Christmas Battle Reports (x2)

So as 2018 draws to it’s inevitable close my mate and I decided to get together for a couple of friendly games of 40k over the extended Christmas break.

Our first game of the day was set at 150 Power Points each and so I went for a combined force of Crimson Fists Space Marines supported by House Taranis Imperial Knights.

Kill Team Mini-Tournament

Unfortunately I’ve been away with assorted work projects for the last couple of months and so as you may have noticed I haven’t been able to do any posts for the blog as my hobby time has essentially been nil!

However all that changed this weekend when some really good mates and I got together to give ‘Kill Team’ a whirl at the Dice Saloon in Brighton (great venue, highly recommended)!

In total six of us turned up to play, with many of the participants coming vast distances to take part. This included a fellow Officer who came over from Germany and a US Navy Commander who flew in from Africa on his mid-tour R and R.

More Necrons!!

So another week of painting has yielded another 12 shiny Necron Warriors to add to my growing force of these undying metal killers!

Necron Painting Tutorial - Sautekh Dynasty

Well hello everybody; apologies for my absence over the last few weeks!! I’ve been having a rather lovely time on my family holiday so my focus has been elsewhere other than the hobby. Anyway.... back to business!

So since I began my Necron project a lot of people have been asking me about how to paint up these metallic monsters in a quick, simple but effective manner. When I started this new army I decided that I wanted to be able to paint them speedily in order to build up a feasible force relatively quickly. In fact this was a key reason why I chose the Necrons as their predominantly metallic paint scheme lends itself to speed painting.

So this week I have made a quick painting tutorial so people can see how easy it is to knock out a relatively decent force of killer robots.

New Necron Army: The Beginning!

So in a bid to branch out with my assorted hobby interests I’ve decided to start a whole new army for Warhammer 40,000. I quickly decided that I wanted to try my hand at something that I’d never attmepted before and so I took the decision to steer away from my normal love of power armour and went for a Xenos faction instead.

More Crimson Fists Primaris Space Marine Hellblasters

So this week I have churned out yet another squad of Primaris Space Marines for my ever expanding force of Crimson Fists.

40k Battle Report - Grey Knights vs Imperial Knights / Flesh Tearers / Crimson Fists

I recently managed to get a fairly decent sized game of eighth edition 40k in with my mate. A key feature of this latest version of the game is that it is suitable for accommodating larger size games with relative ease due to the wonderful simplicity of the rules.

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest - Issue 1&2 Review

So for those of us who live  in the UK you can’t fail to have noticed the appearance of 40k related adverts that have been hitting our TV screens over the past few weeks.

This is something of a rarity as the last 40k commercials I can remember were for Space Crusade in conjunction with MB Games back in 1990 (I can still recall that annoying kid shouting ‘Plasma Gun’ at his mate before he was subsequently attacked by a lifesize and rather crap-looking Genestealer).

Crimson Fists Primaris Hellblasters

Having been focussed on my Flesh Tearers over the last couple of months I decided that it was time for a change and so set about finishing off a squad of Primaris Hellblasters for my Crimson Fists.

As I have said previously I am a big fan of the assorted Primaris models that have been released by Games Workshop over the last 12 months. They are invariably gorgeous sculpts that are a real pleasure to paint; but also I like the fact that scale-wise they are an appropriate size for genetically enhanced super-soldiers and possess a lovely clean aesthetic.

Flesh Tearers Space Marines Painting Guide Tutorial

Okay so since I recently got back on the wagon with my Flesh Tearers project a lot of people have been asking me about the paint scheme I have used on these marines.

I am always keen to give readers what they want and so have prepared this quick tutorial for the basic armour livery.

Hopefully this will be nice and easy for readers to follow and will allow you to quickly make up your own terrifying force of these psychotic successors to Sanguinius.

Warhammer 40,000 Mini-Tournament

One of the benefits of being in the military is that there are a large number of hobbyists within the service... additionally there is usually a lot of real estate available to play games in at most garrisons. In fact some of this space is actually large enough for small tournaments to be run by enterprising gamers... which is exactly what a few colleagues and I did recently.

And so it was that a US Navy Commander (who had flown over from an Operational Tour of Duty in Africa to play) and a collection of Royal Navy and British Army serviceman assembled one weekend for a few days of gaming fun.

Each of us brought a force of 100 Power Points to play with and an Army List that would be kept the same throughout the tournament. This force was small enough to ensure games would be quick and simple whilst also being tactically rewarding.

The forces that assembled were as follows:

Dark Angels Space Marines

Flesh Tearers Space Marine Scouts

With my Drop Pods done and a few more characters finished off I decided to focus on bulking out the vital troops choices for my Flesh Tearers army.

