Tiny Skirmish!

 Hi!

I fancied playing a bit of a game last night and not wanting to rummage out tons of 28mm scale terrain, I decided to play a small skirmish in 6mm scale using the first bits and bobs I found in my display cabinet.

Ultramarine Patrol

My Ultramarines would try and drive off the marauding Eldar who were seeking to raid the Imperial settlement somewhere on the border. The force was a bit adhoc, consisting of my command squad transported in a Rhino and supported by a pair of Centurion heavy power armour suits.

Eldar Warparty

The Eldar force had two squads of Guardians led by a Warlock and supported by a Wraithlord. Their objective was to occupy. the settlement and loot the buildings while holding off the forces of the Imperium.

The table was my small pinboard with a smattering of buildings and rocky outcrops and I pretty much made up the rules as I went, using a mixture of D6's and Havoc dice when I needed to roll for attacks and it worked out pretty well with the Imperials initially trying to drive out the Eldar with their heavy power armoured troops but taking fire from the Eldar dreadnought in return whilst the command team tried to outmanoeuvre the Eldar on the flank.

It looked like the Imperial troops were going to hold the field with the Eldar dreadnought taking damage and one of the Guardian stands wiped out but with some lucky dice rolls, the Warlocks raiding party destroyed both of the Centurions and it was left to the Rhino to suppress the Guardians occupying the building long enough for the command squad to get close enough but it was too late. Despite the stormbolter on the Rhino eventually shredding the Guardians, the Warlock then destroyed the vehicle with some Eldrich power leaving the command squad isolated and forced to retreat.

I must admit that I do really enjoy these tiny skirmishes in 6mm, especially as it reminds me of 2nd edition 40k and I will be playing some more games when I get chance with some slightly larger forces as its a great way to get some quick games in without needing a lot of space or time.

I'm actually thinking of making some more small skirmish forces in 6mm using GZG or Brigade Models as the basis with a platoon of infantry backed up with the odd vehicle or two or even throwing in a Battle Mech or two so I can play some small skirmishes in other settings too.

In other news, I've got the first half of my new warband for my Death in the Throne Room campaign painted and just need to add some bits and bobs to the bases before getting some pics so fingers crossed, I'll get them ready to update before I return to work tomorrow.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 76

Hi!

Just a quick post this evening as is often the case, I've got lots of bits and bobs on the go but not much finished.

First up, I've got the first four bases of my Ork warband done:

Goff Boyz

Although clad in proper Goff Black, I feel they are possibly a bit dull so may reclassify this four bases as Skarboyz, the ded 'ard veterans of many a battle and I think I'll be adding a wee bit of red to the normal boyz as in this scale, a bit of brightness, especially 2nd edition 40k inspired is almost a requirement.

Almost as an afterthought, I added a little clan logo to the front of each base which I quite like! If they do become Skarboyz, I'll need to rework the glyph to represent their elite status but it will do for the time being. 

Hopefully a bit of tweaking tomorrow will see them looking more as I wanted them to!

Secondly, I've quickly thrown together a logo for my Battletech pirate force, Red's Marauders:

It's a bit simple and rather Orky but thats ok with me. I'm currently putting together a separate Battletech campaign blog so I can ramble on about my chosen forces, the setting and whatnot without clogging up this blog which is already sitting at over 900 posts!

While it's convenient for me to just post everything here, I suspect that my Battletech blog will be more of a stream of consciousness come RPG lite sort of affair with the possibility of several posts a day with whatever comes into my head and if it works out, I may do something similar for one or two other ideas I've had.

It may not work out as planned but we shall see how things go.

In the meantime, All the best!

Assault on Glazers Gulch

Hi!

I've managed to try out Song of Blasters in 6mm scale using some of my Epic figures and thought I'd post a quick battle report!

It had started with panicked calls over the vox from the small settlement of Glazers Gulch and then silence had fallen despite Imperial comms repeated attempts to contact the township. Suspecting an Orkish raid, especially following the recent skirmishes with the local Badmoon tribe, Captain Vaughn of the Ultramarines has dispatched a squad of troops to find out what has befallen Glazers Gulch.

As the Rhino's approached the outlying buildings, they found a scene of devastation, the settlers slain and the buildings wrecked. This isn't the work of rampaging Orks and then in confirmation of his suspicions, the main settlement comes into view and groups of red and gold armoured forms can be seen. Traitor Marines!

