Painting M81 Woodland Tutorial

Here is my latest camouflage painting tutorial, and this time we go back to a classic, M81 Woodland Camouflage.  This camouflage was introduced to the US military in, you guessed it, 1981.  Since then it has become one of the most common camouflage patterns in the world. 

Cadian Decals in Black?

This post isn't so much a post as it is a question...   I have more Cadian Decals than I know what to do with, but I'm curious if any black Cadian decals exist.  I'm considering a new light-colored vehicle camouflage, and white decals wouldn't work.  I also have plenty of the Imperial Vechicle decal sheets, but I don't like the style of the markings.  I wanted to use the Cadian font instead.

Writing: The Battle of the T'nar'o, Part 2

Continuing on from the previous entry, what follows is Part 2 of my short story, The Battle of the T'nar'o.

Here is a link to Part 1.

Writing: The Battle of the T'nar'o, Part 1

Back in 2010 I made several submissions to Black Library, including one short story and two novels, all depicting parts of a large scale war between the Imperium (featuring the Imperial Guard and Navy) and the Tau Empire.

Needless to say they were all rejected--if they weren't, trust me, I'd be blabbing about it.  

Yet, since they were rejected, that means I can post my submissions here.  So over the next several posts I intend to serialize my short story of a battle between Tau and Imperial forces, The Battle of the T'nar'o, and I will subsequently serialize the first three chapters of each of my novel submissions.   Only War chronicles with the political maneuverings that spark a massive war between the Imperium and the Tau, while The Charge of the Danoans focuses on a specific campaign in the early stages of the war.

Painting ABU Tutorial

Here is a step by step guide to paint the United States Air Force's Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) camouflage pattern.

I'm not in the USAF, but from what I understand, it's not exactly the most popular uniform with airmen.  The tiger-stripe pattern has been criticized for being ineffective in tactical environments - complaints similar to those about the US Army's Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP).  The Warhammer 40,000 universe, however, has many more types of environment than Terra does.  The ABU tiger-stripe camouflage still looks cool.  So somewhere in the vast but grim darkness of the far future, surely there is a place for the ABU.

That Elusive Coyote

A while back I put up a tutorial on how to paint the USMC Woodland MARPAT camouflage.  Here is the image of a swatch I made--my attempt at matching the colors using mostly GW paints:


The colors are Chaos Black, Khemri Brown, Snakebite Leather, and the green is an odd blend of Vallejo's Gunship Green mixed with a few GW colors.  It was an imperfect solution at best.  Clearly the weakest match in the mix is the Snakebite Leather masquerading as Coyote 476 (FS20150), which in a way has become the USMC's signature color.  In addition to the color being prominent in the MARPAT pattern itself, it also is the color of their boots and body armor.

Painting MultiCam Tutorial

Following up on my tutorials for ACUPAT, MARPAT, and Desert MARPAT, this is my fourth camouflage tutorial, focusing on Crye Precision's popular "MultiCam".

A Matter of Scale... (Part 2)

In the last post I talked a little bit about scale of 40k miniatures, and I used the calculated scale (1/57) to scratchbuild a rudimentary M1 Abrams tank.  But how does this hold up to the scale of the miniatures themselves?

A Matter of Scale...(Part 1)

Warhammer 40,000 miniatures are described as "28mm scale". That translates into roughly 1/56 or 1/57 scale, depending on how you do the math. We all know that this is a joke--the miniatures themselves are not "true-scale".

Writing for Black Library

In the summer of 2010 I stumbled upon Black Library's page of submission guidelines.  Their submission window is annually from May 1st through July 31st.  I had a few ideas rumbling around in my head and decided to give it a go.

The Changing Face of the Guard

Here is an old IG picture, from White Dwarf 109, from 1989.  It shows a Necromundan regiment, marching into battle against the forces of chaos.  It's an image that has stuck with me for a long time--these guys are marching in ordered ranks, carrying their lasguns at right shoulder shift arms, in the midst of battle.  It is reminiscent of Napoleonic warfare, or perhaps the American Civil War.

Unexpected Heroes

This post by Admiral Drax got me thinking about the Imperial Guard.

