the Navy and my brother went to Iraq with the RAF as a cook, so between us we collected all three!]
3) There is one student at school who knows my mettle - he's a (junior) Golden Demon winner and bumped into me at Games Day '08
4) I still really miss the AD&D 3.5 campaign I'd been playing each fortnight in Norwich before moving down to Devon
5) Last Friday (29th) - the day of Price William's wedding - we happened upon a street party, and a stranger actually took a picture of my dog simply because he's a corgi!
6) My wife once painted the base of a sentinel for me...with flowers
7) As a general rule I simply cannot stand fantasy fiction.

Lastly, I'm going to choose just ten other blogs (in no order), simply because the computer's being slow and I'm already late for bed on a school night:

Suneokun (pathfinder) - A lovely chap who's brought mortar-love to the blogosphere in a truly kick-ass way.
Col. Corbane (Corbania Prime) - For services to combat medics + ambulances and fantastically simple bases.
The Antipope (122nd Cadian) - Does marvels for the Greek hobby, and his posts are always a delight to read.
Col. Gravis (and his Praetorian Imperial Guard) - The chap whose blog really got me into blogging way-back-when. His models and his sculpts are breathtakingly impressive.
Rasmus Oleson (Catachan Junglefighters by Zacret) - This Danish blog appeared out of nowhere and his minis were perfect right from the start. He's also cornered the market in grace.
Brian (the Inner Geek) - Fantastic painting and he's the only person ever to ask me to comment in an assortment of literary styles.
TSINI (Lucky 88th) - I just love the look of TSINI's models. His tyranids remain the only ones whose scheme I like, too (here).
Klaus (DEI GRECI) - Put simply, if you've not seen his amazing scratch-built models then you've not lived. His dice-rolling tower remains my favourite.
Hal'jin(42nd Cadian) - Is a very talented painter and modeller whose blog is one of the most aesthetically pleasing. And he sometimes writes in Polish.
John Lambshead (John's Toy Soldiers) - not only is his wide-ranging blog always interesting, John also seems tremendously personable and unfailingly polite to any who comment. Thanks, matey!

Obviously there are dozens more I could name but...well...y'know...

A special mention, too, to Zzzzzz over at Devos IV, whose generosity has amazed me in the past, and whose hospitality I'm looking forward to enjoying this weekend.

Long may these blogs and yours triumph!

- Chris.

260 Blog Plug - Fantastic Conversions

2011-04-26T19:49:00.005+01:00

Hi All,

It's a while since I plugged a blog, but please please check out Atoom's Brushes and Dolls for some awesome conversion work - expecially IG, but also WFB, including some great steam punk undead!

Here are a few of his inspired objective markers, found here and here. Yes, that's a Guardsman reading his Uplifting Primer!:

RIPPER!

And here's a lovely shot of his motor pool:

Please go and check out his stuff - I implore you!

- Drax.

259 More Fuel for the Pyre

2011-04-22T16:31:00.006+01:00

Hi, All.

Continuing my Easter holiday painting efforts, I ploughed through the last of my special weapons guardsmen for my redesigned light company. Just the second lot of autocannon to paint now then the company's finished. Again.

I thought I'd include a couple of close-ups, as I was very happy with how the faces turned out on these chaps (and yes, I know there are mold lines. I've hundreds of the buggers, and I'm not going for any painting prizes!):

Cheers,

- Drax.

258 Drax's Current Standing 1500pt Army List(s)

2011-04-21T19:35:00.002+01:00

Evening, All.
NB: The pic has nothing specifically to do with this post, other than being a reflaection of the mixed nature of my list. I just like it. It's from this big ol' post.

I realised yesterday that it's a while since I'd shared any army lists. Well, below is my current standing 1500pt list (I)...and a variant I've been trying more recently (II):

I used to use the psyker as an HQ as he was cheap, but I'm starting to prefer the Company Commander with the snipers now: he fits in better. His orders are fun, and four BS4 36" pinning shots (with orders?) can really bring the hurt too. Plus, the psyker never really 'fitted in'. Also, the List II 'chimeltavets' really aren't my style, but I'm trialling them at the moment. There you go.

- Drax.

PS: If you've never seen my 200th post (the origin of the pic, above) then it's worth a butcher's.

257 Coy Commander's Snipers (and Skin Tones)

2011-04-20T19:22:00.004+01:00

Wotcha.

I'm still on break from school, so I've been getting a bit more painting done, and as I've recently been trying out a bare-bones commander with four veteran snipers (70pts of order-wielding BS4 fire support!) I thought I ought to paint some more sniper models.

The models are okay but boring, so - out of sheer boody-mindedness if nothing else - I painted them each exactly the same apart from slightly different skin tones. Rather than the temperate DPM camo cloaks my normal snipers wear (as do my veterans) I thought I'd bash out some basic 'urban' colours instead. I guess maybe the OC told these guys what to pack for...!

The following stage-by-stage was taken with a flash at night, but in case you're interested, the order (on a Chaos Black basecoat) is a very simple Astronomican Grey --> Codex Grey --> Midnight Blue. As it happened, the light grey and blue effect this produced was significantly dulled once washed down with good ol' Devlan Mud, so it fits in a lot better with the other camo I already have.

And it was just as ruddy time consuming!

[Apologies to the Inner Geek for the delay on his orgryn, but I've suddenly got a deadline to work to...]

Cheers all,

- Drax.

256 Third Mortar Squad Complete

2011-04-13T20:24:00.006+01:00

For some superbly well painted mortars (including a 2nd Edition team) check out Rasmus's awesome work here. In the meantime, with very little effort and a rather slap-dash approach, I've finished 3 Platoon's mortar squad. Here they are - pics taken in weird light:

You may notice that one of them is missing a hand. I hate the Cadian arm/hand situation and I'm too old to care much, so for now he has a wooden stump, but I may yet fashion him a little hook.

Cheers,

- Drax.

255 Painting Chart, April '11

2011-04-12T00:31:00.002+01:00

Let me see now...where are we?

Oh yes. A bit of rejigging of platoon and HQ organisation has required me to (a) put together/find/paint some new bits and bobs, and (b) a re-worked painting chart to help me track the changes:

Annotated (on MS PowerPoint):

Hope you're all well,

- Drax.

254 Mortars Ahoy!

2011-03-29T19:28:00.004+01:00

Hey, All!

Just wanted to share that - at last - I got a tad more modelling done: three more mortar teams have joined the company...which is great, because mortars have been absolute game-winners for my last two games!

Click here to read Suneokun's excellent and passionate article on the wonders of massed mortar fire. I stole the picture above from that post too - my camera's broken at the mo.

- Drax.

253 Blog Wars!

2011-03-17T22:43:00.002Z

Holy Cow, UK Readers - I just spotted this on Corbania Prime...it's Blog Wars!

This is new from 'From the Fang' - new to me but boy am I excited by the prospect! Time to start earning me some Spouse Points, eh? Check it out here...

- Drax.

252 Improvements to Codex: Imperial Guard

2011-03-09T22:00:00.001Z

You all know I love the Guard, and this is an impromptu explosion of my cumulative thoughts over the last couple of years - this is simply a compilation of my considered ideas on how and why I would improve Codex: IG...
NB: For the quick version, just look for the contentious bits in red:Firstly, HQ units:

I'm generally fine with all of them, although I think Jarran Kell is a tad expensive. Other things I'd do include the following:
The Commissar Lord (and all commissars for that matter) would have a power weapon as standard...they are only Str 3, after all!
The Primaris Psyker would have a better second power too - nightshroud's rubbish.
I'd also give the advisors freedom to choose whether to force re-rolls or alter the dice rolls.

