Lets Make a Model: Battlewagons (Part 2)

Hey everyone. Here is the next section of the battlewagon build. We have all the tires and treads painted up.

Above you can see a close up on the tires. The red is drybrushed with boltgun metal to give it a worn metal look.

Here are all the tires and treads. Basically everything is basecoated chaos black. The treads and tire rims are undercoated tin bitz. Then the treads are drybrushed boltgun metal. The Tires have the red parts done first in mechrite red then blood red. Boltgun metal is drybrushed over the red and the rims. The tires are then cleaned up with chaos black.

So that is it. Next will be the chassis part that the tires and treads attach to. Hopefully that will be sooner.

Lets Make a Model: Battlewagons (Part 1)

So here we begin the Battlewagon build. We start with just the wheels to slowly ease into the build:

There attached to the sprue like this. This is the wheel clipped from the sprue.

One thing to make not of before assembly is the little hole in the wheel. Line up the nub like part on the inside of the wheel with the hold in the edge of the wheel to have the wheel line up flush. This is the same for both style of wheel.

Here are the 4 wheel for one battlewagon built. There are two different styles of wheel each one has the hole and nub connection. Next step is to assemble the track assembly and paint both the tracks and the wheels. Until next time.

Pathfinders and Update

Hey everyone. I'm still around. Ive decided that I am going to try and dedicate this blog to more then just random posts and paint progress. I started a new Series on my youtube channel called "Lets Make a Model". Basically I take you along for the ride in building models and painting them. The first installment was with Pathfinders and the result is below.

There painted in Farsight enclave color or at least how I would imagine them to look.

So why did I mention the "Lets Make a Model" series? Well that is because for the more "complex" models (Vehicles, Walkers, conversions) I will be supplementing the videos with this blog. Basically this blog will focus on supplementing the lets make a model series and some tutorial type stuff along with the painting progress. As the video series shows the before and after I can show some mid progress here. The next installment is just being started so we shall see how it goes. Until next time.

Iron Hands dreadnought Counts As

Hey everyone. Its been a while. So I just have a model update and a little bit of explaining. Firstly the Dreadnought itself
Here is a shot of the base. Standing on a enemy rhino door from the emperor's children. Thought the whole fluff between the two during the great crusade would make the choice of fallen enemies fitting. Its supposed to look scorched and "sooty" which is why i applied streaks of heavy black wash to it.

Here is the shot of the back power plant with a mini banner thing.

The claw hand side.

The plasma Cannon side. I know there is some grey on the helmet towards the back. I will have to clean that up. The inside of that area is grey to make the helmet stand out a bit when looked at head on.

And I pinned it so it can torso twist and represent being destroyed and what not.

So onward with explaining myself. This is a counts as Bjorn. Why? Well the Generic marine codex can represent the Iron hands well enough. But the option of a Dreadnought HQ and the ability to attach terminator armored veterans to your squads also really screams Iron Hands. So I decided that I would use the Space Wolves Codex and represent a Iron hands Strike force led by a Dreadnought entombed leader which is very fluffy for them. I will be using what the codex gives me to best represent Iron Hands. So I wont be using Mark of Wulfen or Thunderwolves etc etc. Its using the codex to represent something and not just a generic re-skin of a Space Wolf army. I do feel the Space Wolf Codex does a equally good job of representing Iron Hands as the generic Marine codex does. So I chose Bjorn as a Dreadnought HQ is cool.

One more thing. The Iron Hands have Clans which are roughly the equal of companies. Each clan has a symbol. I chose the one with the wrench in the cog (On the dreadnought). I am not sure however who leads that clan. If anyone knows please let me know and if you can link me to the source if possible that would be great but not necessary at all. Well hope you all enjoyed. Until next time.

Admech counts as Straken

Hey everyone. As i am making an admech army slowly.. I needed a suitable Magos to command it. So I decided to do a counts as commander. I chose Straken mostly because he is cool. So lets see the results:

I used a techpriest model base. I put a big obnoxious gun on the servo arm part. It represent the shotgun although i made it look like a large laser on purpose. The rest is self explanatory. I like him. he is a bit silly but I like him. The camera likes to show the red bleed through the metallic parts.. but that is not the case on the actual model. Oh well... Just a quick painting update. I do enjoy how the model turned out.

All your Base... Space Hulk themed

Hey everyone. Its been a while. I meant to put this up for over a week now.. So here we go finally. I know I did a post about my space hulk bases before but with Space Hulk out and since I am working on more deathwing I figured I would do a all your base segment on making space hulk bases or at least how I do it. Its going to be similar to the older post but with WIP shots.

Alright so firstly you need your bases. Since it is deathwing they are terminator bases. But you could do this with any size base in theory. What I used to get the grate effect was plastic screening for doors. Why the plastic one? Well the metal screen doesnt bend it will just kink. Also the metal one can cut or rip your skin so the plastic one is safer. Anything will work for grating though if you don't have window/door screening you could use stitchery canvas which most art supply places should have. That also works very well. As in the picture lay the screen down and then apply a small amount of pva glue all over the base and push it down onto the screen. Less is more! This is because the glue will bleed through the screen so do this on a glass or glass like surface as they clean easier and you can get the screen off the glued table part easier.