Flesh Tearers Lieutenant in MK III Iron Armour

So I’ve been working on another officer/veteran battle brother for my slowly expanding force of Flesh Tearers this week!

As befits his chapter’s brutal and bloody background this warrior is equipped for melee with a classic Thunder Hammer and Stormshield combo. I love Thunder Hammers in the new edition of 40k as the sheer amount of damage each hit can generate is terrifying. Whilst a Stormshield is always useful in making a warrior slightly more durable on the battlefield.

Terrain Workshop: Sprucing Up My Imperial Buildings

As I have been playing a few more games of 40k recently I decided to take the opportunity to spruce up my terrain collection in order to make it more fun and evocative to fight over.

The first piece that I decided to revisit was the original Sanctum Imperialis ‘cathedral-type’ structure that I bought and painted when it first came out about ten years ago.

Flesh Tearers Ancient - Standard Bearer

I have been working hard on another addition to my Flesh Tearers army this week. I decided that I wanted to add a bit of power to the command element of my army and so I knocked up a standard bearer (or Ancient) for the force.

Flesh Tearers Veteran Marine in MK III Iron Armour

With my Flesh Tearer’s Drop Pods finally completed and another few games under my belt I decided that it was time to start adding some more heavy infantry to these ferocious sons of Sanguinius.

As something of a venerable hobbyist I have found that in general my days of batch painting entire squads at a time are over. 

40K Battle Report: Flesh Tearers vs Black Templars

So having spent an absolute age painting my Flesh Tearers Drop Pods over the last few weeks I was keen to get them on the battlefield as soon as possible in order to recoup that vast investment of both time and effort.

Luckily my best mate has just moved nearby to where I live and he is looking to get back into the hobby and already has a large Black Templars Force.

So we set aside an evening for a game of 100 Power Points per side over the weekend.

Flesh Tearers Drop Pods - Complete

Finally they are done!! I have just managed to complete all three of my Flesh Tearers Drop Pods!!!

I’m not going to lie... these bloody models have been an absolute bitch to complete. The painting process was long and arduous and frankly very boring. Whilst the final assembly stage was also absolutely horrific.

WIP: Flesh Tearers Drop Pods

So my latest project has been inspired by my recent efforts to update and re-touch my Flesh Tearer infantry models.

After having gone to great effort to produce such nice looking close combat troops I knew that I had to give them some form of transport in order to swiftly get them into melee with the enemy.

Broadside Wargames Show

Now as many of you probably know I am a big believer in doing my upmost to remain active within the hobby and taking part in as many gaming events as possible throughout the year. 

I do this for a number of reasons... primarily it’s because I absolutely love the hobby and really just enjoy any hobby related activities. However the second reason is that I believe if our hobby is to survive into the future then we all need to do our part to support it.

White Dwarf!! My Crimson Fists!

For those of you who are getting this month’s White Dwarf  I am pleased to say that if you turn to page 134 you will see my Crimson Fists Hellblasters in all their glory!!

Battle Report: Crimson Fists vs Dark Angels

I thankfully managed to get another game of 8th Edition 40k in recently with one of my regular opponents.

I am happy to say that we have been getting some fairly frequent games in of late and are still greatly enjoying the latest edition of the rules.

Skyshield Landing Platform - 40k Terrain

Like all hobbyists I find that digging through my big box of unfinished projects can occasionally be a fruitful experience as I inevitably come across long abandoned models that I suddenly find myself wanting to complete.

This week I uncovered a Warhammer 40,000 Skyshield Landing Platform that I started about two or three years ago. I’d originally got to the point of 

assembly and an initial light grey undercoat when I previously abandoned this particular piece of terrain.

Flesh Tearers Re-visited

Like most people who read this blog I am something of a hobby butterfly... starting projects at a whim, getting overly enthusiastic about my latest army and buying far too much plastic...before promptly painting only ten models and then getting bored and moving onto something else.

It happens to all of us I suppose... in fact on reflection it seems that my Crimson Fists are the one story of success where I have built a viable force and steadily been adding the them since 2002... Jesus has it really been that long. 

Anyway I digress.

Crimson Fists: Non-Primaris Lieutenant

So as most of you who have played the new version of 40k have probably realised by now characters are key in enhancing the combat abilities of your troops in this version of the game.

As a Space Marine player this means I want to field an abundance of Captains and Lieutenants on the battlefield in order to secure those vital re-rolls when rolling to would and to hit.

The Lieutenant rank is a new addition to the forces of the Adeptus Astartes (or more accurately a reintroduction of Heresy era one). Whilst Primaris Marines now have two dedicated Lieutenant models that come in the Dark Imperium boxset currently normal Marines don’t have any figures  available.

As I wanted my old-style battle company to have access to this valuable HQ choice I have knocked one up in order to fill this role.

Sons of Dorn: Battle Report - Black Templars vs Crimson Fists!