Elites:

Ogryns would be only 30pts each, just because it'd be nice to see more of them (something Mr. Cruddace failed to fix).
Ratlings are fine - I love that they have laspistols!
Stormtroopers would be brought down to only 14pts per model. There's no way they should cost more than a space marine, and again, it'd be nice to see more of them.
I'd make Veterans into an Elites choice again. It would solve so much spam (but see my entry on chimeras, below).

Troops:

Commissars as above.
I'd reduce Chenkov's cost - and that of his special rule - as I think it's a fun idea that's simply never used.
Sergeants would have the option of carrying a lasgun: not an unreasonable step, methinks.
Heavy Weapons Squads and Special Weapons Squads would have access to chimeras. Why on Terra would you not give a transport to the guys with the heavy guns and ammo?! (again, see my points on chimeras though...)
Special Weapons Squads would have access to krak grenades. It's daft that SWSs can't take them, but the HWSs can, even though they (a) really oughtn't to be assaulting vehicles and (b) have quite enough to carry as it is!
Conscripts are great, but I miss the option of a stand-alone conscript platoon - with a more practical Chenkov, this could be fun!
Again, if Veterans were 'Elites' again, (as the name rather implies anyway), it'd force players away from using them to claim objectives and towards more diverse lists. The bitching would be awful though!
Penal Legion rock: such a great fun unit design.

Chimeras:

Keep the same unit price, but...
only one Heavy Weapons Team could fire out of the hatch (see point 4, above)
I'd allow three normal/special weapons to fire out, (five's too many) but after passengers had fired from the hatch, the vehicle would count as 'vulnerable to blasts/templates' until the start of its next movement. Just like the old codex - some sort of balance is needed.
Of course, having Veterans as 'Elites' would help...
They should have costing options for the Forgeworld turret weapons upgrades - autocannon (+10pts) and T-L heavy bolter (+10pts).

Fast Attack:

Rough Riders should have both a laspistol and a close combat weapon: they should be able to fight well without their blasted lances.
Bane Wolves should be 140pts per model
All the Hellhound variants should have smoke launchers as standard, for no extra points: it's daft that they don't.
Valkyries and Vendettas should have a side armour of 10. 11 at best, but they've no right to be as heavily armoured as they are on the side.
Vendettas should be 160pts. They are way too cheap for three T-L lascannon in addition to everything else they can do. I'd be tempted to drop their transport capacity, too.

Heavy Support:

ALL Leman Russ Variants should be armour 14/13/11. It's insane to think that someone can open one up in a frontal assault as easily as a chimera or an artillery piece.
Lose the poxy Eradicators, and bring on the awesome Annihilator variant. The fluff and the models already exist, and - let's face it - if you can put SIX lascannon on a Vendetta with 12 folks inside(!) you can certainly squeeze three into a tank. Why on Earth did Cruddace omit it from the codex?
Camo netting would be half the cost (15pts) for artillery pieces ('Ordnance Battery' vehicles)
Lose the Deathstrike. Simply should not be in a normal codex.
I'd bring back Heavy Weapons Platoons. Sure, Heavy Weapons Squads are less robust now, but organisationally, it was a fun way to include them in a support platoon, rather than tagging them onto otherwise more manoeuvrable infantry platoons.

And finally,
Voxes and Orders:

Orders should work exactly as they currently do, but voxes should provide an unlimited range for officers to order their troops. Note that LOS to target (for example) would still be required as appropriate. For a lengthy rant about voxes, please see this post.

Thanks for your time. I'd love to read any comments you may have, and I've numbered the points to help you shoot me down!

Yours aye,

- Drax.

251 Old Stuff Day

2011-03-02T23:40:00.002Z

What a marevllous idea: all kudos to Warhammer 39,999!
I decided to go for a couple of my very first posts, as they predate most of my readership...but looking back on them, they really are dreadfully dull! [Skip to number four if you want stuff that's actually quite good]:

1) My first post with a photo: http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2008/05/003-introducing-1-platoon.html

2) And I enjoyed the pics in this one: http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2008/05/007-salamander-and-hellhounds.html

3) And that most unusual thing: a Draxian painting tutorial! http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2008/09/040-painting-dpm-camouflage.html

Here are the three modelling projects I'm most proud of though, I think:

4) Me...in model form: http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2008/12/074-me-after-fashion.html (please note - he's shown based and finished at the foot of this post here.)

5) The 24th's objective marker (and banner, thanks to Suneokun's awesomeness): http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2010/01/181-sweet-objective-marker.html

6) My wheeled salamander conversion: most fun to build imaginable: http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2010/11/235-converted-ifvsalamander-finished.html

Cheers to all my readers, old and new, and especially to W39,999!

- Drax.

250 Painting Across the Pond - Drax Edition Pt II

2011-02-26T19:00:00.000Z

Hey, Folks.

It's the belated second installment of 'Painting Across the Pond', my transatlantic painting collaboration with The Inner Geek.

I've failed to make any progress, alas, on the female Guardsman, but I have put base coats on the Ogryn Bone'ead. I know it looks ropey at the moment, but it'll get better yet, I promise! Not helped in any way by the fact that the weather was so dire the autoflash went off even though I was outside!

This is really going to be an exercise in me practising some new techniques: I'm going to have a play with flesh tones (especially the musculature) and stubble...but for now I know it looks pretty damned basic. One thing I did want to have a play with was a different camouflage pattern on the trousers, but having done so, then checked the style of The Inner Geek's Guardsmen, I realised that (a) he goes in for a lot of light brown leather accoutrements, and (b) the orangey colour of the pattern I'd chosen would clash too much.

So, I added dashes of black to the pattern, and it'll be darkened more yet with some shading. I'm also adjusting the brown of the leather straps a bit more.

I've also made a tentative start on edge-highlighting the armour plates like the Geek does, but mine look rather too stark at the moment.

I will, of course, add a couple of Draxian touches in due course...

Be sure to check out the (doubtless awesome) stuff that The Inner Geek's been doing to the miniature I sent him: I'm almost salivating at the prospect! He'll be posting at some point today too.

Cheers,

Drax.

249 'From The Warp' Flag - A Tribute

2011-02-25T14:04:00.004Z

So long, Ron, and thanks for all the fish.
For those of you who remember it, I've updated my FTW Dice Flag (above) with a bit of crude cut-and-paste on MS 'Paint'.

- Chris.

248 Radio Silence

2011-02-14T23:05:00.003Z

Hey Dudes,

Sorry for the lack of updates and comments of late: alas, Real Life has been getting in the way.

Grrrr.

Here's a pic of a bunch of my ol' mates piling on a 105 Light Gun to cheer you up. Well...to cheer me up, really:

Hope all's well in Blogland...

- D.

247 Dusting-Off Unloved Units...and Why

2011-02-06T09:07:00.002Z

Hullo, Faithful Readers!

I played Jay at the club t'other day. Regardless of the result, the fun thing here is that I used a whole bunch of units just for the sake of it!

We played 2000pts. I knew he'd be taking his Blood Angels and I was properly affrighted, but I'd already decided beforehand that I just fancied a giggle with some unloved units and all my AV12 vehicles, and I knew that he's the kind of opponent who really appreciates a fun game, so this is what I fielded:

HQ: Primaris Psyker

HQ: Techpriest w. 2 tech servitors(!)