Vaughn issues a prompt command to attack the despised Sons of Titan!

In game terms, I was trying out the smaller scale to see how it worked so this was more of a playtest than a real battle and featured a few stands a side but it actually went rather well and resulted in a fairly bloody skirmish!

The Ultramarines rolled well to win activation and speeded forward past the ruins of the outlying buildings of Glazers Gulch while the Sons of Titan seemed shocked by the sudden appearance of their Imperial foes and while the loyalists surged forward, the traitors failed to activate for the entire first turn!

 Imperial troops deploy (Vaughn's standard was lost to the jaws of a furry predator in an earlier incident and still needs replacing)

The Ultramarines also won the initiative in the second turn and opted to deploy from their Rhinos and let rip at the Sons of Titan before they got to activate. Their concentrated bolter fire shredded one of the traitors APC's but the rest survived the fusilade.

 Sons of Titan amongst the ruins

The following turn saw the traitors let forth a bellow of rage and storm towards the Ultramarines and in the ensuing carnage, Vaughn was killed and one of the Ultramarine Rhinos was badly damaged having been rammed by the Sons of Titan spiked APC.

In return the Ultramarines managed to slay the traitor champion before retreating with the body of their commander.

 Early on in the battle

All in all, the game lasted about 20 minutes and ran to about four turns. I need to tweak how transports work but it was rather good fun with the Ultramarines being excellent at short to medium range before getting a bit of a pasting in close combat from the Traitor marines.

Hopefully I'll have chance to play a somewhat larger game in the coming week with my Ultramarines facing off against my Eldar raiders and I'll see how Song of Blasters copes with multiple units, flyers and heavy tanks!

I've also been thinking of using my Epic stuff to try out 40k 8th edition as it looks like it could shoe horn in quite well but we shall see how we go...

In the meantime, All the best!

Small Scale Shenanigans

Hi!

Sadly I've not managed to get any more games played in the last couple of days as work has been getting SO busy with the run up to Christmas that I've not had the energy to set up and play a game when I get home. I've not been entirely idle though as I've been going through my Epic collection!

With my tinkering with Song of Blasters, I've been pondering the possibilities of using it to play slightly larger games than the small skirmishes I've been posting about and while I think I can get the 15mm scale gubbins up to about 2nd edition 40k level forces before the board gets a bit packed, my Epic goodies could allow for something a little grander...

 Ultramarines strut their stuff

I've got an absolute ton of unpainted Epic stuff lying around in boxes in our library/man cave/spare room and if I aim to paint up forces of around the size of your average 8th edition 40k army, I think it would make for a decent project, especially as the change of scale would stop me going mental and suffer painting burnout with my ongoing 15mm stuff.

Khorne Renegades

Sadly the move of house and the interest of our cat Mab has resulted in my command stands needing new flags (especially after finding Mab carrying the bases through to the living room and proceeding to bap them around the floor!) Fortunately the large lipped bases seems to have done the trick in stopping the miniatures themselves from getting damaged.

I've thus far given them a good dusting with a soft brush as for whatever reason, 6mm figures seem to pick up more dust than larger stuff! My next job will be to repair and replace banners and finish flocking some of the bases before having a rummage through my boxes to see what I have and what my tiny armies could do with to make them more playable (just looking at my Eldar, I realise that they are woefully short of Aspect Warriors for example!)

Saim-Hann Craftworlders

Game wise, I think I will start the ball rolling with a couple of squads plus a vehicle per side to see how things go and will try to post some reports here.

I'm also keen to keep up the momentum with my 15mm 40k projects and plan on fleshing out the assorted forces there too as time allows, namely getting the second of my Sentinels painted and finish my Ultramarine squad who have sat primed and unloved for almost ten years.

That was like, Ultra!

Much like my Epic stuff, I have a lot of 15mm gubbins sat in boxes awaiting painting so I think I'll be spending a bit of time looking through my leadpile to see what assorted stuff I have that I fancy painting!

It's interesting that the amount of games played in the last few weeks has really got my interest in painting and sculpting going and I'm hoping that 2019 is going to be a bumper year for me in all things hobby related!

In the meantime, All the best!

Imperial Progress

Hi!