Like all armies out there, the Imperial Guard have their basic troopers with the "base" stat line for the army, some elite troops with slightly better stat lines, and "heroes" with the highest stat lines.  There's always been something about that that didn't seem right to me with respect to the Imperial Guard.

Two kinds of Imperial Guard Players

It seems to me that there are two main kinds of Imperial Guard Players:  The Gamer and the Hobbyist. 

The Gamer plays games often.  He wants to win games, and enjoys the competitive aspects of the game.   He has a lot of experience tweaking his army list in order to get the most out of it.  The Gamer posts his army lists to the forums to get feedback and advice from other players.  He reads tactics articles religiously.  

The Hobbyist designs armies, not army lists.  He plays games when he can, but usually this is far less frequently than the Gamer.  The Hobbyist enjoys the game, but spends far less time playing than he does just thinking about his army.  The Hobbyist is more interested in creating an army that fits the background or "makes sense" from a real world perspective.  He's interested in fielding a force according to a real world organization, and be damned to its effectiveness on the 40k gaming scene.  This "real world perspective" can be simulating a modern force (e.g., my army is theoretically based on a US Army Combined Arms Battalion) or something historical, like a WWII formation, or the Praetorians, simulating the British during the Anglo-Zulu War (q.v. Col. Gravis' fantastic Praetorian Army).


Warhammer 40k is designed as a company-sized game (although you could almost say platoon sized for the more elite armies).  For a game of this size, the Gamer might field several armored fist squads, a Leman Russ or two, a Basilisk/Medusa, and a Vendetta.  (Or perhaps they'd field the Leafblower list.)  There's a little bit of everything, designed to handle many tactical situations. This may be tactically effective within the game, but an organizational nightmare (at least to the more bureaucratic Hobbyist).  The Hobbyist is more likely to field something like an infantry company of three platoons of three squads and a weapons section each, with an armor platoon for support.  If the Hobbyist were to consider using Vendettas or Valkyries, he would more likely consider using entire platoons of them rather than a singleton--platoons fit better into the TO&E.

The Gamer arms his Command HQ squad with an eye to getting the most damage from it.  A typical Gamer Command HQ squad might be armed with an officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, four meltaguns, plasma guns or flamers (4 of each, no mixing), riding in a Chimera.

The Hobbyist may not even consider arming his Colonel with anything more powerful than a laspistol, except maybe a ceremonial power sword.  (If he gives his Colonel a power fist, it's probably because his model has one and he wants his army to be WYSIWYG).  After all, a Colonel should be commanding his troops.  The fighting strength of a regiment is in the arms of the soldiers that make it up, not the commanding officer.  His job is to employ the fighting strength of his men, not embody it.  His squad would therefore consist of his command staff and liaisons such as a Master-Vox, Master of Ordnance, Officer of the Fleet, bodyguard(s) (aides, rather) and possibly standard bearer, depending on the army style.

The Gamer prowls the forums, reading about other gamers' battles, reading tactics and strategies, and discussing army lists.  He will also check out the blogosphere--basically anywhere he can get information on how to improve his game.  The purview of the Hobbyist is primarily just the blogosphere--he frequently has his own blog, and discusses painting, modelling, and army organization (as opposed to army lists)

When a new Codex Arrives, the Gamer asks "What new tricks do I have available now?  Which units are worth fielding and which aren't?"  The Hobbyist asks, "How can I fit the vision of my army into a legal force?"

The Gamer speaks in gamer jargon.  He talks about army "builds", refers to other armies by terms such as "Nidzilla, Smurfs, Clown Cars, Lash Armies, Daemon Bombs, and discusses tactics such as "Melta-spam".  The names of the armies builds frequently are the same as the primary tactic they use.  The Hobbyist speaks in military jargon, and he usually doesn't talk too much about other armies at all.  He refers to things like "sections", "detachments", "combined arms", "order of battle", and knows how to spell "ordnance".

After each game,  the Hobbyist considers painting on honor badges to the models in his army that performed well.  The Gamer considers how to tweak his army list to improve game performance.