EL: 5 Stormtroopers (2 melta)

EL: 10 Battle Psykers in a chimera

EL: 5 non-Ratling snipers

TP: Armoured Fist Platoon as follows:

-- HQ Sect w. plas, 2 gren, flamer, chimera

-- 1 Sect w. plas, m/launcher, chimera

-- 2 Sect w. melta, m/launcher, chimera
-- 3 Sect w. gren, m/launcher, chimera

TP: Hardened Vets w. Harker, demo, las, 2 plas, gren

TP: Penal Legion

FA: Hellhound

FA: Devil Dog w. multimelta

FA: Banewolf

+ I thought I was a little under-points, so Jay kindly allowed me a Scout Sentinel too

HS: 2 Griffon Bty

HS: Hydra

HS: Medusa

This actually totalled 2010pts, I think, (sorry, Jay: last-minute tweaks threw my maths) but it was a true delight to field units just for the hell of it. From my perspective, these included the following:

The Techpriest and Servitors. Were it not for games like this, such an awesome-looking unit would never get to play. As it was, they didn't attempt to fix anything, and despite charging Jay's landraider their servo arms didn't even dent it.

The Stormtroopers. They did what they were designed for, I guess: dropped in (accurately) and shot the landraider...but only managed to blow off its assault cannon before being slaughtered wholesale the following turn.

The Snipers. They did something cool which I'll discuss below.

Armoured Fist Platoon. I could easily have fielded a bunch of chimera-mounted veterans, but instead I really wanted to play my normal A/F Platoon. No-one in their right mind would waste missile launchers on transported troops who are supposed to be moving, but I like the models!

G/Sgt Harker's Vets. For his 55pts I could've given them a chimera...but that's boring (and I'd run out!) so having blown 55pts on him(!) I then decided to give them a demo charge and a lascannon too...just for the hell of it. A ludicrously overpriced unit.

The Griffons. I have three and I'm keen to play the three of them together, but in this game I also wanted to try out my new medusa conversion, so I just had the two. They weren't only fun to play with (as barrage weapons always are) but they were surprisingly effective, too - their re-roll is great!

AV12-only vehicles. Naturally, I could've fielded a few Leman Russes, but again, I wanted to have a bit of fun. To be honest, when almost everything is AV10 in the inevitable close assault, it doesn't really matter much!

Well, the story goes like this: I chose Jay to deploy and move first, which he did...and after a spiffingly good game which ran very close right upto the wire, he had only a damaged Landraider left at the end of 6 turns, and I had 2/4 objectives. I'm ashamed to note that had the game continued I probably would've been unable to damage the Landraider after another turn!

Here (for those of you still reading) are my post-game notes:

Jay is an sporting, fun and generous opponent
I was very lucky with my reserve rolls and scatter rolls throughout
I did less well with morale checks, and at least three units ran off the board
Astorath the Grim and 4-5 assault marines were killed by the Vets' demo charge
The Reclusiarch was finished off by a point-blank krak missile to the face
All the psykers did well and the griffons were superbly reliable throughout
The snipers stared death in the face when on their first turn the Landraider thundered towards them and from it poured forth five TH/SS and LC terminators...who then proceeded to fail their charge range into terrain! Having breathed a thankful sigh of relief for their already-brown trousers, the snipers then calmly ignored the impending brutes in order to pick off an assault marine on their left flank
2 Section finished off the last of the terminators with a stirring bayonet charge...in the next turn their immobilised transport destroyed the vindicator with a lucky flank shot from the multilaser!
The deepstriking Stormtroopers ought really to have gone for the vindicator
The Banewolf (which I've fancied having a play with for a while now) wiped out almost an entire squad of tactical marines, after coming on from reserve
I've decided that I now dislike 'fast' vindicators and Power of the Machine Spirit. Grrrr.

That is all. Thanks for reading, All!

- Drax.

246 Awww...Rats!

2011-01-23T13:48:00.000Z

So: it looks like I missed my chance.

I realised last night that I'm too late to register for the tourney I was intending to not take awfully seriously: 'Plymouth At War 2011'.

Ho-hum.

On the plus side, I got some painting done last night. A Pyrrhic victory.

I might just post an army list later...

- Drax.

245 Medusa Conversion

2011-01-18T23:53:00.005Z

Hi, All.

So I've been wondering what to do with my old basilisk turrets, having mostly converted the chassis to give them the option of carrying griffon mortars (which are way more fun)...and then I realised a simple and useful conversion was staring me in the face.

Cue a chunky pen lid, some cardstock and some tweaking - I'm particularly happy with the vents bored in the muzzle inner (NB: The new painting's only a basecoat):

...and it can still work as a basilisk, should the need (ever) arise:

Plans are afoot, me hearties: another small-scale local tournament approaches, beckoning me to...er...not take it very seriously...!

Yay!

- Drax.

244 Necron-ymous Heroes

2011-01-08T10:00:00.000Z

So...

I got back to the club last night after a long drought and played my first game in ages: 2000pts Vs Necrons. My opponent (let's call him 'Ant') and I were running late but we still figured it'd be fun to see how far we got into the game. This isn't a battle report - just thoughts with pictures.

Both of us had brought generic, non-beardy lists and we'd agreed that it was a game to try stuff out and have a laugh. I'll post my list separately soon.

We rolled 'Capture and Control' with 'Pitched Battle' deployment and I chose to go second. In essence, two of Ant's units (wraiths and an awesome tomb stalker) rolled-up my right flank and took me apart unit-by-unit. My Guardsmen put up a valiant fight but ultimately sthey really struggled to hurt Necrons...who just went a got back up again anyway. We had to wrap up half-way through turn four, and although I would've drawn at the end of turn 4, by turn 5 I'd've been mincemeat.

Photos First:

My left flank and objective - note new HQ Salamander to the rear of the ruins:

My 'sacrificial' right flank - sacrified for fun rather than tactics:

Ant's right flank (my left) with his Destroyer Lord (I love the shiny 'bug' carapace painting!):

Ant's centre:

Ant's left flank sweeping inevitably and inexorably in toward my right:

Here's Ant's fantastic Tomb Stalker:

And here's a very lonely grenadier shocked to discover that he alone of his platoon is still alive ... alive and charging past the Staker to a glorious bayonetty death in the Necron lines:

Post-Game Thoughts (in no particular order):

Ant was a shrewd and very sporting opponent - one of those who's really pleasant to play against;
I got to field my new Salamander - hooray! It did fine.
Ant generously deployed in a very conventional, non-beardy way, and I did my best to mirror this: I didn't play the old Guard trick of castling up solely on my (corner) objective and making his cool units trudge the length of the board: I deliberately spaced units across to make it a bit more fun. I'm glad too - it did!
My missile launchers were crap all game...not for the first time;
Necron Destroyers are awesomely useful, if surprisingly vulnerable;
My mortar team did well...and even pinned a unit of necrons!
Marbo's deployment was fun (to Ant's dismay) but I foolishly placed him behind cover, thus affording his demo-charge victims a 4+ cover save: rats!
My Platoon command squads aquitted themselves well; as did the autocannon squad;
Yet again, my Devil Dog was surprisingly useful;
Resurrection Orbs are horrid, horrid devices. I love their rules...except that the (otherwise 'dead') Lord lies there prone on the ground for my entire turn without my troops being allowed to,say, destroy him or tear his body apart for souvenirs...and then he pops up again on a 4+ (and again the next time...). Grrr.
My Primaris Psyker did okay;
I combined all three squads in one platoon. Not because it made tactical sense, but because it's something I don't often do; it'd make gameplay quicker and it'd be a juicier target for Ant's awesome tomb stalker. I did; it did and they were.
Wraiths are good at their job;
Ant's army is very nicely painted;
My reserve rolls were good;
Yet again (see left) my Penal Legionnaires had a good game;
My scatter rolls were almost all bang-on: always encouraging!
My grenade launchers were less useful than they often are.
My Leman Russes did a good job - they were there to die but put up a bit of a fight.