Alright After letting it dry for at least 8 hours or more (I suggest a full day) you are ready to trim them off. The best way to lift the bases is from the screen that way should it be stuck to the table a bit from the glue (and by the way you should periodically lift the screen from the table and clean any glue off the table to be safe). If you grab the bases them selves you could pull them off the screen if not careful. Then with a xacto or hobby knife (a scissor or razor could even work.) cut around the outside of the base to free it from the screen. A cutting mat is preferable. As you can see with the picture above you do not need to make it perfect. Any excess screen can be clipped flush with hobby clippers. Should some screen lift from the base you can make spot repairs with superglue.

Alright after you trim the screen flush with the base its time to add some. Plasticard works great for this. Cut some strips of card longer then the base and glue it to the base. Once dry clip it so it is flush with the base. Add as much or as little as you would like. You can even add extra bits like unused rhino doors to represent a door blown out or ammo crates etc etc.

Once your done its time to paint. Start with a black base coat to every part of the base. Be sure it gets between the screen to the base itself below but do not clog the screen with paint. After that drybrush the entire thing with boltgun metal. be careful not to get too much down on the actual base. After that paint the accent parts whatever you want. I suggest some plasticard strip be painted some color to make the base pop and not look monochromatic and boring. After that semi drybrush some bestial brown over areas to give a weathered grime look (this is a space hulk after all). Add some blood spatter if you want then wash the grimy areas and a bit of the non grime areas around the grimy section with devlan mud. This will make the grime. Once that is fully dry give a nice heavy wash of badab black over the rest of the base with a bit of an overwash into the grimy areas. This makes the metal really pop and show the grating. it will also cover an bolt gun drybrush that got onto the bottom of the base.

And that's pretty much it. Don't worry about the pva glue clogging the screen it wont as long as you do not add way too much. Remember less is more. Well hope you enjoyed and this is just my way of doing it. There are other ways out there. Take care.

Angels Of Fury Fluff

Hey everyone. I have been working on this successor chapter's fluff for at least 2 years now and while I only have 7 models painted for the army I thought I would share the fluff I have done now. Its not much for such a long time working on it but I had other stuff to do aside from this. So here we go!

Name: Angels of Fury

Parent Chapter(s): The Unforgiven... This meaning that this chapter was formed by not just the Dark Angels but the Angels of Vengeance, Absolution and Redemption chapters as well (Kept it to the second founding unforgiven)

Color Scheme: Battle grey armor, flat red emblem and weapon, black robes.

Chapter symbol: A skull with a red triangle behind it.

Knightwing symbol (first company): Crossed swords.

Razorwing symbol (second company): stylized lightning bolt/wing through a circle. The

Knightwing is there version of the Deathwing and the Razorwing is there version of the Ravenwing.

Special Characters (Not Necessarily relating to a codex special character to "count as"):

Uriel - Supreme Grand Master

Mezarius - Grand Master of Librarians

Jarus - Grand Master of the Knightwing

Mikael - Grand Master of the Razorwing

Camael - Grand Master of the Offices of Chaplaincy

Zephon - Grand Master of the Apothecarium

Gridael - Grand Master of the Forge

Azamiel - Interrogator Chaplain

Kurmael - Venerable Dreadnought The Ancient One

Battle Company Masters:

Behemial - Company Master of the third company

Sangrel - Company Master of the fourth company

Xerxes - Company Master of the fifth company

Reserve Company Masters:

Varcan - Company Master of the sixth company

Kyrial - Company Master of the seventh company

Asron - Company Master of the eighth company

Cassiel - Company Master of the ninth company

Scout Company Master:

Batarel - Company Master of the tenth company

The Chapter holds there helmet in high regard and every member wears there helmet into battle. Every piece of wargear is cared for diligently but the helmet takes on a special significance for the chapter.

Battle cry: Brothers! Release the Fury of the Lion in the name of the Emperor!!

Chapter Location:

The Angels of Fury is a fleet based chapter as far as can be told by outsiders, as it appears the entire Chapter moves as one from one system to another. Even with this the case the majority of the chapter hangs back or orbits a dead planet in the area while the chapter disperses throughout the entire system quelling rebellions and aiding in any fights against the xenos. The Chapter also takes this time to find promising recruits. Also due to this method of movement the reserve companies see more regular combat as a company as well as individual squads reinforcing battle company positions.

It is unclear why the bulk of the chapters fleet chooses to orbit over dead planets but it is thought that those not in conflict are training on the planets surface where the different terrains encountered from ruined cities to harsh deserts cannot be truly imitated onboard training vessels. This cannot be confirmed as the chapters presence at these planets is enough to divert local patrols to other areas of space less defended. Some scholars point to this fact as evidence that the chapter is doing more then training on those planets, speculating that they are searching for something.