After much intense persuasion I finally managed to entice one of my best mates into a game of Warhammer 40,000 this weekend. He has drifted out of the hobby recently due to the constant intrusion of something called 'real life' that keeps getting in the way. For me this is a real shame as he is an accomplished painter and we have been gaming together for over fifteen years.

Anyway after much persistence he finally buckled and brought his force of Black Templars around to my house in order to face the might of my own Crimson Fists... It's always nice to see the sons of Rogal Dorn smashing the shit out of each other whilst trying to dream up a narrative as to why these erstwhile brothers are fighting each other....

'Damn.' cursed Chapter Master Pedro Kantor as he gazed over the distant horizon and made out the distinctive silhouettes of Black Templars Space Marines moving steadily towards his own position. He shook his armoured head and slowly turned to face the huge form of his second-in-command, a Captain of the Primaris type named Alverez, 'Captain, the enemy approach; assemble your men and move to your ordained positions.'

'Aye Lord' answered the Captain gruffly before turning ponderously in his massive suit of ornate Gravis pattern armour and moving off to brief the two Primaris Lieutenants who waited eagerly nearby. Kantor watched him leave and then turned back to observe his sable clad foe adopting their own pre-battle positions. In his hearts he still struggled to believe that it had come to this, two ancient chapters descended  from the lineage of Rogal Down about to engage each other in open conflict when the galaxy was full of far more worthy foes for the Astartes to focus their wrath on... and all because of something so trivial as honour and pride.

The Crimson Fists had arrived on the world of Caldor's Point after the warp storm that had enveloped the planet for the past few millenia had finally evaporated some weeks earlier. This particular world was known to the Chapter from numerous mentions within their archives as having been discovered and conquered for the Imperium by the founder of the Crimson Fists, Alexis Polux, when he had been a mere Commander in the Imperial Fists Legion during the Great Crusade. 

This fact meant that by tradition and law their Chapter should be able to claim recruiting rights from the world in order to fill their depleted ranks with new Astartes. The world was ideal for this purpose; as a quasi-feudal planet its indigenous populace were hardy, robust and would make excellent candidates for Space Marine selection. This was very welcome as the Chapter was in dire need of fresh blood following the heavy war of attrition that had occurred on Rynn's World. However on arrival in system the Fists had found that a significant detachment of Black Templars under the command of their own Chapter Master, High Marshal Helbrecht were already making planet-fall with the intention of claiming the world for their own recruiting needs. 

The two Chapter Masters had exchanged greetings and Helbrecht had explained that his own records indicated that the world had been conquered by his Chapter's Founder, Sigismund when he too had been an officer in the VII Legion, therefore he stated that his claim took primacy. The two Astartes had initially discussed the matter, and then argued... and then fought over the topic but neither would back down nor concede the claim of their opposite number...and so it had come to this; open warfare amid one of the world's deserted townships. Only one side could win and to the victor would go the spoils...

So there we go, now that we have a story to set the scene, all we need are the forces who will fight this battle:

Crimson Fists Primaris Space Marine Lieutenant 2

This week I have finally managed to finish off the second Primaris Lieutenant from the Dark Imperium box set. This time I have been working on the more ‘shooty’ Lieutenant who is armed with an auto-bolt rifle and a bolt pistol.

40k Apocalypse Battle

Now I openly admit that I am a dedicated skirmish gamer at heart...for me the sheer enjoyment of a small scale encounter focused around the heroic actions of a few brave individuals is the greatest on offer; and I love writing and playing out complex narratives for Warband style games!

Battle Reports: Crimson Fists vs Dark Angels

Finally I have had a chance to get my Primaris Marines on the table and see what they can do!!

So me and one of my good mates met up for a game of 40k over the recent bank holiday weekend. He has spent the last few months intensively building up his force of Primaris Dark Angels whilst I have been working hard on expanding my new Crimson Fists so this was the perfect opportunity to get our forces into action.

As ever this new version of 40k was exceptionally bloody so the gaming session went very quickly with not many troops left on the table at the end.

Crimson Fists Primaris Space Marine Lieutenant

After I finished last week’s Primaris Captain I decided to crack on with yet another character from the fabulous Dark Imperium box.

This time I chose to work on one of the Primaris Lieutenants; specifically the close combat orientated officer equipped with the power sword and bolt pistol.

Crimson Fist Primaris Space Marines Captain

I am still busy working through the gorgeous Primaris Marines from the Dark Imperium box that I got in June last year. Thus I have been gradually adding these new super marines to my ever-expanding force of Crimson Fists over the past few months. Having now done three squads of troops I decided to treat myself and work on a character to lead them into battle next.

Looking through the contents of the box I was immediately drawn to the huge Captain clad in advanced Gravis armour; so I snipped him off the sprue and set to work.