My main conclusions are as follows:

The Tomb Stalker (as well as being an awesome model) is very intimidating and a real monster against squishy guard - predictably it wiped out my combined squad (even though it only killed three!) Essentially I had nothing that could hurt it in close combat apart from my Penal Legionnaires and my Sentinel(!) and they were both busy with higher priorities. Shooting too: str 3 weapons simply cannot wound toughness 7 - full stop.
The game was enjoyable and instructional. I could've taken a far more anti-Necron army, but that's not the game we were after, and it's not my style. We both wanted non-tailored lists, and sadly, I just couldn't kill enough of the blighters comprehensively enough!
Given the army, mission and set-up, I could have deployed more ruthlessly and fought to an eventual draw, but it would've been a very dull game - especially for his tomb stalker, which would've defeated the object of the game somewhat.

The saddest thing was this: at the end of the game, Ant helpfully advised me that a useful anti-Cron tactic is to force a Phase-Out. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that's actually what I was trying to do as best I could with the weapons I had in range...I just utterly, utterly failed to achieve it! I couldn't even stop the buggers from WBB-ing!

Looks like my lads' lasguns may finally have met their match...

Thanks for your time, readers,

- Drax.

PS: Heres another pic of James's awesome Ork army - here in action against Daemons on the next table:

243 Painting Across the Pond - Drax Edition Pt I

2011-01-01T17:00:00.003Z

Happy New Year, All!

...And what better way to kick off 2011 than with a fun new project?

After some email exchanges last year knocking some ideas about, The Inner Geek and I have decided to swap and paint a couple of each other's minis.

The Concept

Essentially, he won a competition of mine whereby I offered to paint up an unloved and unpainted miniature, and being the generous chap he is, he also offered to paint up a mini for me in exchange: how lovely!

The Mini

Anyway, here's what the Geek sent to England-land for me to paint up for him:

An Ogryn! (more importantly, one of the new, cool-looking ogryns)...but wait, there's more, for in his kindness he also sent me a gift to join the ranks of my own forces:

A female IG model (Guardswoman?)! Awesome! What makes her even better is the following: (1) it's a good cast; (2) she's not all breasty, scantily-clad and 'high' fantasy, and (3) she looks [point 2 notwithstanding] not unlike Mrs Drax...but in flak armour. Awesome. Sorry about the ropey pics.

Painting Plans

Hmmm...I'm looking forward to both of these for different reasons. With the Ogryn I'm looking forward to the challenge of painting him - not least because I've been meaning to work on shading some skin tones. I'd love to give his armour the look of having been fashioned from vehicle armour plates, so I'm starting to thing about ways to do that.

With The Girl, how I model her will depend on just what I want to do with her. For a couple of years now I've been meaning to base (sorry, Ron!) the Regimental Mascot, and as he is essentially hers in real life, I might just put them together...maybe they can make some sort of objective marker too, when needed, but the trouble is I'm unsure about the lasgun. I can't envision anything too twee like her throwing a ball for him, but if I use her in this role, then she'll need something other than the lasgun, I think. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Anyhow, make sure you check out The Inner Geek's first project entry - I've sent him a corker of a miniature secure in the knowledge that it's in very safe painting hands!

Thanks for reading, do please weigh in with any thoughts or encouragement, and here's to a successful 2011!

- Drax.

242 Christmas Freestylin' Freehand

2010-12-26T10:00:00.000Z

Hope you all enjoyed Christmas!

Just a little idea I've been working on, and I managed this bit of freehand yesterday - internet points if you can identify its intended location:

If you're wondering why I was painting on Christmas Day, it's because I was marking time whilst Mrs. Drax was feeding Baby.

If you're in Blighty today, enjoy Boxing Day!

- Drax

241 Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T11:13:00.002Z

To all my dear readers,

Have a lovely Christmas - if you celebrate it - and all the very best for 2011!

Thanks for coming back...

- Chris.

240 Alternative Uses for Guardsmen #23

2010-12-22T22:40:00.004Z

So...

After three years, we've just reorganised the living room in the cottage, and - having got rid of the ancient sofa - we realised we've no longer got anything between the roaring oil stove and the toddler.

D'oh.

Cue two cases of Drax's toy soldiers:

If you're interested, the one on the right contains my entire infantry company plus a bunch of other stuff [it also has a busted lock from when I arrived at the games club without my key]; the other one contains most of my chimera-chassis vehicles.

There endeth the lesson.

- Drax.

239 Service with a Smile

2010-12-21T22:08:00.000Z

Hi All,

GOOD NEWS: I'm pleased with my latest painted miniature - a servitor (below);

BAD NEWS: the treasured mini I sent in a package to The Inner Geek has not yet arrived - Aaargh!

Here's that servitor though. He goes with my Techpriest (though I'm unlikely to use them unless it's Apoc or a special scenario).

I'm particularly pleased with the wires and pipes and the hazard markings. Those hazard markings with the bright red servo arm are a nod to my old 2nd edition days...

This is a real unsung gem of a model, I think.

Cheers,

- Drax.

238 SNOW DAY!

2010-12-07T22:07:00.000Z

Yeah, I know it's lame, but...

...LAST THURSDAY MY SCHOOL SHUT FOR A DAY AND I GOT TO PLAY IN THE SNOW INSTEAD!

Pics first then joyous ramblings.

This is the view over the start of the deserted tidal road when we went out for a Drax family walk:

And here is Baby Drax exploring the snow in the evening (only about 4:30, but it's getting dark early here at the moment):

NB: The snowsuit she's sporting first belonged to Mrs. Drax in 1979 and is - I think - made in part from asbestos.

Right then.

Seriously: I know this is nothing to most of you, but let me fill you in here...

I grew up on the South coast of England and I had a decent snowfall only once - ONCE - in my childhood. Nowadays, I live even further south - in beautiful South Devon. It really is gorgeous down here - Hell, I live in a designated 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' and last week a colleague described his commute to work as "Just like driving through Narnia"...but we never ever expect to get a snow day down here.

Now? Not only did I get a day off in February, but I got one last week too. The reason? About an inch of snow. That's all. They're getting feet of the stuff up north, but down here a single inch is enough to send the rural community (and, more importantly, the network of school buses) grinding to a halt. Brilliant!

Having got the news by text from my assistant, I donned the ol' wellies, slid downhill from the cottage to the bus stop and gave the jolly news to all the pupils waiting there. For five minutes, I was a god. Then I gathered wife, child and dog and we all went for a lovely walk before heading back to the roaring fire and hot chocolate (with the last of the Thanksgiving marshmallows).

Interesting side-note: Mrs. Drax was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and consequently feels (in her words) "Like a superhero" in snowy Britain, because she alone can walk on snow and ice without going arse-over-tit. She's right.

Here's another great picture of my awesome little girl being awesome:

And here's a pic of the corgi loving the snow. He too is from Chicago, and despite his fourteen years, he still loves being able to romp through the white stuff:

On a final note, I'll be back to 'proper' 40K blogging this weekend, as the time has now arrived for a couple of projects...not least of which are my deal with the Inner Geek and finally basing that regimental mascot...

Cheers for your indulgence,

- Drax.

237 Blogging in the World of Drax

2010-11-23T23:39:00.003Z

Hey,

I exchanged a brief email with Col Corbane the other day, and – amongst other things – I noted that our particular corner of the blogosphere has changed somewhat in the last year or so; maybe in the last year-and-a-half. Here are some of my thoughts on blogging since May '08… Where did it start?