The chapter never stays for long however and rarely communicates with local armed forces unless helping against large Ork attacks or other xenos problems and even then only rarely. The Angels of Fury hardly ever fight intermixed with local forces unless the situation is absolutely dire. Without word the entire fleet dissappears into the warp towards another system once the system has become as one imperial commander remembers one of the higher ranking Astartes saying "Purified".

In some cases vessels in orbit over dead planets have suddenly broke orbit and made for an adjacent system. These rapid response strike vessels are followed by half the fleet not in direct conflict within two standard days and the rest of the chapter once the current sytem is purified.

Chapter Traditions:

The Angels of Fury chapter like all chapters has certain rituals and traditions that they follow. One of these traditions that is noticed by anyone who bears witness to the chapter is that everyone from the Supreme Grand Master down to even scouts wears a helmet. It is a source of pride amongst the chapter and even when part of a council or meeting the Angels of Fury members always come with helmets on and only after formalities will some of them remove their helmet. A second visible tradition is that when not in armor every member of the chapter wears there robes. When in armor all battle company members must wear there robes. The razorwing are not required to wear there robes unless in attendance of an important ritual. The Knightwing is also not required to wear there robes when in there armor. Scouts have not yet earned the honor of wearing there robes into battle and as such usually wear a cloak. instead. The only command staff that is not required to wear a robe while in armor at any given time are Techmarines. This is thought to be for practical reasons.

Being founded by the unforgiven as a whole instead of one parent chapter the Angels of Fury maintain communication with all members of the unforgiven. In line with this the entire chapter is known to link up with the Dark Angels at times although imperial personnel cannot confirm this. The Angels of Fury invest great effort in keeping there link up with The Rock low profile. If reports are true then this fighting force of astartes navy assets and Marine personnel is frightening indeed. It is during this time that watchers in the dark are present onboard Angels of Fury vessels. All other times the Angels of Fury have no Watchers in the Dark present.

Purity above all else is critical to the chapter so to is there Apothecarium. The chapter has some of the finest apothecaries mostly due to the greater demand placed upon them. Constantly monitoring the geneseed is strictly adhered to while performing the additional duties demanded by the chapter. These include there usual battlefield and non battlefield duty, aiding the Techmarines in creating and maintaining the honored Dreadnoughts, Monoriting the Librarium from Grand Master to potential Lexicanian, Monitoring any official dealing between there brethren and other officials, and lastly monitoring the serfs and the organic portions of a servitor. Because of this the Apothecarium consists of a larger number of apothecaries then the codex astartes would dictate. It is thought that with such a good apothecarium that the chapters strength at its largest is around 2000 marines. As they are constantly in battle ths actual number is probably around 1600. This estimate would seem to be supported by its large navy and the fact that it recruits from nearly every suitable world they visit.

Chapter Layout and Honor Guard

1st company: Knightwing. This company is always fielded in terminator armor

2nd company: Razorwing. This company is always fielded on bikes and speeders regardless of chapter organization. Rarely utilize the Storm variant land speeder.

3rd-5th companies: Battle Companies. Standard battle companies. Each battle company has a number of company veterans who are members of the inner circle and assist the Company Master directly when on the hunt. When the chapter is not organized into an "unforgiven" pattern these veteran sqauds are deployed in 2 specific ways to help hunt the fallen. The Vengeance pursuit squads (Vanguard Veterans) are squads that hunt the fallen. When given jump packs they can assist any part of the battle line as well as locate and pursue the fallen often workin in concert with knightwing and razorwing detachments. The 2nd way is as Interdiction squads (Sternguard). These are veterans marksmen who go to battle almost solely in drop pods. These squads are given access to the chapters ranged weaponry and are the sole users of heavy flamers. The squads also have the honor of utilizing the chapters combi weaponry as well as the chapters special ammunition. Given the right combi weapon and with there ammunition these squads become effective against many targets and are adept at cutting off escape routes. When hunting the fallen these squads are used to sow confusion and terror in the ranks of enemies at key locations to cut the enemy off from itself and establish covering fire for the other elements of the hunt. It should be noted that these squads can also handle themselves in close combat if necessary.

6th-9th companies: Reserve Companies. Standard reserve companies that also have there own veterans which are broken into vengeance pursuit squads and Interdiction squads.

10th company. Scout company The only company that is not a part of the razorwing that is permitted to use bikes. As the company master of this company is a member of the inner circle like all masters he knows of the ongoing hunt. His company maintains a force of scout bikes that have the heraldry of the razorwing on them. These units are not a part of the inner circle but when in battle alongside there razorwing brothers are treated as an element of that company. They are not used to directly go after the fallen but rather are useful for guiding in other members of the inner circle as well as trapping parts of the battlefield. It is also noted that at times scouts will be used by the razorwing as fire support or as assaulters jumping out of the Storm variant speeder. The Scouts are never used for direct confrontation with fallen but rather to help with enemy resistance freeing up the inner circle to go directly after the fallen.