The Gamer is more likely to be younger than the Hobbyist.  There are plenty of older Gamers, but many players who used to be Gamers got older, got married and started families, and suddenly had much less time to play.  When they did have free time, they might only have time to work a little bit on their armies, and suddenly found themselves morphing into Hobbyists.

All in all, there's nothing wrong with either type of player; they are both equally valid ways of being involved in the hobby.  I find myself firmly in the category of the "Hobbyist".  I consider myself lucky if I get a game in once a month, and when I do, half the time I make my army list the night before, and don't even start thinking about my strategy until game time.  Most of the rest of the time I spend painting/converting my guardmen and thinking about their regimental organization.  Would I like to play more often?  Absolutely...but that'll probably have to wait until my daughter's in college and/or I retire...or win the lottery.

I keep saying to myself that GW would be far better served if they just paid me to play their games.  I could then quit my job and do this stuff full time.

A Medic with Honors

Last week my granduncle died. He served in the US Army in World War II as a medic in the European Theater, reaching the rank of Technician 4th Class.  I don't know too much about his time in the service, basically because he wouldn't talk about it.  But after the war he was a hometown sports legend in a semi-pro Baseball league, playing in the New England Championship in 1946.  He served as a coach and umpire/referee for local basketball, baseball, and softball teams all his life.  He served as a letter carrier in the US Postal Service for over 30 years.  Personally, I'll always remember him in his USPS uniform and smoking his pipe.

Charles J. Tracy
1925 - 2010
T/4 US Army World War 2

In one of my recent battle reports, the Arduen Campaign Part Three, my medic performed admirably, going 12 for 14 Feel No Pain saves. I had intended on giving the model some kind of medal, but he'd be put on the shelf while I worked on other stuff. He was "Medic Schmidt" in that battle, but now he's Medic Tracy.   I've given him an an updated paint job and an Imperial Laurel in recognition of his performance in the last battle, but I think the name change is the bigger honor.

Battle Report: The Arduen Campaign, Part Four

Mad Dok Grotsnik leads da Boyz across the river

The planet Arduen is a small, sparsely inhabited world in the Arcadia Sector. The people of the planet live a mostly idyllic existence, as far as such things can go in the Imperium. Due to the large expanses of wilderness on the planet, the Imperial Guard frequently uses the planet as a training ground for its newly raised regiments.

Battle Report: The Arduen Campaign, Part Three

The assembled Ork mechanized force, with Imperial Guardsmen preparing to ambush their flankIntroduction
The planet Arduen is a small, sparsely inhabited world in the Arcadia Sector. The people of the planet live a mostly idyllic existence, as far as such things can go in the Imperium. Due to the large expanses of wilderness on the planet, the Imperial Guard frequently uses the planet as a training ground for its newly raised regiments.

The planet's idyllic existence was for the moment over, as Ork Warlord Gorgash Gutmuncha and his horde of maruading Freebooters arrived in orbit and began landing on the planet. After destroying some Imperial patrols and an ill-advised raid on an Imperial outpost, Big Mek Grotsmaka began to muster his boyz into a sizable force to take on the Imperials and wipe out their forces on the planet.

Unfortunately for him, Imperial scouts on the planet had discovered one of Grotsmaka's staging areas, and responding quickly, a pair of infantry platoons and an armor platoon was quickly dispatched to take it out before it was completely organized.

The Company Command Squad, between the two Hellhounds, ready to begin the attackImperial Guard Attack Force

Company Command Squad (6)	125
Special Forces
SFC Grant (1)	65
1st Infantry Platoon
Command Squad (5)	90
Infantry Squad 1 (10)	57
Infantry Squad 2 (10)	55
Weapons Squad (Missile Launchers)	90
2nd Infantry Platoon
Command Squad (5)	47
Infantry Squad 1 (10)	55
Infantry Squad 2 (10)	55
Weapons Squad (Missile Launchers)	90
Assault Section
Hellhound	130
Hellhound	130
Armor Section
Leman Russ Vanquisher	200
Leman Russ Squadron	555
Total	1744