Batch Painting Primaris Space Marines

This week I’ve been mainly preparing and basecoating a big batch of models for subsequent painting later on.

I have recently set myself a little hobby goal for 40k... I’m going to try and make a fully viable army of Primaris Space Marines for my pre-existing Crimson Fists force using predominantly the clip-together/easy-build models.

Rogue Trader Imperial Assassin - 1989

So to keep with last week’s Oldhammer theme I decided to crack on with another miniature that had been sitting on my work bench since this time last year!

Those of you who follow this blog regularly may remember that last year I was working on a project to paint one each of the 1996 Assassin models (Vindicare, Callidus, Eversor & Culexus) alongside their new plastic equivalents. Well I only managed to get the two Callidus and two Vindicare models done before my hobby interest wandered off! However the rest of the models are sitting primed and ready to go.

Oldhammer Catachan Jungle Fighters - 1994 Models

After I finished off last week’s Primaris Marines I decided it was high-time for something a bit more Oldhammer! 

This I’ve spent the last week or so painting up some old school 1994 Catachans from the second edition of Warhammer 40,000.

Crimson Fists Primaris Intercessors Second Squad

Well I’ve just managed to finish off my third squad of Primaris Space Marines this week.

This time it was a second five-man squad of Intercessors for my vast force of Crimson Fists. This now pushes my force of my Primaris Astartes up to a grand total of five Hellblasters and ten Intercessors.

Fallout [Modiphius] Brotherhood of Steel Knight

Last week the kind chaps over at Modiphius sent me some pre-release models from their up-and-coming game, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare to have a look at and paint up.

I was like an excited school child as I opened the small cardboard box and eagerly took out the six miniatures that they had sent me. These were three Brotherhood of Steel troops and three huge Super Mutants!

Old School Genestealer Hybrid (from a Space Hulk)

After adding some Orlock Brood Brothers to my Genestealer Cult last week I decided to further expand this den of filthy xenos sympathisers with another model this week.

Necromunda Orlocks (1995) - Genestealer Cult Brood Brothers

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life and so this week I've moved back up the scales from 6mm Epic models to some lovely retro 28mm toys.

I've recently been watching with interest the new Necromunda releases from GW and this week I have to say that I am impressed by the prototypes of the new Orlock Models that are due for release in the near future.

Three Orlock Heavies will provide some much-needed heavy firepower to my cultist force.

Epic Space Marine Battle Report!

So with my new found focus on 6mm goodness I've managed to fit in yet another game of Epic: Space Marine (second edition) with my regular opponent. 

There is no greater fun than fielding an entire Space Marine chapter and so once again we went huge win the size of this game... with total forces at around 7000 points per side which allowed me to field both my newly completed Terminator and Veteran Companies for my Flesh Tearers.

Epic Space Marine - Flesh Tearers - Special Characters and Terminators - 6mm

I very luckily managed to have another game of second edition EPIC (aka Space Marine) recently (battle report to follow at some point soon) and as ever it was exceptionally good fun with mass-devastation achieved by the end of turn three. There is something very satisfying about being able to field an entire Chapter of Space Marines during a game without having to have a playing area the size of a football pitch.

One thing that did shine through during the game is that Special Characters (as featured on the SPECIAL cards) are a vital tool in maximising the combat effectiveness of your troops. Much like the most recent edition of 28mm 40k (8th Ed) Characters in this game act more as force multipliers by driving up the potency of nearby units as opposed to being combat powerhouses in their own right.

I already have a number of Special Characters in my Dark Angels force but my Flesh Tearers were noticeably lacking in this field. So I as soon as I finished the game I went straight to my Epic Bitz Box to set about rectifying this issue in preparation for my next battle.

Space Marine Force Commander (Chapter Master)

Primaris Intercessors Crimson Fists

Well I’ve managed to finish my second squad of Primaris Marines; and again they were great fun to paint.

New Outremer Blog!

Well guys... the time is nearly here for my wargames book to be published. Outremer: Faith and Blood will be released by Osprey Games on April 19th 2018 (though it is already on pre-order now for anyone who is interested).

It is a skirmish game set during the time of the Crusades and revolves around fighting campaigns where you can watch small bands of warriors become powerful characters as they gain skills and reputation.




With this in mind I have set up a new blog where I can keep all my Outremer: Faith and Blood Posts under one roof! Please go over and have a look: https://outremerfaithandblood.blogspot.co.uk/

Have no fear... I will not be neglecting this blog and all my other content (40k, Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, EPIC, Fallout, etc.) will continue to be published here.

2017 - A Review: Final Part

So here we are for the final look back at 2017 and this time I am going to focus on the various miscellaneous projects that I undertook throughout the year. 

First up let's start with something big... very big indeed...