Chapter Fleet personnel: The fleet of the chapter is one of the largest astartes battle fleets that always moves as one. This is a double edged sword as it makes the fleet very powerful but it also means in large campaigns the fleet would be more vulnerable to boarding actions. This however is not the case as the entire chapter from serfs to the leader are well trained in boarding and counter boarding actions due to the Knightwings vigilance. Even so serfs are not space marines and can only do so much. This has given rise to a unique practice that the chapter uses. It is not known when this has started. The Chapter has what it calls Naval Sentries. These sentries are battle brothers of the Chapter that are dispersed throughout the fleet whose sole duty is to protect from boarding actions. There actual number is not known but due to the nature of a large fleet it is estimated that they number atleast 600 strong. These Sentries are not permanently assigned this duty but rather are cycled. Each sentry squad is a part of a company from 3rd to 9th company and are cycled from sentry duty to standard astartes duty. While this sentry duty is there sole duty while part of the naval sentry detail they also help train the scouts in anti boarding actions as one day should the scout survive they will be a part of the sentry detail cycle.

The Honor Guard: The Honor Guard has just one objective and that is to protect the Supreme Grand Master. Currently that man is Uriel. The Honor Guard number roughly 10 men that are hand picked by the Supreme Grand Master although when he dies the Honor Guard is not replaced by choices of the new Supreme Grand Master. Currently Uriel has hand picked 4 members from when he was elevated to the position. They are picked from members of the inner circle and only Chaplains, Librarians, Company Masters and Techmarines are not allowed to be picked. This means that company veterans to Knightwing and razorwing are eligible. Once picked the marine is given terminator training if they are not members of the deathwing and more importantly are assigned a suit of artificer armor and a relic blade. The relic blade is only used in battle if the Supreme Grand Master permits and is rarely used by the Chapter Champion. If the Honor Guard's duty is to protect Uriel then the Chapter Champion is akin to the personal bodyguard. The champion is the first to step in the way of anyone approaching Uriel in battle or in council. He will only step aside when Uriel orders him to. The Current Chapter Champion is Sangriel. The Honor Guard never take there helmets off except when they are by themselves or when they are alone with Uriel.

So that's the fluff so far. I know some of it is unorthodox but I took creative license as its my home brewed idea. Also the chapter uses the new space marine codex. Why? Well I am doing everything from the Dark Angel Codex with my Dark Angels Armies. If I used that for my Angels of Fury it would be the same army and play style with a different color and that would be boring. The new Space Marine codex play differently and has some fun units so I went with that.

Hope it was not too boring. until next time..

Callidus and Admech

Hey everyone. Some more pics of some models painted. My callidus assassin and 2 test models for my admech imperial guard. So lets get right to it.

The flash really made the colors look a lot brighter then they are. Regardless I liked how the model turned out. Went with a dark blue suit color for fun.

These guys will be for my Admech army using imperial guard codex. The one on the left will represent flak armor and the other will be for carapace armor. The red is scab red but the flash again makes it look brighter. I will eventually take better photos of stuff in the future. The metallic part is a mixture of black and boltgun metal. I like the result. legs are high elf archer or warrior (for carapace), chest and arms are cadian and the head is elysian. You'll have to use greenstuff to blend the legs and chest together as they do not line up correctly. My greenstuff skill is poor at best but with time i think my skills will improve as I will have to make many of these guys.

Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time.

Blood Reavers Blood Knight

Hey. Another paint progress update. This time its another Blood Reavers model. This is a count as Emperor's Champion but for the Blood Reavers they call it Blood Knight. So here are some pictures.

Firstly I want to say that the Blood Reavers are loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium. I kept the horns on the helmet because there is no real reason why loyal chapters cannot have some horn iconography. Also the Blood Reavers army will have a list for Blood Angels and a list for Black Templars. This model will only be for lists that are Black Templars lists.

I like the giant axe as it goes well with the aggressive style that I'm trying to give the Blood Reavers. Well that's it for now. Until next time.

Counts as Lysander and Exorcists Champion

Hey everyone. Here are the rest of the models I finished last week. One is a kit bashed Emperors Champion the other is a counts as Lysander. Here are the pics again not the best quality photo and the models look better in person. I am no pro painter though which should be obvious.

So this model is an Exorcist model for the Exorcists chapter. I plan to build a list for them using the black Templar's codex. Hence why I have this champion model. However should I use another codex I can use him as a captain with thunderhammer. The hammer fits well with the fluff of the chapter considering they recieve similar training for combating demons that Grey Knights do. And the Hammer is a big theme for hunting Daemons so here Henry has a hammer.

Here is the counts as Lysander for a DIY chapter called Bone Scorpions. Lysander was a good character for them as he fit there style. More on them as I figure out what I exactly what I want to do with them.

I am almost done with some other models so another painting update soon. Do not worry I have plans for more basing and tactica and etc etc videos. So until then. Take care

Titan crew on foot Done

Hey everyone. Last week I did a bunch of painting. One of the things I got to finish painting was the Titan crew on Foot. For actual gaming Two of the crew on foot will represent Advisors and the one with the gun will be a random trooper for a command squad I guess. Still haven't figured that out. Here they are. Sorry about picture quality was in a rush.

