General Update 2

Nothing noteworthy has happened since the last update, which explains the lack of posts. In short:

-The planned game between Brad and Sam didn't happen.
-My scouts are now fully painted (pictures soon), and my Captain is well on his way.

...and er, thats about it. More posts soon.

-Gavin

General Update

We've had another game of 2'000pts today, with Blood Angels and Tau battling it out. I controlled half the Blood Angels army, Brad controlled the other half and Sam controlled the Tau. Result was a Solid Victory for me and Brad, we managed to capture a quarter which won the game for us. It was close though. The lists used were more or less the same as the last battle posted.

I'm roughly half way through my Sniper Scouts squad, expect them to be posted as soon as I have some time off work. Alex's monolith is getting there and Sam has discovered the joys of Dark Crusade, although he can't play it online. Friday night will be a 2,000pt battle between Brad's Eldar and Sam's Tau, which will probably be the last game for a while.

-Gavin

News - High Elves Update

Coming soon from GW, the new High Elf models. Looking pretty good, it's just a pity that the old plastics spearmen and archers are staying for now.










The Mages (as yet unseen, by me anyway) and Prince are apparently plastic.

- Gavin

Blood Angels vs Tau

Earlier today the Blood Angels of the 3rd Company took to the field under my command for the second time, once more against the corrupt xenos species known as "Tau". Scum.

I chose my army very carefully. Sam was expecting me to deploy very little on the board at the start, and then move in several assault squads - so he chose plenty of maneuverable suits with short range heavy weapons, and two hammerhead gunships that the Assault Squads would be unable to destroy. Knowing this, I decided to abandon my usual army lists, and took three squads of Devastators, backed up by plenty of infantry.

My numerous Heavy Bolters chewed through the Fire Warrior squads easily in the first few turns and sniper fire kept his men pinned down. While this was going on, my Terminators and Tactical Marines advanced unscathed towards his line - it looked like my plan was going to work perfectly, until his reinforcements arrived.

Sam must have breathed a sigh of relief as his Hammerheads arrived, and killed an entire scout squad with one shot. I bet he was crying inside when one Lascannon armed marine killed all 3 of his tanks one after the other. The arrival of the Death Company was timely indeed, as they charged the same turn as my Terminators, and wiped out the rest of his infantry. At the end of the game all that was left were his Crisis and Stealth suits, hiding behind some rocks. In Sam's defense my army list was not what he expected at all, and he had the bad luck that I usually get.

So far my Blood Angels are undefeated, I hope it lasts....

Here's my army list:

Captain Adeon - Power Fist, Plasma Pistol

Chaplain Grimmauld - Jump Pack

10 Death Company - Jump Packs

5 Terminators - Assault Cannon

5 Scouts - Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher

10 Tactical Marines - Power Sword, Flamer, Lascannon

10 Tactical Marines - Power Fist, Flamer, Lascannon

10 Devastators - 4 Heavy Bolters

10 Devastators - 4 Heavy Bolters

10 Devastators - 4 Multi Meltas

I loved using this list, the Terminators especially are fantastic. They seem to be able to survive anything that gets thrown at them, so they'll be in many of the lists I write in future. The sniper scouts were impressive for their points, I'm certain they'll see plenty of action too.

The main mistake in this list were the Multi Meltas, they needed to be much closer to do some damage, so I won't take them without a transport in future, unless the enemy plan on coming towards me. I would have been much better served by taking a second Heavy Bolter squad, or maybe an Assault Squad.

-Gavin

Tau vs Blood Angels

Well after the defeat the other day, my Tau have decided to hunt down and exterminate the hated Blood Angels, the primary threat of the Tau due to their brutal close combat abilities. The Tau Commander, Shas'O Ukos, leader of the campaign has decided to meet a small force of Blood Angels and hopefully wipe out some reinforcements using fast mobile Tau battlesuits and auxiliaries combined with the firepower of 4 Fire Warrior teams and some tanks

My list is as follows:

Shas'O Ukos
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Shield Generator, Multi-tracker, Drone Controller, 2 Gun Drones, Stimulant Injector

Bodyguard

Tor, Twinlinked Plasmas, Shield Generator, Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones, bonded and with a target lock

Kor, Twinlinked Missile Pods, Shield Generator, Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones with a target lock


Elites

5 Stealths with Shas'vre and are bonded, one with a Fusion Blaster

Shas'vre, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, shield Generator, multi-tracker, bonded

Troops

4 Fire Warrior Squads with 12 men, Shas'ui, markerlight, target lock and bonded

Fast Attack

6 Pathfinders with a Shas'ui, bonded and 3 have rail rifles as well as having photon grenades

Attached Devilfish with Target Array, multi-tracker, 2 Seeker Missiles, Decoy Launchers and Disruption Pod

10 Vespids plus a Strain leader

Heavy Support

Hammerhead 1- Railgun with 2 Burst Cannons, multi-tracker, target lock, disruption pod, decoy launchers and 1 seeker missiles

Hammerhead 2- Ion Cannon with Smart Missile System, multi-tracker, target lock, disruption pod and decoy launchers

I'm hoping that these prove an effective element against the fast Blood Angels army, being able to dodge and whittle down the forces against them.