The Leman Russ Squadron prepare to meet the Orks head on
Imperial Guard Briefing
Darkwing: Since my Imperial Guardsmen drove off the Ork attackers in the last battle, that gave me an advantage (well, story-wise) in this battle. Here I would be assaulting the Ork staging area in an attempt to attrit their forces as they muster for a major assault on the major Imperial settlements on the planet. I knew right off the bat I wanted some armor, so I immediately took a squadron of Leman Russes, and I also took a pair of Hellhounds to provide some ork-killing inferno cannons. I had wanted to load up on the tanks and include both my Leman Russ Vanquisher and Leman Russ Demolisher, but in the end I didn't have the points so I had to settle for just one--the Vanquisher. I figured its Vanquisher cannon could easily deal with whatever vehicles that the Orks could bring to the battle.

For infantry I got the obligatory Infantry Platoon, with two regular squads and one flexible missile launcher squad. For the second troops choice I considered just getting a single veterans squad, in the hopes that I would be able to free up some points for more armor. In the end I went for a second infantry platoon, almost identical to the first except in the case of special weapons.

For my HQ I got the standard Company Command Squad, relatively bare bones except that I added a Master of Ordnance--I've been itching to give him a try for a long time, and now I'd be able to get the chance.

And how could I forget? I also included Guardsman Marbo (or his alter-ego in my army: SFC "Roughshod" Grant). I figure he could deliver a timely demolition charge during the battle, and I was eager to see him at work.

With that, I hoped to hit the orks hard and fast, blowing up their vehicles early with my armor and my missile launchers (and a four meltagun Platoon Command Squad), and then mopping up with my hellhounds and infantry (and the Leman Russes, of course!).

Ork Mechanized Force:
HQ
Ork Big Mek Grotsmaka w/ KFF
Elites
Ork Nobs Mob (7 nobs) w/ PK, Big Choppa, and Painboy,
plus Battlewagon w/ Lobba and Big Shoota
Troops
Gold Deff Dread with 2 Big Shootas
Pigface's 'Ard Boyz (x19) w/ Rokkit, Nob w/ PK
Bokebreaka's Trukk Boyz (x12) w/ Rokkit, Nob w/ PK, Trukk w/ Rokkit
Redbonce's Trukk Boyz (x12) w/ Big Shoota, Nob w/ PK, Trukk w/ Big Shoota
Fast Attack
3 Dethkoptas w/ TL Rokkits
5 Biker boyz, Nob w/ PK
Heavy Support
Battlewagon with 3 Big Shootas
Silver Deff Dread w/ 2 Big Shootas
3 Killa Kans w/ Rokkits
Total: 17502nd Platoon's Command Squad, ready to spring the trapOrk Briefing
Badelaire: I was unceremoniously pummeled in the last battle, using lots of small, elite units and light fast vehicles. This time around, while I was going all mechanized, I would also be fielding two battlewagons, two dreads, and a trio of killa kans, as well as some nobs, 'ard boys, and some deffkoptas. The list, while lacking a prodigious number of bodies, was still fairly large, and I had no less than five PKs in the list, along with a fair number of rokkits.

However, my biggest hurdle would be Darkwing's armor. Leman Russ tanks are tough nuts to crack; even though a PK will tear them open with ease if I'm able to charge and hit, it's the charging that's going to be the hard part. I knew he'd probably have at least one squadron of tanks, and that meant three ordnance templates, lascannons, and a bucketload of heavy bolter dice coming at my units every turn until I could crack open those tanks.

My initial hope would be that my Kans and my Koptas could get flanking shots on the slightly weaker Russ' side armor, and the higher ballistic skill of the grot-piloted kans, as well as the twin-linking of the dethkopta's rokkits, meant that I had a better than usual chance of connecting. In addition, since all my mobs of boys were either mounted on vehicles or riding bikes, they would have considerable speed to their advantage when trying to get within assault range of the heavy armor. Like some sort of Napoleonic cavalry charge, it would be a matter of whether or not I could make it to his lines, through the murderous hail of his guns, in sufficient numbers to do the necessary punishment needed to break his army.

