Rogue Trader Devastators (Horus Heresy Salamanders)

After a busy weekend of hobby activity I have managed to finish off another heavy weapons squad for my Rogue Trader / Horus Heresy Salamanders.

These models are all the mono-pose heavy bolter marines that were released in 1988, I have tried to overcome this high level of repetition by giving each marine individual markings/heraldry for a little variation.

This squad came about due to my decision to re-structure my Salamanders in order to make a force that is legal to play in games of Horus Heresy (aka 30k). In this variation of the rules Heavy Support squads can be up to ten men strong, but everyone (that's right all ten) are required to carry the same weapon system, additionally tactical squads can only have bolters...no heavy weapons specialists! As such I have broken up my old devastator squads (who were equipped with mixed weapons) and am now gradually painting sufficient reinforcements to create a number of new five man units. You'll also notice that in these rules the squad sergeant carries the same weapon system as his troops, hence why the sergeant above (with authentic Rogue Trader rank chevrons) is also packing a heavy bolter.

Every trooper in this squad has the RT symbol for a heavy bolter operator (cross-hair in a circle) painted somewhere on their power armour, adding a sense of coherency to the unit, and tying them in nicely with their retro heritage.

In order to add a bit of variation I filed the studs off the sergeant's left shoulder pad, giving me another blank surface to add some heraldry to. I used this  new canvas to paint the old RT symbol for a devastator (the bright yellow sunburst) surmounted by the more modern broken triangle.

Overall it took me a weekend to knock up this squad and I am more than happy with the results, they will fit in nicely with my growing force of 1980s marines. Next up will be a five man missile launcher squad. Watch this space!

Second Edition 40k Battle Report

Having created a few posts recently that have been slightly more modern than my usual Oldhammer vibe I have decided to go back to basics with a proper Old School Battle Report. This was a quick game played with my usual opponent (my wonderful girlfriend) using second edition 40k rules.

In order to really bring out the 1990s feel I left my modern buildings in the terrain box and instead littered the green battle mad with 21 year old card ruins and lichen (I love lichen), the battle field was roughly 5x3 foot.

Sons of Horus 30k Legion Project (with a free painting tutorial)

Sons of Horus Tactical Combat Squad 1: Completed 29DEC14

UPDATE: better photo here:

Santa's 40k Apocalypse!

As it was nearing the festive season my mates and I decided that the best way to celebrate this homely time of year was with vicious butchery on a massive scale, namely in the form of a game of 40k apocalypse! Now these games are an epic experience but they do take a lot of time and effort to put together...and as such this was our first Apocalypse game since 2008! Firstly we had to make sure we were all off work at the same time and so leave had to be booked and rest days swapped...next we needed a venue that could accommodate a twelve foot by six foot battle field....

Luckily one member of the group was able to acquire access to a disused basement room in a relatives house which we were quick to exploit and transform into a blasted area on the outskirts of an Imperial city where the dull grey of urban industry turned to the rich green of farmland.

Warhammer World Birthday Weekend Part II

Here is the second part of my warhammer themed birthday report....

Day two of the weekend started early with my girlfriend and I returning to GWs flagship building to get another game in. We skipped breakfast at the hotel so that we could eat at Bugman's! I have to say the GW breakfast was excellent and absolutely massive...I don't think I've ever seen a fry up so big... To be fair by the end of it I wanted to go back to bed just to sleep off the feast!!

Nonetheless I overcame the urge to sleep and we went next door to the gaming hall and quickly found our allocated games table. After yesterday's massive battlefield today was a bit of a down sizing to a more conservative 6x4 table. The table we were allocated was actually bedecked with Warhammer scenery, but instead of scouting around for 40k terrain I found I actually quite liked the medieval atmosphere and so decided to use it to represent a feudal world on the outskirts of Imperial space.