- Sam

Monolith WIP

Hello there! I have decided to do a WIP for my Necron Monolith - as you can see in the picture below, it is of the same colour scheme as my warriors.

So far I've done two sides, the base and the column, theyre pretty roughly painted at the moment and I could do with touching them up a little. Next up will be putting the guns on along with the other two sides. All four sides are meant to hold the guns in place in glued so that they are flexible! Anywho I shall keep you guys updated when I do some more.

-Alex

Blood Angels Reinforcements

I've recently bought some more units to fit into my list, and have also been given a load of goodies by Alex - my army is taking shape! I shouldn't have to proxy models for much longer.

Here is a summary of my new Blood Angels:

HQ





I already owned a Chaplain with jump pack, which was serving me nicely. To that I can now add a Chaplain on foot (should I need one, for some reason), and a converted Jump Pack captain. The Chaplain was a gift from Al, and I couldn't resist making the captain up from my bits box. Backpacks need to be added, and I want to change the Chaplains base for a large round one, a habit of mine - to distinguish the officers from the troops and veterans.


I have also been given two identical Sanguinary Priests (Blood Angel medics). I shall probably give one a jump pack, just in case.

Devastators


By combining the plastic Devastator box and a plastic Combat Squad box with my bits box (which is full of metal heavy weapons, for some reason), I can assemble:

• 4 Veteran Sergeants (armed with Bolters, 3 of them are identical metal models!)
• 4 Multi Melta Devs
• 3 Lascannon Devs
• 3 Missile Launcher Devs
• 2 Heavy Bolter Devs
• 3 Plasma Cannon Devs

This will give me a wide selection of heavy weapons to use, I could even field four Devastator squads if I wished (and had an extra HS slot!). I plan to use as many bare heads and grooved legs as possible, so they can be fitted into both tactical and devastator squads with ease - I just need to stock up on fodder Devastators to use them effectively.

Scouts


I've bought and assembled a box of Sniper Scouts, which are handily in my 2000pt list. I want to paint these first.

Variant Sergeants


I've made a few variant Sergeants up as well, armed with power fists and suchlike. This will allow me to change my list in future without remodeling my old Sergeants.

All I need to buy now is a Terminator Librarian, 20 Assault Marines, 2 Forgeworld upgrade packs, 3 Land Speeders and a Razorback. Gonna take me a few months.

- Gavin

Mega Battle - The Report

This is the Mega Battle we had on Tuesday 7th August, 2007. In one corner we have Sam, using 4000 points of Tau. Facing off against this hideous amount of firepower, we have a combined Eldar and Blood Angels list, split evenly into two 2000pt detachments.

The Forces

Sam's 4000pt Tau List.

Brad's 2000pt Eldar List

Gavin's 2000pt Blood Angels List

The Terrain

We took it in turns to cover the board with terrain. A large ammount of boulders obscured Sam's firing in the centre of the board, to the left of the board was a trench system made up of sandbag walls, with a large ruined building positioned on the right side. There were also a few pieces of light cover scattered around, with a few columns to hide behind.

The Deployment

We were using the escalation rules in this game, so only the infantry started on the board, with the exception of the pathfinders and their devilish. Team Brav won both the rolls to choose board side, and deploy first.

Brad deployed 2 Farseers, 4 squads of Guardians, one squad of Scorpions and one squad of Dark Reapers. The Dark Reapers hung back in some light cover from which they rained death throughout the game. One squad of Guardians and a Farseer stayed back to support them, with the other Farseer leading the 3 squads of Guardians in the ruins. The Scorpions hid in the rocks, very close to the Tau lines (thanks to infiltration!).

Sam deployed 3 full Fire Warrior Squads, a full Kroot squad, a pathfinder squad (with Devlifish) and 2 squads of Stealth Suits. The Fire Warriors lined up in the best firing positions available (only one squad made it to cover), the pathfinders scouted to the left side of the board to snipe from, and the Kroot deployed in front of the Fire Warriors to protect them. On the right side of the board, the Stealth Suits infiltrated towards the ruins, hoping to wipe out 3 squads of Eldar as early as possible.

Gavin's whole army must have been in a Battle Barge or something, because they weren't on the board at all!

Sam rolled first turn.