*Note: I apologize that the maps don't have a key to explain the various symbols--I'm working on that. Hopefully the context is good enough to make them clear enough to follow the action. Also, north is to the right in all the maps.Scenario
The battle was fought on a 9' x 5' table, with a ring of terrain surrounding the ork staging area. The orks could deploy anywhere on the table more than 18" from a table edge (except for the northern table edge, where the limit was 24"). The Imperial Guard could deploy anywhere on the table at least 6" outside the Ork deployment zone. The Orks deployed first, followed by the Imperial Guard (who had the advantage since they were springing an ambush), and the players rolled off to determine the who got the first turn. Other than that, the object was just to annihilate the enemy!
Turn 1
As the ork forces warmed their engines in preparation to leave and join the rest of the massing ork forces, Captain Wright settled his command staff into position in the tall grass, just to the south of the Ork vehicles. On either side of him, out of line of sight of the orks ahead, was a pair of hellhounds, the Clamor Necis to his left, and the Mors Crucians to his right. Lieutenant Roberts, the unit's Fire Support Officer, studied the Ork position through his binoculars, getting ready to call down the artillery strike to begin the attack. The bulk of 1st and 2nd platoon was maneuvering behind a ridgeline to the east to get into position, while their two heavy weapons squads, each armed with a trio of missile launchers, were setting up in firing positions to the southeast and west. Off beyond the orks to the north, a Armor Platoon of Charlie Company, consisting of three Leman Russes, accompanied by Charlie 6, the Company Commander in his Leman Russ Vanquisher, prepared to strike from the north. Everything was coming together and soon the trap would be sprung. That is, until a green private in 2nd platoon tripped, discharging his lasgun and giving away his unit's position...

The orks responded blindingly fast. They had thought that they had to meet up with the rest of the boyz to get into the fight, but fortunately, there was a fight right here!

Most of the Ork army headed east at a breakneck pace to engage the Imperial Guard infantry platoons. Redbonce's trukkboyz drove up to 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, disembarked, fired their sluggas and killed four members of the squad, causing the rest to break and flee the battlefield.

Pigface's 'Ardboyz drove towards 1st Squad, 1st Platoon in their Battlewagon, disembarked and fired their sluggas. Two guardsmen were killed, while the rest prepared for the inevitable charge. The 'Ardboyz plowed into them, one of the orks dying to a desperate lasgun shot at the last second, but then the 'Ardboyz tore apart the squad, killing the remaining eight, leaving no survivors.

The Ork bikers rode further north and opened fire on Command Squad, 1st Platoon with their big shootas, killing all five members without any problems. Aside from its supporting heavy weapons squad, 1st Platoon was all but annihilated.

The Nobz' battlewagon drove towards 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, disembarked and charged the stunned guardsmen and killed all ten without breaking a sweat.

Bonebreaka's trukk gunned its engine, heading flat out north to deal with the rest of 2nd Platoon.

While the Silver Deff Dread headed east to provide unnecessary support to the boyz, the Gold Deff Dread headed south. Spotting members of the Command HQ Squad it fired its big shootas. The shoota shells smashed into the squad, and decapitating one guardsman and disembowling another. Two more were severely wounded, but the quick reactions of Medic Schmidt saved their lives and allowed them to continue to fight.

The Imperial Guard reeled under the ork assault, having lost nearly all of their infantry. Command Squad, 2nd Platoon moved into cover in the woods, while 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, backed up and formed a firing line, hoping to take out some Nobz. 2nd Platoon's command ordered them to First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire! and the unit unleashed a fusillade on the Nobs, killing one and wounding another. It would not be nearly enough to stop them, however. The Command Squad then fired their grenades launchers at the approaching bikers to no effect.

The Hellhound Mors Crucians drove forward and fired its inferno cannon on Redbonce's boyz, killing seven of them. The other Hellhound, the Clamor Necis, fired its heavy bolter on them, killing two more. The survivors, although scorched and smoking, decided to stick around to get their revenge.The Mors Crucians prepares to bathe the Orks in promethium
Missile Launcher Team 1 dished out small amount of payback for the destruction of the rest of their platoon by hitting the Gold Deff Dread with a pair of krak missiles, wrecking it. Missile Launcher Team 2, to the west, fired its krak missiles at the 'Ard Boyz, but Mekboy Skullface's Kustom Force Field deflected the shots.