As in a previous post the Moderatii with the auspex thing in his hand will still represent a Master of Ordnance. The Princep model (One with no helmet) I plan to use as a Master of the fleet because I think he looks the part. There seems to be a hair on the auspex guy in the picture but its not stuck to him through paint or anything.

The models look better without the harsh flash that drowns out the color. The metallic parts are a chaos black bolt gun metal mixed darkly.

I painted other models which will get a post after this one. Still no update on the Actual Titan or my Admech test model but as I make progress I will post that. Until next time.

Codices

Hey everyone. Another pictureless post but that's ok!

Today I want to rant about codices.. No not complaining about any of them but on how to use then past there literal intentions. What do I mean? Well ill tell you.

A codex is designed to let you play that specific army and of course we all know that and they do a good job. But not everything in the 40k universe is represented. For example DIY Space Marine Chapters often utilize either the generic codex or one of the chapter specific codex (Dark Angel, Black Templar etc.) regardless of whether or not they are a successor chapter. Why does this matter? Well because this is what I am talking about and think is great. Essentially using a codex "Counts As" Army.

For example. By Blood Reavers Space Marine Chapter of which I have that 1 test model is going to be a counts as army using the Blood Angels codex or Black Templars codex depending on army list. That chapter has nothing to do with Blood Angels or Black Templars but is using the rules for those armies.

it doesn't have to be as straight forward as that. From the Warp has a great example of this type of army with his Lustwing. Using the Dark Angels codex for the Deathwing and Grey Knight terminator allies to represent his Lustwing a chaos terminator army. That is a good example of using a codex for its special rules to represent an army of your own design.

There are other examples. One being Using the Tyranid Codex to represent the Xenos on the planet murder from the Horus Heresy Novel series.

Another example is using the witch hunter codex to represent an Admech army. Using the faith points to represent special tech or faith in the omnissiah. Or utilizing the Daemonhunters codex Grey Knight forces to represent Adeptus Custodes along with Space marine allies painted like adeptus custodes.

The new Guard Codex can represent a variety of things aside from the regiments. You can represent traitor guard using many psykers or whatever you want. You can represent Arbites using the guard codex. A penal legion is obvious as well. you can also represent a remnant or hive ganger militia army. You can also play a Admech army with this codex. All these ideas can utilize special characters or specific squads utilizing the counts as rule and of course your own model modification abilities.

So in short if you have an idea for an army from the 40k fluff that does not have its own codex sit down and look at the codices and think. Think about what has the best unit choices and rules set to best represent the army and go with that codex. Just make it clear via wargear options as well as telling your opponent what represents what if its not clear. For Example my counts as Tigiruis model for my pre-heresy Thousand Sons stands out from the rest of the army but I still will let my opponent know what he is.

I find that most players are fine with armies like this as long as you obeying the rules of the codex your using and of 40k and of course that your nice and sporting about telling your opponent what is what. Feel free to post your own army ideas that you have or are using for an army that does not necessarily have its own codex in the comments. Until next time..

Vehicle and Unit upgrades

Hey everyone. Sorry for lack of pictures. I will have pictures of stuff in the future.

Thought I would bring up a little tactica on upgrades. Now in my opinion upgrades are an important part of any army. be it biomorphs for Tyranids or vehicle upgrades or whatever these are the choices that can make an army more effective if used properly.

How do you use upgrades properly? Well you spend points on them of course but it is more then that. In the case of a rhino for example do you take extra armor and a hunter killer missile? Well it all depends on what your going for but what I am getting at is points. Dumping points into upgrades means that your army is going to be smaller. Now its unavoidable for example a devastator squad is meant to take heavy weapons but should the sergeant of that squad have a power weapon of powerfist? Again there is no definite answer as it depends on the army as a whole.

So lets looks at some point costs. Power weapons and powerfist vary between +15 to +25 points depending on codices and which weapon your getting... in general. Now imagine every squad that can take such an upgrade does in your army and well the points add up. Now that is fine but you have to keep that in mind as it can mean the difference between getting that 4th squad or not.

With vehicles it is a little easier to look at. aside from extra armor (in my opinion) everything else is non essential. My only exception is sponsons as i am a huge fan of sponson weapons. However you need not take the expensive sponsons unless your plan calls for it. Dozerblades and hunter killer missiles can be nice and depending on tactic can be great but if you step back and look at it you may not need all those hunter killer missiles which would allow you to take another vehicle perhaps or more effective wargear upgrades.

This idea is especially true with tyranids and there biomorphs. You can really tool out squads with access to a lot of biomorphs but that in turn lowers your squad size and overall amount of squads in general. Taking 1 or 2 essential upgrades can mean the difference between being able to field more squads which can mean the difference more so then how strong one unit is.

Well that is pretty much all there is to say in general about that. It is a simple concept but upgrades can be really tempting. If it does not fit into your armies plan it may not be necessary.

Until next time.

Target Priority: Shooting

Hey everyone. The second installment of Target Priority is here! This is focusing on the shooting phase.

