Ultramarines and post WHFB :(

Hey hey hey

BIG break in anything hobby related really as life got in the way.

Age Of Sigmar

Nothing of any note gaming wise has occurred. I was going to attend the cool awesome event in Melbourne that everyone looks forward to, until I had to pull out sick with a massive head cold...super annoying...ESPECIALLY as it was probably in hindsight the last actual 8th event I could have attended :(

The good news is that I know a few guys who are happy to continue playing as if nothing happened as there are still a bunch of events in Oz to come up. After then? Who knows.

Kinda sad when I've spent the last wee while perfecting the 2400/2500/2600pt Empire list.

As to AoS? It doesn't look appealing, and TBH if I want to play a skirmish game = Mordheim/Kill Team FTW. I was kinda excited before the rules dropped when the pics of the epic Dark Elf vs High Elf battle came out because I saw a few things:

• Epic big battle
• clear battle lines
• what looked like COULD be formations

Formations (both like 40k and as in individual unit actions) was the key for me to enjoy a skirmish large style game where combat is the crucial phase. By this I mean creating a shield wall/calv lance/phalanx/skirmish harassment etc. WHFB was always odd in that the deeper a formation was = the more robust it was, when my amateur understanding of old school battles was that the wrap around from being WIDER was key. A skirmish formation usually means wider = better as trying to get more attacks in by achieving a wrap around. 

What could have been huh? Lining up your shield wall, outflanking with Cavalry, line breaking with elite units, creating gaps with chariot charges, harassing and ambushing with loose formation etc etc Throw in Magic and Dragons = awesome. 

Instead we get "mash models in the middle, role 4+ FTW...oh and no rules/guidelines around creating an army to push this into dumb. My Empire army is falling into a state of disrepair (needs some gluing TLC)...and will most likely stay that way for a long time to come sadly. 

Ultramarines

So the good news is that my 40k project is ticking along nicely. I'm loving the new Space Marine book and all the options it has. Some painting:

Bike Squad

First off I LOVE that the new codex is 1 box = actually 1 unit, so 103pts gets me a bike squad (troop choice thanks to Mr Chapter Master) with 2 grav guns and a combi grav on the serg (red helmet). Oh and I also get 3x TL boltgun on top to give a nice multi functional unit with objective secured. 

My 2nd unit is still in need of a serg as I picked up 6 ravenwing bikers + attack bike in a 2nd hand bin, but one of the guys is wearing robes - so will be a mounted Librarian. So 1 extra box to get, which will give me a serg, an apothecary for potential command squad options, and a 2nd librarian. 

Grav and combi grav guns where found on Ebay from some "almost but not quite" alternative resin guns thing, 

Assault Squad 1

Assault Squad 2

Assault Squads for the SKYHAMMER formation! Yup. Not being too d*ckish with this one as you can easily spend over 1000pts on the formation where I'm aiming for more around the 460pt mark. 125pts of Assault marines nets a sweet little unit with an eviscerator, 2 flamers, and meltabombs on the sergeant. Ie does a bit of everything, and does those things well. Dropping 4 flamers down will thin out some hordes, and I can pop tanks with the meltabombs/eviscerator  + tie stuff up with my general choppyness. 

Assault Marine Sergeant

A close up on some detail. His head is from the Centurian set and yes his Mohawk has rivets, so is a piece of armour...You can't quite see it but under his left arm is a melta bomb. Modelled with plasma pistol and power sword because it looks cool, but will 99.999% of the time simply have melta bombs. I wet mixed the power sword using the recommended GW Dark Eldar Incubi colour scheme (Kandtor Blue, Kabalite Green, Sybarite Green, Ubshanti bone). Basing is also the GW texture paint Blackfire Earth washed with Agrax Earthshade which is a lot of fun to use. I'll add some static grass once I find something suitably dead looking...might even put some water effects on it too so it looks gross and muddy...then I need to get powders to mud up the boots etc etc etc it never ends!

Mr Chaplain

And finally something I painted for fun. I bought the Reclusium command squad box so I would have the bitz from the command squad, a razorback and this guy. He's been painted with a green shoulderpad and purple seals so he can align with either my Salamanders or the Ultramarines. Mainly so I have the option of a demi company down the road + a very cool looking model. 

So that's me for now. 2 Boxes of Devastators, 1 box of Tac Marines, 2 drop pods, and a 40k basing kit are in the post. Now to paint up my Mounted Librarian :)