The Imperial Guard Armor, heading in from the north, rumbled slowly closer and opened fire. The Vanquisher missed its target, but the Leman Russ Squadron connected with the Killa Kans, exploding one and immobilizing a second.

Finally, Master of Ordnance Roberts called down an artillery strike on the 'Ardboyz. His coordinates proved accurate and the shots killed five orks, but did not damage their battlewagon.

Turn 2
The Ork Deff Kopta squadron, returning from a preliminary patrol, showed up directly behind the Leman Russes, and threw themselves into the action. The Ork bikes also sped in that direction, attacking them from the front. The Deff Koptas opened fire with their rokkits at close range, shaking up one of the Leman Russes but not doing any further damage.The Deff Koptas strike the Leman Russes from the rear

Redbonce's boyz and Pigface's 'Ardboyz embarked on their vehicles and headed off in search of more guardsmen to kill, both vehicles heading towards the Hellhounds and Company Command Squad. Bonebreaka's trukk headed north to go after the Command Squad, 2nd Platoon in the woods. The Nobz parted ways with their Battlewagon, heading towards 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, while the Battlewagon headed south with the others. The Nobz plowed into the infantry squad, killing nine and leaving the sergeant as the sole survivor, who wisely took to the hills.

Redbonce's Trukk and the Silver Dreadnought both fired their multitude of Big Shootas at the Command HQ squad. The four surviving members of the squad hugged the earth, and tried to make themselves as small as possible, but the big shootas delivered five wounds to the squad. Doc Schmidt showed his worth and through heroic application of his medical skills he negated all five wounds, leaving the ork gunners roaring in frustration. "If we survive this, you're getting a medal," Captain Wright muttered grimly to the medic.

The Vanquisher turned to face the Deff Koptas and fired all of its weapons at them, killing one and wounding another. The Leman Russes all fired at the bikers zooming towards them, killing three and forcing the rest to turn tail and run.
The Orks prepare to take on both HellhoundsThe two Hellhounds fired on Redbonce's trukk, and while their inferno cannons did nothing, a heavy bolter shot slammed into the vehicle's transmission, causing it to careen directly towards the Command HQ squad, stopping just short of them and exploding. Redbonce and three of his boyz climbed out of the wreck, eager to dish out some pain on the Command HQ squad.Redbonce prepares to take out his anger on the Company Command SquadSuddenly a pair of krak missiles from one of the missile launcher squads rocketed into the bodies of two of the boyz, causing them to explode into gloppy green and red gunk. Undaunted, Redbonce continued towards the HQ squad. Captain Wright and Lt. Roberts exchanged a look, and in unison they drew their laspistols and killed the nob leader with two well placed shots.

SFC Grant appears and prepares to set off his demo chargeIn the woods on the eastern flank, the Command Squad of 2nd Platoon found themselves between a rock and a hard place--Bonebreaka's trukkboyz were approaching from one direction, while in another the Nobz had just annihilated one of their squads and were heading their way. Suddenly a trememdous explosion engulfed the Nobz, killing four of their number and leaving the Nob Boss and Painboy staggering but alive. The Painboy started to run, but the Nob Boss bashed him over the head, wounding him. "We ain't leaving," he growled. The Painboy shook his head. "Screw 'dat!" he yelled, and took off. The Nob Boss gave a rueful look to the woods ahead and followed the Painboy in his flight. From his hide within the woods, SFC Grant took his thumb off the detonator switch and smiled grimly.
The Nob and Painboy head for the hills, as SFC Grant watches them run
Turn 3
The Ork Bikers continued to flee, while the Deff Koptas fired on the Leman Russ Squadron again, stunning one of the tanks.

The Silver Deff Dread fired on the eastern Missile Launcher team, killing three of the guardsmen. The Nobz' Battlewagon then fired its lobba at the survivors, killing one more and causing the two survivors to flee the battle.