Well, when I started blogging, many of the other blogs that I was aware of were relatively basic and relatively disparate. They were also fewer and further between. Now there are blogs everywhere, and most have the good wit to be affiliated to one of the ‘hubs’, like BoLS or the excellent From the Warp.

For those of you unaware, there was a moment when Ron almost stopped FtW, and I believe that would’ve been a sad loss. As it stands, I’m sure he’ll forgive me embarrassing him by noting the superb way in which he binds our corner of the web together. Kindness to strangers and generosity of time are two of the things which make this such an enjoyable way to waste time on the internet.

There were a number of fellow bloggers who were very encouraging in the early days, not least the early ‘Flylords’ over at BoLS. BigRed seems a personable chap, and I enjoyed being allied to the BoLS Alliance, but – alas – I found the hosted ads during the US presidential campaign rather distasteful. Not the Flyboys’ fault, but not something I didn’t want to be linked to.

I was blogging for a month before I got my first comment – from Brian over at See My Inner Geek, and then (like many bloggers) I spent months chasing comments and blog traffic. With fewer blogs about though, it was easy, and a rather rewarding validation of my holiday time.

How did things start to change?

Mostly, things with my blog started to change when I got bored of (grew out of?) chasing comments. I realised that the blog was becoming simply a means of logging my work and – just as importantly – tracking my progress. This was helped by life changes too, like moving across the country and getting a new job. Moving away from my very occasional games also forced me to focus more on the [painfully slow] completion of my Imperial Guard.

A lack of funds helps, too!

It’s probably worth noting that new IG Codex fired a bit of life into the old girl, too.

Where am I now?

Now I’m increasingly aware that my blog is something of a dinosaur. The format is basic, the content unglamorous and my miniatures rather quotidian. The good news is that despite all of this – and despite the Technicolor temptations of newer, shinier blogs – I have a core of readers who still seem to enjoy my work and (apparently) 180 followers: thank you, followers. It’s startling to think that 180 strangers in the world are even remotely interested in my ramblings. Cheers.

I’m not likely to change. There’s a chance, I suppose, that I may at one point cease: I certainly don’t imagine I’ll be doing this in a few years’ time – real life or Mrs Drax may yet put the kybosh on that.

The most recent thing to give my hobby some new energy is of course the fact that I finally joined a gaming club – a very friendly and welcoming place where I’ve enjoyed a series of great games, on great tables against great opponents.

Finally, why do I keep doing it?

I enjoy it.

I love the fact that I’ve managed to meet up with stalwarts like Col Gravis, Suneokun and TSINI – and what absolutely cracking chaps they are! Hell, I even managed to get a surprise game in with Suneokun, and some fish and chips too.

In addition to this, a number of other bloggers have been immensely generous; immensely – both with words and with material. I have, for example, had a number of freebies sent through to me, including bits, miniatures and (in one case) enough parts to make my most recent salamander conversion. Thanks to (among others) Col. Corbane, Zzzzzz, Fallen 73rd and Kevin (or The Other Kevin – I for get which, I’m afraid).

For those of you unaware, my 'Admiral Drax' header at the top there was in fact created gratis by Suneokun: top bloke.

Most important of all though, are the relationships I’ve been able to strike up. Readers and fellow bloggers have been absolutely great, and the comments after I posted about the birth of my little baby daughter last year were indicative of the marvellous spirit there is out there. Now I'm also pleased to be on a wavelength with the likes of Col. Hessler, Hal'Jin, Rasmus Olesen, Loquacious, The Antipope and Rogue Pom (amongst others).

Kind words; kind people.

Thanks,

- Chris.

236 "She Rides!"

2010-11-21T22:49:00.005Z

Greetings!

Not much to report, hobby-wise, as Swiss Family Drax have all been ill with man-flu of late. Still, there are two things of note.

Firstly, I finially have a new car! This isn't it, but it's one very much like mine:

"Why is this good?" I hear you ask - well, far more importantly than finally being able to transport my wife and child around again, I can get back to gaming regularly at my local club again! Plus, it means I don't need to spend a bloody fortune on the bus journey home from work any more.

BUT in bad news, I was very sorry to see a bit of 'blog-rage' over the past week. I won't say where, but I know many of you may have noted it. In the two-and-a-half years I've been blogging this is the first example of nastiness I've seen - in the form of a rather aggressively worded and personal comment, which was subsequently deleted. I felt sorry for the original blogger concerned, but sorrier still that the scourge of many forums (and the main reason I tend not to frequent such) had finally made the leap to a gaming blog other than BoLS (BoLS being, as it is, some weird sort of blog-forum hybrid).

Ho-hum.

Thanks for being a great, kind and decent readership, by the way. I think I may just post on this topic over the course of the coming week...

- Chris.

PS: I have a huge respect for the guys over at BoLS, but if any of you have ever wondered why I'm not affiliated to their excellent site, well I suspect that might form a part of my post later on this week...

235 Converted IFV/Salamander Finished!

2010-11-06T22:50:00.002Z

Hooray!

I finished this baby a few nights ago, but I only saw daylight in which to photograph her this morning. I'm very happy with how she's turned out - mostly for the reasons given here. Here she is - notes below:

I'm very happy with the way my first attempt at shading fabric turned out, and I'm pleased with some of the modelled details (the gas can on the spare wheel; the winch and the turret and gun shield). Also, although it doesn't show in these photos at all, I spent quite a lot of time on the rusty wheel rims and weathering (specifically, fine brown and grey dust sprayed from the wheels).

Thanks to so much great advice (from the likes of The Antipope at 122nd Cadian and Rasmus over at The Deathworlders - both excellent blogs) I tried out lots of other details too, like rust-style weathering from rivets and some chips from the paint: thanks, chaps - I'm really pleased with how it turned out (although you can't see it all here, alas).

Only problem? The final wash went a bit swirly and mottled. It looks a bit pants at first, but I've come to the conclusion that it's just where the crew tied to swab her down quickly...though why they'd want to is anyone's guess!

Thanks for looking...

- Drax.

234 Armoured Infantry - Warriors and Chimeras

2010-11-04T21:37:00.001Z

Hey All,

I love my Armoured Fist platoon, and (although they're finished) I was pleased to find a book in the local library about the chaps who do this stuff in real-life to help me find out a little more.

Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War is a detailed account of 1PWRR Battle Group's 2004 deployment in Al Amarah and Basra. Written by Prof Richard Holmes (who was at the time the Regimental Colonel of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment) it's a lavishly detailed account based mainly on the testimonies of those serving in the battle group.

A Warrior IFV from 1PWRR

Like many of you, I enjoy military histories, and Holmes's style mixes quiet humour with gentle authority to great effect. That said, Dusty Warriors is far more personal and subjective (if not quite biased, per se) than his previous comparable works, such as the excellent 'horse and musket'-era Redcoat and Tommy - about the Great War. This perspective is openly acknowledged and explored, and I believe it adds significantly to the enjoyment of the book.

What did I learn from it? Well, I think the following were my main lessons, some 40k-related:

The British public were (and remain) largely unaware of the ferocity of the fighting in Al Amarah, as there was very little media coverage for some considerable time;
The personnel of the 1PWRR battle group routinely demonstrated feats of extraordinary physical and moral courage (Pte Johnson Beharry won his VC in Al Amarah);
The role of an armoured infantry unit is more fascinating than I anticipated;
Life aboard the Britsh 'Warrior' IFVs seems intense and the cameraderie simply awe-inspiring;
The rules, role, reliability and weaknesses of an IG Chimera make it a wonderfully comparable beast to the Warrior;
I've been mis-naming my mounted infantry detachment (1st battalion, Cadian 24th) as 'mechanised' where 'armoured' is more appropriate. Henceforth they shall be redesignated '1/24th Cadian Armoured Infantry'.