Again this is not about the old special rule. This is about getting the most out of your shooting phase and this is done by picking optimal targets for your units to shoot at. Now aside from some special rules for specific weapons (Like Gauss Weaponry for Necrons) not every weapon is effective against everything. And even weapons that can hurt potentially anything have there specific uses in which they are best. This is all obvious but when people are into the game sometimes the best decisions are not made.

So firstly you have to decide what weapon upgrades you will be taking for your squads. Once your have your army list you need to effectively deploy your army. Deployment is key with shooting because not everyone can move and shoot heavy weapons. If you deply your heavy weapons too close they can be shot up or forced to move back denying you a shot with them that turn. if they weapons are too far away you may not have great targets to shoot at. Terrain factors in. You wont your heavy weapons safe but also with a good vantage point. One thing to keep in mind is that your opponent does not want you to shoot him (Duh!) so if you have a lot of heavy fire on a certain flank you can deny it for the most part to your enemy. Flank Denial is something ill go over in the future.

So the game is in progress what do you shoot where? Well your high strength weaponry will usually be best for tank hunting or Monstrous creature hunting. That Lascannon team or Devastator squad etc will primarily be hunting for things of that nature. On the flip side your heavy bolter or scatter lasers will be chewing into infantry squads. Weapons like Plasma are usually used against heavily armored infantry like Terminators or Meganobz. But Plasma is also good against regular infantry and can destroy light vehicles and potentially wound any Monstrous creature. The true all comers weapon is the Missile Launcher with ammunition for either anti infantry or anti tank.

So in general weapons like those mentioned should be used against there best targets. The trend with 5th edition is for more weapons like Heavy bolters and Melta weaponry and a general less use of things like Lascannons. Why? Cover saves are everywhere making weapons with big punch but low shots less favorable. I personally still like them because they can drop vehicles which have a harder time effectively getting cover saves and the enemy will maneuver differently when my Dark Angel Devestators with 2 Lascannons and 2 Plasma Cannons are in a good positions of fire. This is good because your making your opponent either deal with them right away or move in a way they may not want to originally. But anyway because cover saves are everywhere more people are opting for the "torrent of fire" tactic. Essentially they want to flood infantry (and this only really works with infantry) with so many wounds that they cannot pass them all. This is a good tactic and one that has been in play for a while. So you will see more things like Heavy Bolters concentrating fire into that squad in cover.

Speaking of cover template weapons have increased in popularity. Denying the cover save to a squad can mean the difference between getting a save at all or not. Template weapons ignore cover but the drawback is short range. This means you have to think about how your going to move them and support them. Blast weaponry I feel is also a good choice against units in cover. The reason is because while it generally does not ignore cover its one shot can wound multiple models. With units going to cover they will be in general more bunched together where frag missiles, plasma cannons etc can bring the blast templates strength to good use.

Other armies have way of dealing with cover. Tau Markerlights for example can make the cover save worse and potentially remove it all together if you have enough markerlight counters available. The Key to dealing with cover is knowing what your army has up its sleeve.

One things to be mindful of is assaulting. Do you want to risk getting close enough to rapid fire into a hardened squad only to be charged because of it? Or your assaulters are in position to launch an assault this turn. Do you have them shoot there pistols or have another squad of your shoot the squad you want to assault to weaken it only to leave your assaulters high and dry to get shot up next turn? There is no clear answer. There is always risk involved in a war game but in scenarios like these both yes and no are correct. It all depends on what your squads have and are and what your targets are. i wouldn't necessarily risk rapid firing into a nob squad or a terminator squad. Alternatively if my assault unit was really close to the unit i want to assault i may try to soften it up with shooting.

Alright so that's the basics of selecting targets. Obviously there is more to it with shooting. Like how Fire Dragon squads are really good at dealing with small elite squads in shooting and not just armor. The general thing is to maximize your effectiveness with your guns. Assaulting may be brutal in 5th edition but shooting happens more often statistically in the game. Proper shooting can turn the tide easily for more armies then assaulting can.

I am going to try and get at least 1 post up here a week from now on. More tactica via my opinion, tutorials and progress stuff. This post will get a video supplement soon. until next time..

Target Priority: Assault

Hey everyone. Its been a bit since Ive posted here but I'm still around. So this post is part of a two part series that will be covering what I call Target priority. I'm not refering to the 4th ed. rule. What I'm talking about is effectively picking targets to maximize your units effect on the battlefield.

This first part is about Assaulting. The assault phase is a very brutal phase in 40k. Games Workshop describes the assault phase as a swirling melee with weapons flying blood and gore everywhere as the units fight a desperate battle against each other and the 5th ed. assault phase does a good job of that. So what does target priority have to do with this? Well not every unit is an assaulting specialist and those that are do not all work the same way.