Bonebreaka's trukk boyz disembarked and charged into the woods to assault the Command Squad of 2nd Platoon, killing all five guardsmen easily.Bonebreaka's trukk boyz contemplate assaulting SFC Grant

Pigface and his boyz disembarked from the Battlewagon and charged one of the Hellhounds, while Big Mek Grotsmaka disembarked and charged the other. Grotsmaka wrecked one of the Hellhounds while Pigface detonated the fuel tanks of the other. The Orks were inundated with promethium, burning four of the 'Ardboyz alive, while the other orks in the mob laughed uproariously at their fate.The Ork Boyz take out both Hellhounds
The Leman Russes continued to advance towards the center of the battlefield. SFC Grant left his position in the woods and headed south, moving away from Bonebreaka's boyz. The western Missile Launcher team fired their missiles on the Nobz' Battlewagon, but were unable to damage it.

Master of Ordnance Roberts called down an artillery barrage on Pigface's Ardboyz, but it was slightly off target and killed only a single boy. From across the battlefield, the Leman Russ Squadron fired on the Ardboyz as well, killing three of them with their battlecannons. Pigface's boyz decided that they had had enough at this point and began to run.

The Vanquisher shot down one of the Deff Koptas, leaving one left.

Turn 4
Big Mek Grotsmaka embarked on the Battlewagon. The Silver Deff Dread advanced to get a line of sight on the Command HQ Squad. Both the Battlewagon and the Deff Dread fired on the HQ Squad with their big shootas.

Again the Command Squad hugged the ground as the big shoota rounds tore up the earth, and each member of the squad was hit at least once--even Captain Wright's Refractor field couldn't help him. Yet despite this, Medic Schmidt performed some truly herculean efforts and negated all five wounds.The few remaining Orks decide they've had enough for one dayAfter the dust settled, Captain Wright saw Grotsmaka's Battlewagon rocked with a pair of explosions, wrecking it, and in the distance the Vanquisher shoot down the last Deff Kopta. Big Mek Grotsmaka pulled himself from the wreckage of his battlewagon and decided to leave the battlefield. The rest of the orks were already fleeing, or independently decided that now was the time to leave. Captain Wright looked at Medic Schmidt again and put a hand on his shoulder. "Looks like you're getting that medal after all," he said.


Imperial Guard Debriefing
Darkwing: When we were planning this scenario, we decided that we needed to give the Imperial Guard a advantage since they had won the previous battle. Once we had set up the table, however, we quickly realized that if the Imperial Guard got the first turn, the Orks were going to have a very bad day. After the Orks won the roll off for the first turn, the tables were completely turned, since the Imperial Guard Infantry was within easy charge range of most of the Ork army. Once I saw that I realized that it was the Imperial Gurd that was in deep trouble.

Still, it was a day of heroics for the Imperial Guard. For most of the guardsman, it was par for the course--the infantry died in droves, armor sections did what was expected of them, SFC Grant (aka Marbo) performed as advertised (which was very cool)...but the hero of the game was undoutedly my Command Squad's medic. He went 12 for 14 in Feel No Pain saves, which was simply incredible. I wasn't kidding when I said I'd give him a medal--I'm going to give the model a new paintjob and think of some way to adorn him to properly recognize his achievement. Any ideas?Medic Schmidt, hero of the battle

Tactics-wise, there's not too much for me to say, as for the most part I simply reacted to the orks and fired at targets of opportunity. The next battle is Apocalypse fight, and I'm definiltely looking forward to that...

Ork Debriefing
Badelaire: While my initial successes in wiping out most of Darkwing's infantry were a little comforting, I knew right from the beginning that this was going to be a desperate fight. The two Hellhounds, while not unexpected, were dangerous targets to my Orks, and I knew that leaving them alive would be the end of any infantry or Trukks I had on the field. However, killing them wouldn't stop the four heavy tanks rumbling up the backfield, killing mercilessly as they approached. I wasn't thrilled about my Kan's chances, and knew they would suffer badly before the tanks got within range.