Pte Johnson Beharry with his Victoria Cross

I've also decided to use an extract from the book in class with my Year 9s next week!

So there you are. It's not to everyone's taste, but I found it highly engaging, and although I'm not prone to posting things like reviews, I was so moved by some of the accounts I thought I'd share.

Thanks for reading.

By the way, my converted Salamander-proxy IFV is now completely finished (hooray!) but I've not been home in the daylight all week, so I can't photograph it (boo!). Pics soon.

Cheers,

- Drax.

233 Converted IFV Almost Finished

2010-10-29T12:44:00.007+01:00

...and here's how it looks:

My salamander/HQ chimera variant's not finished yet (still needs some washing, highlighting and a little weathering) but little features to note include following:

the little winch under the flamer
the optical unit above the driver's port
the new addition of a gun shield (although it seems maybe a little bare)
there's rust on the wheel hubs which I'm quite happy with
I like the petrol can on the spare wheel
the wheels rotate
I'm useless at painting lights
the front-left mud guard still looks a little bare
I've tried to use red as a sort of 'spot colour'
strangely (it being a vehicle) this is the first of my models on which I've ever tried to shade and highlight fabric: I'm fairly pleased with the result, but it's not something that comes easily to me.

More pics:

Cheers, guys!

- Drax.

232 Back in the Saddle Again (ish)

2010-10-25T21:05:00.005+01:00

Well now,

Last night I bit the proverbial bullet and got back into some 40K painting...by basecoating my command IFV - to be used as a proxy for either a commander's chimera or (more appropriately) a replacement salamander command vehicle:
Some of you may have seen its earlier stages...well not much has changed since then, but I really really needed to paint something enjoyable, and though my vehicles' colour schemes are pretty dull to paint, the variety on this one should at least pep it up a little.

Thanks as aye to Zzzzzz for the generous donation of the main bits.

Drax out.

PS: The Dad-Car is going into the garage this week to see if they can't make her all better so I can start back at the club again. Resurgam! Live, damnit, live!

231 Still Sluggish

2010-10-21T21:53:00.006+01:00

Thanks for the moral support after my last post, guys.

I'm still devoid of transport, but the kindness of friends and colleagues means there is now hope on the horizon that I'll be back to gaming soon...and with that comes the rekindling of my painting fire.

Strangely, I have managed to paint some 'Epic' Space Marines that my mate left round my house. Crimson Fists, but I think they'll need some basic highlighting. The photo's rubbish:
Until next time...

- Drax.

230 In the Doldrums

2010-10-13T09:15:00.000+01:00

Ahoy, Blogland!

Drax is in the hobby Doldrums. Not hobby burn-out - far from it - but just as I've got 'in' with a great and very welcoming gaming club, my car has officially died and (with no money to fix it at all) I am, therefore, pretty stuck in my village and utterly unable to make the drive to the club.

My village is so isolated even the road out has given up and drowned itself

Obviously, no-one else from the club seems to live in my direction, and there are no busses anywhere near it after the early evening, so I haven't a chance: having already missed two planned games I'm now certain to miss another this Thursday.

Damn and blast.

Plus it's now too cold to paint out in the shed, so I'm going to have to get back to the elaborate old get-all-my-painting-stuff-out-after-Mrs-Drax-has-gone-to-bed-and-I've-finished-all-my-planning-and-marking-then-paint-for-an-hour-if-I'm-lucky-THEN-clear-it-all-up-again-AND-do-the-washing-up-before-finally-stumbling-into-bed-in-the-early-hours routine.

Grrr.

- Drax,

becalmed.

229 Competitive Mech Guard List - 1500pts

2010-10-03T18:09:00.002+01:00

Hey, All.

A week-and-a-half ago I managed to get to the club and play a game at short notice against a very nice chap called James. He wanted something competitive, so I brought a fairy cheesy competitive Mechanised force - 1500pts. Here it is:

HQ: Primaris Psyker (70)
HQ: Coy Cmdr w. 4x plasma guns (110)
Chimera (55)

EL: Psyker Battle Squad [x10] (110)
Chimera (55)

TP: Vets 1 w. 3x plasma guns (115)
Chimera (55)
TP: Vets 2 w. 3x melta guns (100)
Chimera (55)
TP: Vets 3 w. 3x grenade launchers (85)
Chimera (55)

FA: Hellhound w. smoke (135)
FA: Hellhound w. smoke (135)
FA: Devil Dog w. multimelta + smoke (140)

HS: Hydra (75)
HS: Griffon (75)
HS: Griffon (75)

= 1500pts
I played James's Space Wolves, and his list was made in response to mine, given his choice of models. We thought it'd be fun to play a game from 'Battle Missions', so we did, and we rolled up 'All-Round Defence' meaning the marines were in the middle defending a central objective and I was attacking from all sides. My HQs and HSs had to stay in reserve.

James's list included the following (I think):

Runepriest
15 Bloodclaws w. Wolf Priest in a Landraider Crusader
Dreadnought w. plasma cannon + stormbolter in drop pod
Long Fangs w. 4 lascannon and a missile launcher
Long Fangs w. 4 hvy bolters (I think)
15(?) Grey Hunters in a drop pod.

To cut a short story shorter, I won first turn and had tabled him by the end of my turn two. Here's my post-match notes - in no particular order - as I'm wont to do...:

James was unlucky with his rolling at times; that is, he certainly wasn't lucky.
It would've been far more even if he'd won first turn
He was a tremendously nice and knowledgable opponent
My first shot = Str9 AP1 large blast on target from my psykers (although all marines except 1 made their cover save)
My second shot = Devil Dog melta cannon short-range shot on the landraider: one-shot-one-kill.
I must remember to keep psyker battle squad more than 24" away from psychic hoods or equivalents
The Primaris Psker annihilated the dreadnought after coming in behind him from a reserve rule
The rules for deployment really made my job easy.
Templates and blasts worked very well, even when considering cover saves.
From five scatter-able shots I made, four were on target!
The runepriest was killed by a griffon shell!
My hydra didn't get to play
I ran out of targets: James conceded rather than bring on his reserved Grey Hunter drop pod.

A top opponent, and I was genuinely sorry for giving him such a tonking. The emperor was with me that night.

Cheers all,

- Drax.

228 Surprising Discovery

2010-09-21T12:00:00.001+01:00

Hi All,

Just a quickie...

I was idly pondering my sprawling mass of Imperial Guard in the shower this morning, and I came to a startling conclusion: I could - if I wanted to - field ALL of my main units* in just two legal FOC army lists!

Behold:

Please note that (A) this requires my Armoured Fist platoon to act as chimera-vets: something I'm toying with to allow others to spar against mech-Guard at the club; and (B) the second (blue) detachment comprises almost wholly original or converted 'classic' models. The hydra is an exception*.

...and here's the painting chart as it stands at the mo:

Cheers,

- Drax.

*NB: I own everything on there, now, apart from the manticore, which I'm thinking of getting next...although "next" won't be for a while yet. Obviously that won't be a 'classic' model unless I convert it...

227 Vox Un-Populi: Whatever Happened to IG Radios?

2010-09-15T22:52:00.000+01:00

Hullo, All.

Just thought I'd share my disappointment at the understandable lack of vox-sets in Guard armies these days...including my own.

I'm happy to admit that in the last incarnation of the Codex, the vox-caster was over-powered. Being able to use the commander's Ld from across the board - whilst a nice nod to battlefield communications - made Guardsmen too steady in the face of casualties.