Well work has been taking up quite a lot of my time over the last few weeks as well as assorted flat related gubbins so hobbying is having a bit of a struggle but I have managed to finish off a few more bits and bobs for my Epic Ultramarines!

First up, I've finally got my Techmarine complete along with his banner:

Techmarine plus mechanics

I've also got some rapid response in the form of a Landspeeder, which is actually one of my favourite Epic figures that I've painted to date:

 Swoosh!

Next up, here's some quick shots of my army thus far:

 Command and control

Ultramarines of the III Legion, VII company commanded by Captain Fentros

More Ultraness!

I'm really liking the combined force as it stands and with the addition of some more vehicles and a few infantry, I think it will be complete (for the time being!) and will move on to finishing up my Eldar and Renegades, not to mention some Orkish types to shoot the place up a bit...

Tactical Platoon

Speaking of Renegades, I've managed to finish the first of my Followers of Titan Rhino's:

Aggressive

It's a stock plastic Rhino with a scratch built ram made from plasticard. I must admit that I am not too much of a fan of much of the Chaos stuff that got released for 3rd edition of Epic with all the chains and trophy racks.

In my setting, Chaos doesn't really exist, instead you have the Followers of the Titans, an ancient race of gods who ruled the Imperium before being cast down my their offspring. In the ensuing eons, they have fought using their human and alien proxies to regain their former glories.

The Titans are not evil and neither are their followers. They are elemental and prone to acting rashly but not intent on destroying the universe in some sort of apocalyptic frenzy. They want to rule the place so wrecking it up seems a bit counter productive...

I have also painted a few bits and bobs in 15mm scale for my upcoming Rogue Trader demo at work but am saving the pics until I have everything finished and will post up the forces, the terrain and the scenario in advance hopefully followed by a bit of an after action report following the evening (if I can get anyone to have a go at it!)

In the meantime, All the best!

Epic Planning

Hi!

Well I'm slowly painting through my Epic pile and it's got me to thinking about getting some games in with my tiny armies.

Now as previously mentioned, I have no space to play mega games of Epic with huge armies duking it out for control of entire worlds, but I do have enough space to play considerably smaller games featuring small forces on patrol with the odd big guy to mix things up a bit.

Ultra!

With this in mind, I have decided to try and complete my Ultramarines over the course of January. The plan is to make sure I have at least one of each of the many choices Space Marine Armies have, which lets face it, is quite a bit!

 Ultramarines versus Eldar Aspects and an Avatar

With this in mind, I have perused both my painted Epic collection and my bits boxes to see what I still need to put together and I think I have just about everything I need which is handy. I am also going to revisit the existing paint jobs on most of my Ultramarines as compared to my Renegades, it's a bit rough and ready.

Ultramarine Armour

I'm rather keen to also put together a more tropical region of Farpoint to allow for some classic 40k scenic shenanigans inspired by 2nd edition 40k so action will be taking place on New Viridia, a heavily forested world ruled by the Viridian Megacorporation as well as on Farpoint itself.

Jungle Combat!

 I'm also hoping to use the opportunity to jump back into 15mm scale skirmishing with the secret war between the Governor General's intelligence agents and Vosk's ruffians so expect to see some small covert actions to appear here in the next few months!

Armoured assault

While on the topic, I am also pondering sculpting up some assorted bits and bobs to represent some of the characters I have come up with for my background and to set the scene for further developments in the sector. We shall have to see what I can come up with as I suspect that work will once again be very busy this year but I am rather enjoying working through the stuff I have and have thus far managed to avoid the siren call of purchasing anything.

Ultramarines defend a remote outpost from Goff raiders.

Worry not about my other Epic forces though, as I have plans for them too this coming year but sadly will have to dip into my hobby funds to round them out as each of them needs a few bits and bobs to make them really playable.

The Governor General's House Troops

I have enough stuff to put together warbands for my Squats, Eldar, Renegades and at least two different Marine Legions but I find myself bereft of any lowly Imperial Guard so will need to put together a small order to furnish myself with both Regular Imperial troops, the Governor Generals House troops, Vosks mercenary scum and some generic rebels, not to mention Viridian troops as well.