Firstly not all units are created equal.. especially for the assault phase. We all know the basics of this. Tau firewarriors are weak in the assault,Tyranid Genestealers are strong in assault, etc etc. But there are units that can assault that are not specifically geared for it. A good example are Tactical Marines for Space Marines. They are not geared for assault but they can do it and often do. However they have to be used effectively or they will be withered down. Firstly with assaulting with tactical marines is that they should shoot first and often. With Tactical Marines there shooting is a strength they have and even though they have a great stat line for general assaulting they should utilize there bolters and special weapons widdle down the enemy and then finish them off in melee if necessary. Now this is just a general guideline.. against Tau you may want to rush into assault with there fire warriors and against tyranids you may want to maximize your shooting. It all depends on what you face but a general guide line is they should shoot first and utilize assault as the last measure to finish off a unit if necessary.

Now with dedicated assault units like Assault Marines, Striking Scorpions, Genestealers etc. the thought process is different. With units like these you want to get them into assault quickly and as unmolested as potentially possible. These either means fast moving, outflanking or infiltrating to get into a nice position or utilizing transports. However you get your assaulters across the board you have to do it effectively. To demonstrate what I mean I will talk about Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees.

Those two units are assault specialists but they work differently and are meant to be utilized for different roles. Howling Banshee squads are full of power weapons and go at a high initiative on the charge. Down side? average strength and toughness a weaker save and not many more attacks then standard assault oriented units. So what are they good for then? Well they can assault imperial guardsmen, Ork boyz, tactical marines and stuff like that and do well against them but that is not utilizing them to full effect. Because they deny armour saves they are good to throw against terminators to force them using a lesser save. Even against the new stormshield it will force that lesser save. Now on the other hand Striking Scorpions have a better save then banshees a higher modified strength and more attacks. Down side? Well like with most assaulters they don't have power weapons except for the upgrade weapon for the exarch which strikes at initiative 1. So how does his unit differ? Well It can dish out a lot of attacks which could overwhelm a squad of 5 terminators but that is not the way to maximize there effectiveness. Chances are some terminators will live and proceed to cripple your scorpions. This unit is good at dealing with hordes. With the amount of attacks at a strength of 4 the scorpions can deal with units over double its size. They have a decent initiative and the armor save to live through the attack backs in general.

The two examples above basically are anti elite assaulters and anti horde assaulting. In general if you assault smart you will have a higher success rate in your assaulting. This is a basic concept but in the heat of the game Ive seen assault units just chomping into the nearest thing they can which is not always the greatest thing.

Well that was long enough I'm guessing. heh. Take care everyone and thanks for sticking with me. I will try to add more here quicker then this. Also this Target Priority series will have a video supplement at some point on the Fortress Monastery youtube channel which has a link in the astronomicon section of this site.

Blood Reavers test Model

Hey everyone. this post is about my Blood Reavers Space Marine chapter. This chapter came to existence because my other chapters I have can only run one way really and that's the way I built them. Dark Angels use there codex. Pre heresy thousand Sons were built to utilize the Space Marine codex. My Dark Angel Successor Chapter uses the Space Marine Codex but in a different way just like my Iron Ravens idea and the official chapters I still want to do all have there set ways.

So what does that mean? Well the Blood Reavers came to being because I wanted a hard hitting assaulting Marine army. I am not a fan of Space Wolves so that left Blood Angels and Black Templars.. and I decided this chapter would do double duty. I am modeling it to have the capability to do both codices. now there will be a few models that wont be usable in both but that is fine. So here is the test model! Sorry for the fuzzy picture camera went wonky.

Now I just have some minor touch up work to do mostly on the shoulder pads but aside from that it is done. I know the black isn't highlighted and it wont be. But anyway it is a sergeant for a Assault Marine squad if ran in a Blood Angel codex or a initiate with powerfist in a Black Templar codex. The magnetized back packs let it go into both codices and allows flexibility in both. They are a loyalist chapter in case anyone was wondering.

I wanted a more dynamic pose so I bent him a bit so it looks like he is looking down from higher ground issuing an order before leaping with his jump pack or before charging.

When I get better at making the models magnetized I will post a tutorial on here but it will take a few more marines. The legs are from a Khorne Beserker box. I have fluff for the chapter and when in the future I will post about it.

More to come on these guys and my other Space Marines in the future. Until next time..

Admech Advisor

Hey everyone. Ive been a little busy with the hobby so I got some stuff done like those bases in the last post. Here we have what I will be using for a Master of Ordnance Advisor for my Admech army.

He is a Titan crew member on foot from forgeworld. I do not have the other 2 painted up yet but this guy is one of the moderati. I thought he would fit well with the admech army as he looks techy enough. The model is perfect for the master of ordnance I feel because he has a little data slate thing in his hand so it looks like he is marking coordinates to transmit back to whatever is dropping the ordnance (Titans or Admech Ordinatus perhaps?). i will eventually paint the other 2.

A word of caution for these models is that they are one piece meaning the model and base are molded together. That is fine but they are casted in a white resin or some such which feels weak. You could probably snap this model in half with your hands easily. So some care is needed when your painting the model. More Admech to come in the future.

All Your Base... Batch painting

Hey everyone. I thought i would share how I normally do bases. So here is a picture.