BUT...in the current Codex they are seriously, seriously rubbish. I get the 'Orders' process, and (whilst it's a little fussy at the start of the shooting phase with a lot of infantry) it's fun and works at the right 'level'. I get that the range is 6" or 12" and I'm happy for that to represent an abstraction of the effective range of officers' shouts/charisma/authority. But what on Earth do voxes do these days?

They offer you a re-roll on an orders check.

So...if the squad's within 6" of the issuing officer, and they don't quite catch his yells of "Shoot the buggers! Fire by ranks! Kill them! Kill them all!" then they can call him up on the vox net and clarify just what it is they so urgently need to do. But only if they're already within shouting distance.

Bloody ridiculous.

And it costs 5pts per squad.

What's more is that - for the most part - the troops you often really want to issue the juicy orders to aren't allowed vox sets (heavy and special weapon squads; maybe snipers). The only notable exception is veterans, who have the potential to really benefit from almost every order.

I'm fairly sure I'm not alone in enjoying many of the various Guard vox miniatures, and I'm still using mine, but even though I like to try and make my forces fairly fluffy, I'm still not wasting points on vox-sets.

If I had the ability to re-write the rules, I'd do it very simply: orders have a 6"/12" range unless both units have a vox, in which case there's no range limit. Y'know, like what they designed radios for.*

Any other thoughts on the matter?

- Drax.

*It's worth pointing out that British Army radios traditionally seem to have a real-life working range of only about 12". On a 1:1 scale. But only whilst the batteries work.

226 Combat Patrol Reflections

2010-09-10T00:55:00.005+01:00

Hi, All.

Just a short post to outline my Combat Patrol force for my recent tourney and share a few thoughts - I always make notes after each game.

Combat Patrol 400pts (fluffy):

Pl HQ w. 3 grenade launchers (45)

1 Sect w. plasma gun (65)

2 Sect w. melta gun (60)

3 Sect w. grenade launcher (55)

Heavy Wpn Sect w. 3 autocannon (75)

Spec. Wpn Sect w. 3 grenade launchers (50)

Spec. Wpn Sect w. 2 grenade launchers; 1 flamer (50)

Post-Tournament Notes:

great missions; great variety of terrain, too!
two particularly great opponents (Andy and Jay)
in each game - very unusually for me - I used combined squads (2 squads in one game; all 3 in the others!). I think I did this (a) for speed and convenience; (b) for survivability; (c) to intimidate, and (d) to maximise firepower (FRFSRF Vs Blood Angels = carnage)
the autocannon were necessary, but pretty rubbish throughout
the list was (predictably) rubbish against mechanised Imperial Guard - no surprises there; I need more anti-tank.
grenade launchers kill marines (I love grenade launchers)
a hedge of bayonets kills chaplains:

(although he weathered seven wounding hits with only one wound remaining!)

Space Marine scouts are BS3 (grrrr!)
cheap special weapons squads make excellent screening troops
mortars (which I also love) really can make a difference: even one in a small game!
I really need a tray to carry and organise my forces when gaming.

Cheers, all,

- Drax.

225 A Great Selection of 40K Scenarios

2010-09-04T19:13:00.001+01:00

Hi, All.

I had a great time at my first Games Club tournament (400pt Combat Patrol) last week: I took an infantry platoon, placed third and enjoyed myself thoroughly!

In this post, I'll include photos of the superb missions and a couple of the tables (each roughly 3'x4') as well as a couple of photos and notes from the games. Huge credit goes to a nice chap called Andy who not only penned the missions, but who also organised the tourney and was a cracking opponent for my first game.

NB: Sorry for the picture quality, but the club's in the extensive cellars of a pub, and the lighting's hard to counter.

I didn't play either of these two missions, but trust me, the city terrain looked far better in the flesh. Click on images to expand:

This one I did play, although my opponent was a little sketchy on some core rules...:

Rightly enough, I went nowhere near this little Khornate number:

...But this one (Ash Waste) was superb. Sadly I didn't get a close-up of the mission, but essentially it was Pitched Battle/Annihilation with four poisonous clouds which blew around (2d6 scatter) at the start of each player-turn, dealing out str4 hits to each model touched. I played a very dangerous game here, deploying a mass of infantry a few inches away...but the Emperor was smiling on me: I only lost 3 or 4 guardsmen (more on this later):

This was my last game of the evening; against mech guard, and the eventual winner. Not the most fun game, but at least I took it to a draw (not bad considering how easy a no-frills platoon commander is to kill:

Sadly I didn't get to play this one - it looks awesome(!):

'Tunnels' was my first game (against Andy) and it was absolutley superb! Tremendous in its simplicity - the nightfighting rules and the lack of sightlines meant that our two opposing infantry platoons ended up squabbling with bayonets on the central objective- Great fun!

Here's a post-game pic of Andy's Zombie Guard - great!

Sadly for the Blood Angels Chaplain-led jump-pack squad I was up against in 'Ash Wastes', the Emperor was not shining on them. I demolished them, but Jay (their general) was a proper good sport, and I really enjoyed the game. Here's the Chaplain getting [oh-so-slowly] bayonetted to death:

(Some of the Guardsmen are even facing the right way!)

I'll post the force I took in a new post soon...but I'm back at work now, so blogging will - predictably enough - slow down a bit again.

- Drax.

224 Baneblade 'Zarathustra' Almost Finished

2010-08-26T23:40:00.005+01:00

Evening, All!

Just thought I'd share with you the current state of my last project for the summer holidays before I go back to work: finishing off my venerable Forgeworld Baneblade Zarathustra...and I'm very nearly there!

Massive thanks go to Jeff over at Pirate Viking Painting for emailing me some very useful tips yesterday - some of which I've put into practice here. Although hardly any of it shows in the photos, she actually has a surprising amount of subtle detailing with rust and weathering now, which I'm pretty happy with. Cheers, Jeff! Seriously - check out his link, above.

Here are the pics - and yes, I've added an anti-aircraft autocannon onto a pintle mount. Why not, eh?

You may note that two of her track links are green. Apparently, when I assembled her from the godawful FW instructions seven years ago I put the tracks too far round. In order to remedy this, I did my first (basic) bit of press-moulding, making a mold out of Fimo modelling clay (it bakes to harden) and finding a surprising success in the resulting greenstuff impression:

And yes, that is what you think it is in the background. It's psyker time!

Cheers,

- Drax

PS: I may re-do the first half of the name plate: my fault for writing backwards from the central 'H'!

223 Competition Results and Good News

2010-08-21T18:12:00.004+01:00

Good news first:

My new club is having a mini tournament next Thursday - five games of 400pts: Combat Patrol, essentially, with some challenging embuggerments. Should be a good laugh and a good challenge!

And in other news, I've decided that the names of my most recent two Leman Russ Variants will be as follows:

Annihilator: Lux Exitus - Light of Destruction

and

Demolisher: Redemtus - Rescued.

My sincere thanks and muted congratulations to (both!) The Jim [no link?] and The Inner Geek for the first one, and to The Other Kevin for the latter. Cheers, guys! - If any of you three wish to claim the somewhat dubious prize, please just drop me an email or comment below. It'd be nice if someone does, but I do appreciate you guys are way better at painting than me!

Thanks so much for all the entries, everyone: there were twenty-six in total, with some great rationales and a few giggles, too. Cheers.

- Drax.

222 Classic Armoured Fist Platoon - Complete!

2010-08-20T17:55:00.000+01:00

Well then, more progress for the ol' progress blog. At last, my Armoured Fist platoon (comprising my old metal Cadians):

Pics first, then notes. Please forgive lighting - there's been a notable absence of sunlight recently...