In addition, even though I was able to bring my Dethkoptas in on the Russ' rear armor, they were't able to deliver the killing blows I was really, really hoping for. In addition, I made the big mistake of forgetting that, not only could they fire on the tank's rear armor, they could deliver St 4 charges as well - 9 St 4 attacks against the AV 10 of the Russ's rear could have delivererd just as many glancing hits as the rokkits, and could very well have done a lot to limit the firepower of Darkwing's armor.

Ultimately, I did about as well as I could. There weren't actually that many IG units left on the table; the four tanks, a heavy weapons team, the command squad, and the Marbo clone. Unfortunately, by the end of Turn 4, I knew I had almost nothing left to counter them with; one lone Deff Dread, a Big Mek, one Trukk of boys, and a lone Battlewagon that'd have to get close enough to ram in order to do a tank any harm. Rather than play out the last two turns, Darkwing and I agreed to call it a game.

Next up is the Apocalypse game, and I'm looking forward to it. There's going to be over six thousand points of Orks taking the field - over 300 of the little buggers, by my best estimation. If nothing else, it's going to be a hell of a Waaagh!

Hero of the day...

This guy is the MAN.

The reason why is coming soon...

Earthshaker Platform

Almost a decade ago I was working on a large scenery piece for a battle I wanted to do, taking place in the frigid wastes of Arcadia Prime's south polar region. You can see the battle report of it here: The Attack on Comm Relay South. Part of the scenery was to be an Imperial base covered in snow. One of the major weapons at this base was to be an Earthshaker platform. Not needing an entire Basilisk kit, I just purchased the Earthshaker sprue, not getting the chimera chassis.

I had the small battle, and all too soon changing priorities and battle ideas relegated the Earthshaker to the bitz box. I'd always intended to build a platform for it and bring it back to the battlefield as an emplacement, but had never gotten around to it. No more! I grabbed my pile of plasticard and whipped up a quick platorm. The Earthshaker does not have a crew as yet to operate it, but that's just a technicality.

Either way, I will be fielding it for an upcoming battle, ready to dish out some hurt to the enemies of the Imperium.

By Request: Epic Pictures

By popular demand, I took some pictures of my various Epic scale forces. Some of them are in a state of disrepair, and I caution that the paintjobs are woefully out of date, but here they are.

Back in my days of playing Space Marine with some fanaticism, I collected and fielded an entire chapter of Space Marines, my homegrown chapter, the Nightblades.Now the chapter is somewhat depleted, as I cannibalized some of them to paint up other Space Marines from other chapters.

Back in its heyday, the Nightblades' usual foe was the Eldar from the Yriel-Dyann craftworld:The Eldar were formidable opponents, and the superheavy grav-tanks, the Tempests, and the Eldar Exarchs caused me untold amounts of frustration. As did the Eldar Phantom Titans, which unfortunately got lost in the shuffle, so I don't have pictures of them. Suffice it to say, one of them was armed with twin Pulsars, and pretty much vaporized my titans with ease.

Speaking of which, here they are, Bellator, Pugnator, and Venator:
As you can see, they've seen better days, and are due for some attention from the Adeptus Mechanicus.

My Space Marines were on occasion aided by various other forces, including the Imperial Guard:
Imperial Knights:
and the massive Imperator Titan, the Iustus Potestas:

Occasionally, my Imperial forces ended up fighting the forces of Chaos, represented here by one of their Titans:

The Ork forces never got to see battle, but I still started building a force anyway. In the future sometime they may still take to the field.
The Orks, of course, had to have some heavy support.

After Epic 40k was released, I started building forces using the new strip bases. I ended up cannibalizing some the Nightblades to make my Ultramarines force:
Also, as an experiment, I wanted to paint up squads from other chapters, so I did up a squad each of Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and another homegrown chapter, the Sea Warriors.The Sea Warriors were an experiment of mine, even their name wasn't set in stone. Their symbol was similar to that of the Dark Angels or Blood Angels, but instead of a winged sword or blood drop, the Sea Warriors had a winged trident.I had not developed the chapter background all that much, other than that they had a nautical theme.