I think that the doability of collecting and painting a decent little force in 6mm is one of the main attractions of the scale, plus there's something really pleasing about seeing a tiny horde come together on the table that I'm rather liking. Plus the price of such a project is relatively low with an entire platoon of infantry being available for under a fiver and a tank platoon for not much more!

It's looking like I am going to have a rather action packed year ahead and I just hope that I can continue the year on such a high note as I have started it!

Hopefully my next update will have some freshly painted Marines to showcase as well as a few other bits and bobs that I've been working on but in the meantime, All the best!

Centurion Trinity Sighted

Hi!

Happy New Year to everyone!

I spent a couple of hours last night finishing up some assorted gubbins for my Epic project, namely expanding my Ultramarine detachment choices.

First up, here's a trinity of Centurion heavy battle armour:

Centurion Heavy Battle Armour

In recent years, Centurion heavy battle armour has become a more common sight in the Space Marine Legions but this is their first recorded deployment on Farpoint. These advanced battle suits allow Space Marine forces to deploy heavy weaponry on a more mobile and less expensive frame than their Dreadnought walkers.

Operating in groups of three known as Trinities, these Centurions are equipped with a las cannon, two rocket pods and a storm bolter as well as a power fist. The groups callsign is Hesperus and are currently being used to defend the Trilithium mines at Deadwater, a small outpost approximately two hundred miles from Freeport City.

Next up, there's the first of my Ultramarine Assault Squads:

Assault Squad

I picked these guys up in a trade several years ago and they sported a bit of a blobby paintjob and lots of bright green flock. Instead of stripping them, I carefully removed them from their old base, soaked them in water to remove the flock and scraped off the mould lines and pieces of sprue that were still stuck to them. With a bit of a repaint, they look pretty decent!

With all the goodies getting reinforced, I wanted to start expanding my Renegades too so have finished up a command stand for my Berzerker Cult:

 Karnac Mordent, Commander of the Followers of Titan

As the Governor General has feared, Alexandr Vosk, the disgraced ex ruler of the sector has brought in some serious support for his anti Imperial machinations. Through his contacts with Lucius Goldburg, the sectors biggest crimelord, Vosk has hired a group of Renegades known as The Followers of Titan under the command of the notorious Karnak Mordent.

Thus far the Renegades have only been glimpsed briefly on Farpoint when they raided Deadwater and lifted a Trilithium shipment under the noses of the local garrison. Only the intervention of the Ultramarines saw the traitors driven off.

A gun battle rages on the outskirts of Deadwater between Ultramarines and Renegades

I'm rather pleased with the progress I'm making on my Epic project and hope to try out a game this evening using some bodged together rules and a small playing surface!

I've also been busily building some scenics of a suitable scale for my project and the latest addition is the local mining offices of Con-Am:

Renegades dig in around the Mining Office

Built from an old cocktail stick container and a small box as well as lots of cardboard and a Ramshackle Games resin gubbin, I quite like how the office has turned out. I also put together some barricades from an assortment of cardboard and plastic gubbins I had kicking around as any small skirmish game worth it's salt needs lots of cover for the combatants to hide behind when the lead starts flying!

I'm also putting together some character bios as well as location guides and maps for my upcoming campaign where the Governor Generals forces will be vying for the control of the Farpoint sector against Eldar and Rebel control!

In the meantime, All the best!

Epic Musings

Hi!

Well I've been slowly painting some more epic scale gubbins for my Ultramarines as well as bodging some more buildings together and have had some further rambling thoughts on what I want to do with my collection moving forward into the new year.

I've got a decent amount of unpainted goodies still to work through, not to mention a complete starter set of Epic 40k awaiting me in the new year but I seem to be getting lots of ideas for reinforcements for my existing forces as well as entirely new ones.

 Mercenary Armour

I'm thinking of putting together an Imperial Guard formation too to match my 15mm stuff so I can try playing around with some larger scale encounters in the Farpoint sector. The plan is to slowly paint my way through everything I have in 6mm (which is a surprising amount!) and try to play out a campaign over the course of 2018.

 That was like, Ultra!

As things stand, I have a decent skirmish force for my Ultramarines and Eldar but need to bulk both out to cover all the options that I want to cover. My Squats are slowly coming together but I really need to add some more heavy vehicles to the mix. I have enough gubbins to build a decent Chaos renegade force as well as a fair chunk of Orks which should cover most eventualities.