HQ Section [gren, gren, flamer; officer could also be Al'Rahem proxy]:

1 Section [plasma gun]:

2 Section [melta gun]:

3 Section [grenade launcher]:

Here's a selection of models I quite like (the grenade launchers are all converted):

And here are the squad ID flashes:

It's took a fair bit of patient collecting and a little converting to ensure they're armed the same as my normal infantry platoons, but it's a simple and cheap combonation of weapons, and I find it works well. That said, having assembled the troops for this platoon, I then decided that I liked the missile launcher models way too much, so I just had to put those in too...a little spuriously, I fear.

At least eight of these have been with me since I bought the Cadian Shock Troops boxed set, over a decade ago, and as is befitting this veteran status I figure they could also double as chimera-mounted hardened vets if needed. As it happens, I've a few spare plasma and melta guns!

- "But surely Drax isn't getting all competitive?!" I hear you cry.

No, but I'm working on an idea to offer my services as a sparring partner for anyone at the club who wants to practise before tournaments, and these are so often an integral part of the competitive IG build...well - we'll see.

So there you go. Anothing thing crossed off the ol' painting chart.

By the way, the informal contest for naming a brace of my tanks ends tomorrow. Probably midday-ish, BST.

Cheers,

- Drax.

221 COMPETITION! FREE ENTRY! WEIRD PRIZE!

2010-08-15T22:58:00.005+01:00

Hullo, faithful readers!

A simple competition for you, as mentioned in my last post. The prize is optional...you'll see why below!

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment to suggest a name or names for my most recently completed Leman Russes, shown here (the top one's an annihilator, and the demolisher also has a vanquisher turret):

If you've already submitted a name before (including the original annihilator post) I shall consider that an entry, so it's worth checking the links above to see if someone's got there first.

As for the prize? Well, here's where it gets interesting...for me at least:

The prize is for Drax to paint up that unit you just never get around to painting...or never want to.

That's why it's an optional prize, because my painting is at best a 'good' tabletop standard - I like to think of it as simple but effective. Obviously not everyone's going to want to take me up on this: you may not like others painting your units, or you may simply not like my style. Those of you who are regular readers know my abilities, so I'm not going to go into the details of what I can and can't do, but I'll welcome all name suggestions, and the offer's there for the winner(s).

Notes:

1) The winner(s) will be the name(s) I like best. I may ask Mrs. Drax for help, if she cares enough. If there are two separate winners, then both may claim the...er...'prize'.

2) I'll happily cover the cost of materials as well as the normal postage cost of returning your figures to you (including abroad);

3) Basing minis is not really a strength of mine so I probably won't do that bit.

4) I'll paint it/them however you want me to, to the best of my abilities.

I figure it might be a bit of a break for you, and it'll almost certainly give me something different to paint, too!

For your reference, the names of my other Leman Russes are as follows:

MBT: Quietus

MBT: Purple Haze

Exterminator: Resurgam

Exterminator: Sirius

...and they're all named thus for a reason. See here for details if you're interested.

Good luck, and thanks for the interest!

- Chris.

220 Leman Russ Vanquisher/Demolisher Conversion

2010-08-13T16:03:00.003+01:00

Well...

...not much of a conversion, but here are the pics. Explanation (and exciting news!) follows:

Having made an extention for the barrel of a Leman Russ MBT for use as a vanquisher (with a bit of ballpoint pen tube) and then realised I never intend to actually field a vanquisher, I realised that I still had some old demolisher bits knocking around...so I made one of those up too. Finally got around to finishing both of them last night. The painting's lacklustre because it's another bloomin' e-bay rescue story.

The only problem is that I don't have a name for it! Nor did I ever get around to actually naming the fifth of my Leman Russes (here)...this being the sixth and 'final' one.

To that end, Drax may be posing his first ever competition soon: for the best names (singles or as a pair) ...in keeping with my others, of course! Watch this space, and start thinking of your ideas...!

- Drax.

219 A Pack of Hellhounds

2010-08-05T21:33:00.000+01:00

"Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!"

Here are my three hellhounds (or - to be a little more precise - two hellhounds and what generally seems to be a devil dog):

A) Cerberus:

B) Helios:

C) Gelert:

I know that the banewolf is a great machine for killing MEQs, but I just can't bring myself to field one under normal conditions. I have, on the other hand, decided that I quite like the dubious-yet-substantial potential of the devil dog! That and the fact that there aren't any other light vehicles with an anti-tank potential available for the Guard.

By the way - kudos to Tristan over at the excellent Terrain From Junk - I won a $40 gift certificate! Thanks, mate! He's got another competition going on over there at the moment too, and he needs your votes...

Cheers,

- Drax.

218 Hydra Conversion Finished

2010-08-01T17:41:00.004+01:00

Hullo!

Well, many of you saw this in its early (and middling) stages, but here is my completed Hydra conversion:

I even managed - against the odds - to spray varnish it sans frosting:

For those of you who are interested in any of the earlier stages, HERE is my post on how I converted the Aegis defence turret, and HERE is the some of the backstory of the converted hull, whose previous incarnation was (and still is) the 'Wyvern' variant (HERE).

I love it when a plan (finally) comes together!

- Drax.

217 Where I'm At, Currently

2010-07-31T09:30:00.001+01:00

Hi, All,

Most recent painting chart (end of July '10):
Some interesting projects in the pipeline, but these are balanced against poor lighting, worse seating and constant battles with moths...oh yes, I'm back out in The Shed again.

That is all.

- Drax.

216 Second Night at the New Club = Success.

2010-07-29T23:37:00.003+01:00

Hi, All,

I went to the club again tonight: I really like it, and I look forward to getting to become a regular there (work permitting). The club is the marvellous Cross-Swords Gaming Club, and it's also a store (catering for a range of different systems) so even if you're not local to Devon in the UK, it's still worth checking out the link!

Tonight I had a fun game Against a very sporting chap called Jason, who was playing with a chaos daemons army. Sadly for Jason, he'd put together an anti-horde list (having seen my infantry company a fortnight ago) and I'd figured I'd try out a mech list. D'oh!

I took these guys along:No batrep, but in summary, his daemons made a rather piecemeal arrival due to some really duff deep-strike rolls, struggled to hurt my vehicles and then got eradicated (mostly by shooting) as they hove into range. We ended with him having scored two KPs, and with only three bloodletters and a damaged, immobile soulgrinder left for him to fight back with. The dice really were unkind to Jason, alas.

As for my stuff?

Marbo was pretty useless but a fun distraction, G/Sgt Harker was...meh...and the jury's out on the devil dog. It did nuke the other soulgrinder, but was broadly ineffectual beforehand. Nurgle truly are buggers to kill.

I can see why people find chimera-vets such an attractive choice, though I couldn't bring myself to arm mine with anything beyond grenade launchers!

My list, for reference:

HQ:

Primaris Psyker

EL:

Guardsman Marbo

TP:

Vets w. G/Sgt Harker, autocannon, hvy flamer, 2 grenade launchers [infiltrated]

Vets w. 3 grenade launchers,
- Chimera [with Primaris Psyker attached]

Vets w. 3 grenade launchers,
- Chimera

FA:

Hellhound w. hvy stubber + smoke

Hellhound w. hvy stubber + smoke

Devil Dog w. smoke

HS:

Leman Russ MBT

Leman Russ Exterminator w. hvy bolter sponsons + hvy stubber

Leman Russ Exterminator w. hvy bolter sponsons + hvy stubber

= 1500pts.

Cheers, and thanks to Jason too, if you read this. Cheers for being a good sport.

- Drax.