The Little Things in Life/Next on the Hit List

Phew! Well it's a day later than planned, but considering my past performance, I'm very chuffed I have finished a combat squad before my frustratingly slow painting speed driven me to despair! Anyway, below is the completed combat squad which will form part of Tactical Squad Laurentius (1 figure away from a ten man squad, how annoying!).

I've taken the time to paint these marines how I originally intended, and will be going back to my previous miniatures to bring them up to scratch. New details are as follows:
- These units are from the 4th Company, Angels of Fortitude. To show this, the company number is now emblazoned onto the chapter symbol of each shoulder pad.
- Each Marine's suit of Power Armour is as much an ancient and revered relic as it is an item of protection. Heroic deeds are chronicled by the artificer to be proudly worn alongside the discipline and Chapter symbols. These are seen as the italic script on the shoulder pads.
- Purity Seals. More a slap on my own wrist - whether these are Oaths of the Moment (See Horus Heresy novels), or Purity Seals; there would very well be something written on them! I had a previous habit of leaving them blank (abet shaded), which unless the battle brother intending to use it for autographs from the Command Squad, wouldn't make much sense.

And now we just need someone to lead this happy bunch of Warrior Monks!
Considering I am currently aiming for a 500pt army, I felt that the large cost of a Captain wouldn't allow me to tool him up effectively without seriously impacting the rest of my list, so I have decided to go with a more cost-effective solution of a Librarian:

I've always had an affinity for Ezekiel of the Dark Angels - his hooded cloak and proud banner for me best captured the visage of mystery and reverence the Librarians commanded. What I've done is made a small alteration to the figure by replacing his Force Sword model with the mighty blade from the Company Champion, while using the Banner from the Captain sprue in place of the old paper-banner Ezekiel used to don. As you can see, I've just to finish stripping the last of the old paint off him (God bless Fairy Power Spray!), and will then have something meaty to crack on with over the holidays - wish me luck!

Dawn of War 2 - Multiplayer at Last!

Like any rustic 40k Connisseur, I've been following the development of Dawn of War 2 with a keen interest. After watching the RPG ethos take a large president over the single player gameplay, I (and I know a few others) were getting conserned over the amount of attention they would be placing into the multiplayer. And quite frankly, watching a game demo being performed by someone who doesn't know how to play at GamesDay 2008 didn't help. Don't get me wrong, I like the single player campaign as much as the next man/nerd, but these days it is the multiplayer experience that saves the day.

Well, the latest video posted by Relic certainly has taken great steps to putting my fears to bed - take a look!

http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14243516/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii/videos/first_look_dowii_multiplayer_121208.html;jsessionid=1q165m6k6aqvp

Now this should be a blast!

The Lost Treasure of Mikelantis, and a WIP Update

I'd like to make a confession that may or may not rock the very foundations of your world - I am not the tidiest of people. Now the weather was getting rather brisk, I took it a fine time to empty my garage of bags of refuse which really should have been done when the contents vaguely resembled grass, or at least before they became black plastic vessels of 'Essence de Nurgle'. Taking the opportunity to see what else I could throw away, I delved into what at first appeared to be a large pile of old junk. As I peeled back the top layer of quilt covers, I was temporarily blinded by a bright, golden light; I had re-discovered the lost treasure of Mikelantis!

This long forgotten treasure trove, much like a Pirate's horde, is a vast collection of figures donated by people for the benevolent cause of gaming on-tap; countless Tyranids, Marines, Orks, Eldar, odd Rogue Trader era figures, and even Chaos vehicles riced up with painted toothpicks are here. Of note however, are these two figures I found:

I've always loved the old Black Templar's Emperor's Champion - the dynamic pose is better than any other variation, and the Black Sword is one of the best sword model's available IMO. Also, considering the whole iconography of the Angles of Fortitude is a Chalice, what is more fitting than an Apothecary flaunting the a relic pictured on every shoulder pad in the chapter? Once I've finished my 500pt army, a Command Squad will be one of my priorities, and with iconic figures like these in them, it'll be a very exciting project for me to get my teeth into!

Speaking of projects, the progress on my 5-man Combat squad is progressing at a steady pace - most of the major work is done, needing just the finer details which touch wood, will just take another week tops...

The Humble Beginnings of a Fledgling Chapter (500pt Armylist)

You could say I was hankering for a game, but that would be an understatement akin to saying 'James Bond had no objection to Tuxedos'. From my pool of resources, I currently have the following to play with:
19 Marines (5 being painted)
1 Dreadnaught
1 Landspeeder
1 SM Captain (unpainted)
1 Rhino (unassembled)
With these, my aim was to come up with an armylist which used as much of my existing completed figures as possible (shorter turn around time), while trying to keep it competitive and flexible enough to take on all-comers. Therefore without further ado, below is my 500pt armylist I am aiming to have completed before Christmas:

Captain: 115
- Power Sword
(10) Marine Squad: 170
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher
(5) Marine Squad: 90
- Combi-Flamer
Dreadnaught: 115
- Assault Cannon
TOTAL: 500

That gives me 16 men on the ground, supported by a stonking big weapons platform. Unfortunately I've had to sacrifice manoeuvrability for durability and firepower on this list - past games have taught me the hard way that token investments into speed without enough support allows the enemy to focus on your transport/lone speeder etc. with minimal effort. My aim is to rely on Astartes armour to weather any long range firepower until I can hold objectives and/or bring some nasty close range firepower to bear. Against Hordes, I'm relying on my Captain and Dreadnaught to hold their own, with the Flamers being brought to bear as and when they can! Clearly this list will benefit most from some dirty urban combat, where they can storm through the buildings where they have more cover.
However, the big unknown for me is fielding a Dreadnaught in such a small game - it feels to me like a gamble; he may win the day by being able to bring such awesome mobile firepower to the game while being a CC monster; or he may lose it by simply being a points sink that attracts every anti-armour weapon like honey to a Bee...
Of course, the proof is in the pudding, so watch this space! And any feedback/better ideas always welcome :)