Ultramarine VII company 

I'm hoping to incorporate several scales to the campaign, be they 15mm scale skirmishes, large scale rumbles in 6mm, dogfights in space and even some fleetscale shenanigans. I have several days off coming up over Christmas and between festive food I'm hoping to start building up my assorted forces and bulk up my scenery collection as well as getting the background put together for the upcoming campaign!

Eldar Raiders

I'm rather enjoying the prospect of playing out some game and hope that it will spur me onto painting more and really re-engaging with my hobby too! 

Now I doubt my armies will ever total the likes of this classic 2nd edition army but I plan on enjoying myself over the next twelve months!

 If only!

I think that I need to do a bit of a stocktake of the stuff I have and see about trading for the odds and ends that I'm missing and we shall see what I can put together and will post some further gubbins over the next few days including some epic scale Centurions for my Ultramarine legion!

In the meantime, All the best!

Mekboy Speedsta and Chaos Sighted!

Hi!

Well I've managed to get some pics taken of my latest additions to my assorted projects!

First up, there's a Evil Sunz Mekboy Speedsta:

Mekboy Speedsta

Based on a Hotwheels dragster with a simple repaint and addition of a ridiculously big gun, I'm really chuffed with how it turned out!

 Go Fasta!!

I originally got the idea to add a ridiculously massive hotrod from the old Kustom Speedstas from epic which featured mentally over charged rides with forcefields and random weaponry and really wanted to add an interesting addition to my Orkish forces in 15mm scale.

 Zog Off!

While there's no rules for the Speedsta in 40k, I couldn't resist having a go at putting one together and suspect it's going to get quite a bit of use careening around the table unleashing lots of dakka before exploding impressively!

Kustom Paintwork

Next up, I've been perusing my Epic collection and realised I was rather short on scenery so painted up a couple of hab blocks:

 Settlement beginnings!

Constructed from lids of coffee jars with some thin cardboard stuck on, I'm rather pleased with how they turned out, especially as they are a little bit reminiscent of the buildings featured in the original Rogue Trader rules!

 Latte and Espresso blocks

I've got several more in various stages of construction and will add pics of them as I get them finished and am rather chuffed how they turned out. The most difficult part was priming the finished scenery as the plastic lids have a rather shiny finish that was a pain in the bum to get paint to adhere to!

Lastly, here's a quick sneak peek of my Chaos raiders that I've begun painting up for my skirmish forces:

Bwahahahaahaaa!

I'm rather enjoying painting up the little chaps and have several more bases getting worked on at the moment as well as reinforcements for my Ultramarines.

I'm not too keen on the whole Grimdark background of Chaos so will be reworking them to better fit my Alternative Imperium setting which is more based on Roman society with a generous dose of world myths added in so prepare for the return of the Fallen Titans!

In the meantime, All the best!

Micro 40k

Hi!

I've been perusing with interest the newest edition of 40k and am thinking of giving it a bash but in typical me fashion, I am eschewing the usual 28mm scale for something a bit different.

What I am planning is to get some use from my Epic collection to play a game or two!

That was like, Ultra!

Having looked at the changes GW has done to what was a very clunky and frankly unusable system has been rather refreshing with lots of nods to 1st and 2nd edition which I like but also streamlined and simplified which is even better!

Looking at my Ultramarine force though, I realise that I need to add some elements to give me a nicely rounded little force.

Ultramarine Force

At present, I have a Captain and three Tactical squads, a Terminator squad, a Dreadnaught, a Landraider and Rhino transports. To make my force a little more playable, I need to add a heavy weapon or two the the existing squads as well as adding some more crunchy squads and armour to give me many different choices and a playable and characterful force.

My Eldar are in much the same state!

Eldar Raiders

I have a Warlock, lots of Guardians and Falcons as well as some Dark Reapers, Banshees, a Dreadnaught and a Vyper but want to add some extra gubbins to the force to round it out!

Game wise, I think that the multi figure bases should work ok and changing measurements from inches to centimeters should deal with scaling issues. To top it off, I think I could play a decent sized game on a 2'x3' board!

I need to have a bash at some smaller games first to see how things work and to get the hang of the new rules but I quite like the idea and will be playing around with it to see how it works over the next few days and will report progress when I make it!

In the meantime, Stay Ultra!