Now unless there a special character or some special kind of unit I do bases in batches. How I determine how many to do is simple as it's based on the squad size. These bases are for a group of 20 shoota boyz. I normally do the bases first. The only exception are slotted or peg models in which case the bases are done last but even in this case I usually do them by squad size.

It can certainly feel like a grind doing 20 or more bases at once. Sometimes ill do them in batches of 5 at a time but I will get all the bases done before I work on the models. If I were to make a rubbled bases I would test fit a model first but it would be unbased just clipped to make sure it will fit. But doing bases in batches makes them go decently quick especially once you get into the "zone".

I prefer putting models on bases after it is based so it looks like they are walking on the desert or whatever the base is instead of looking like there sinking slightly into it.


Well that's that for batch painting bases. More Basing to come in the future.

Admech Commissar

Hey everyone. To go with my last all your base post I have a model using one of the bases. Now I didn't try the orange light drybrush on this base. Ill try it on the other one and if it looks nice and subdued ill go back and touch up this base.

The model is a Death Korp Commissar. But it will be for my Admech army as a Commissar. I just love the model so i decided to use it for my Admech. I think it fits in well as the gas mask head give it a tech and inhuman feel.

Well thats the model. The actual Armies color scheme is that of his pants which is scab red over mechrite red. the metal bits are a mix of chaos black and bolt gun with a light pure boltgun highlight.

Thats pretty much it. I have stuff in various stages that im working on and part 3 of the Legends of War should be starting soon which means a 20 shoota boy strong squad to work on that gets priority. More updates and other stuff as i get to them. take care.

All Your Base... Martian desert

Hey everyone. Been busy but I did make some progress hobby wise. Here is another All your Base installment. This time it is my attempt at a martian desert type of scheme. The results work although there is probably a better way to do it. But this was quick and easy.

Alright so after flocking the base I gave it a base coat of bestial brown. Any darker brown will work but I went with bestial because it has a kind of reddish quality to it.

I then heavily drybrushed the base with scab red once the bestial brown was fully dried. I tried to cover practically all the brown with scab red leaving trace amounts of brown.

The final step was to drybrush red gore on top of the scab red. This was a light drybrush that I did only until I saw a slight difference in color on some of the flock. You could probably go beyond this with a mix of red gore and blood red or some sort of orange but I left it at this stage because I did not want a more extreme highlight color. I did the sides of the base with Graveyard earth.

That's pretty much it for this type of base. Ill have more bases to come soon as well as progress updates when I have things to report. Until next time...

All Your Base... Urban

Hey everyone. Ive been busy with Work and building my new computer so I haven't had time to post here. But here is another installment of All your Base!.. This time is Urban basing. Now i am going to make another post on here when I do more Biker bases as I do not have a picture of the finished base without the bikes on them. But here we go:

Firstly After flocking what I do far all urban bases is base coat the stuff black. I try to get everything coated in back but if some flock isn't covered that's fine. The later stages should deal with that.

And there are the bases done. What I did here was drybrushed codex and fortress gray over the black. For the yellow striping I used Iyanden Darksun foundation as it is nice and flat. Now there are 2 ways I dry brush urban. If I want it to be a non street urban base I make it very grey with codex grey. If I want it more of a urban street its a light drybrush of the grey so the black bleeds through the drybrushing. That's pretty much it. As I said when i do more of these bases ill make an additional post for urban showing the base in more detail.

One quick note. These new biker bases are great. As you can see the bikes sit fine on them. As far as I know there only available with the scout bikes but you can buy them in groups of 5 off Games Workshop's website. Well until next time... Take care.

Crusade era Thousand Sons.. Finished!

Hey everyone. Its been a while but there finally done. So here is the entire army in one picture:

3 tactical squads, 2 HQs, 2 vindicators, 1 grey knight terminator squad. that right there is 1750 pts.

It was a fun army to build with lots of kit bashing. I played it in a tournament and scored in the middle of the list of people overall which isn't bad for a list built for fluff and not power.

Well there it is the army finally finished. I will no doubt add to it in the future but for now time for tons of other projects! Until the next one.

Horus Heresy Novel series

Hey all just a quick post on the Horus Heresy novels.

Now I'm not going to rate them or review them just list the ones out currently as of the date of this posting.

So there are 10 total books so far as of the day of this posting:
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
The Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Descent of Angels
Legion
Battle For the Abyss
Mechanicum
Tales of Heresy

Those are the 10 the Tales of Heresy is a short story book with 7 stories in it. The rest are novels.

Alright so there novels based in the 40k universe obviously. They are based around the Heresy time period which I am a huge fan of so it is no surprise that I love these book. There not works of gold or anything but just really enjoyable if your into the heresy. They are focused on the Imperium and primarily the Space Marine Legions with a few exceptions. So if your not into the Imperium really then the series may not be for you.

Other then that there is not much to say as a at a glimpse type of thing. More are coming out and there is no limit supposedly to how many books they will release for the Horus Heresy.

I listed the novels in order of release in case you are interested in jumping into the series (if you haven't already).
Until next time.