Sam Turn One

• Stealth suits move into ruins occupied by a squad of Eldar Guardians, thanks to their infiltration move.
• They kill 6 Guardians, forcing the squad to flee - somehow they rolled a 12 on their Ld test!
• The Scorpions are marker lighted by a Fire Warrior Shas'ui - the rest of the squad could not shoot.
• Another unit of Fire Warriors kill 3 Guardians standing just outside the ruins.
• The Kroot use marker lights to fire on the infiltrating Scorpions, killing none of them, even with a barrage of 28 shots!
• The Devilfish also attempts to kill some Scorpions, killing none at all.
  
• The Pathfinders use their Rail Rifles to snipe a single guardian on the other side of the board.
• One squad of Stealth suits moves back to hide, leaving the other unit trapped in difficult terrain.
  

Sam
In this turn, instead of getting the kroot to go forward, I should have left them behind the fire warriors so that the Scorpions would have had to charge the fire warriors instead and on the next turn, counter charge with the Kroot which would have wiped out the scorpions according to the calculations I did later.

Brad
In my opinion, the Kroot wouldn't have wiped out the Scorpions anyway, but it certainly was a big mistake moving them forward, and Sam paid dearly for it.

Brav Turn One

• The fleeing Guardians don't rally, moving further away from the carnage.
• The other 2 squads of Guardians close in on the stranded Stealth Suits.
• Scorpions stalk the Kroot from the safety of the rocks, ready to pounce.
• The lead Farseer casts Eldritch storm on the Fire Warriors and Kroot, who are about to be crushed by the Scorpions. It kills only a Kroot and a Fire Warrior - he makes up for this by casting Fortune on a nearby guardian squad.
• The Dark Reapers kill 5 of the 6 pathfinders, in a glorious turn of shooting. The Shas'ui passes his all alone test.
  
• A Missile from the Guardian squad defending the reapers destroys the Devilfish in one shot, with 2 Gun Drones escaping.
  
• The Eldar Guardians in the ruins kill 4 Stealth Team members from the stranded squad, with the last one falling back.
• The Scorpions charge, killing 8 Kroot. The shocked Kroot fight back by killing 2 Scorpions. The Exarch then kills one more Kroot with his Scorpions Claw.
  

Brad
Yeah Sam pretty much got mowed in this turn, there's no two ways about it. The only thing I would say was particularly lucky was taking out the Devilfish in one shot. Can't believe that one Pathfinder survived the Dark Reaper fire, and didn't even fall back.

Gavin
I did nothing in this turn, but it looked as if it was a good start for the Eldar. Combat on the first turn is something you only usualy dream about when fighting against Tau.

Sam Turn 2

• Sam's Tau get some reinforcements - the Hammerhead with Rail Gun, Broadside and both Monats.
• The last Stealth Suit from the stranded squad runs off the board.
• A squad of Fire Warriors retreat a safe distance away from the melee involving the scorpions - but it won't be far enough!
  
• The Broadside sniped a Guardian, on the other side of the board, with a Railgun.
  
• The Hammerhead missed all it's shots.
  
• The squad of fleeing Guardians were pinned by Gun Drones, stopping them from leaving the board!
  
• Sam measured the range on a guess range weapon, so we counted it as not firing.
• Combat - Sam loses 7 Kroot, Brad loses 1 Scorpion. The Kroot flee, the Scorpions consolidate.

Sam
I forgot to use my Stealth Suits bonded rule..... 2 mistakes so far!

Gavin
Thank god that the Kroot fled in Sam's turn, leaving the Scorpions safe from Sam's firepower.

Brav Turn 2

• Brad's Fire Prism arrives to join in.
  
• All of Gavin's Blood Angels with jump packs arrive - but far too early! 3 Squads deepstrike into the heart of Sam's army, hoping to engage his men in combat before too many Tau reinforcments arrive.
  
• Since they can't charge, the Blood Angels shoot, killing one single Fire Warrior. The Death company try in vain to penetrate the rear armour of the Hammerhead with Pistols.
  
• The lead Farseer kills a Monat's Gun Drones with Eldritch Storm.
• The Dark Reapers kill 8 Fire Warriors in one volley.
  
• The Fire Prism annihilates 6 Fire Warriors in a single shot! Points well spent.
  
• The Scorpions charge in again! They kill a whole unit of Fire Warriors, and move on into a second unit of Fire Warriors.
• The Guardians in the ruins charge the Monat who still has his Drones, killing the drones.

Brad
I was loving the Fire Prism shot in this round, as soon as it arrived it kicked some ass, just a shame it went down so early in the next round.

Gavin
I was worried at this point, and doubting the wisdom of Deep Striking my entire army. The game rested on Sam's reinforcements in Turn 3, if he managed to drop enough Crisis Suits he could wipe out my army in one turn - if he failed his reserve rolls, I could tear the still beating heart from the corpse of his army!

Sam Turn 3

• Tau Reinforcements - Second Broadside, Devilfish with Fire Warriors, Auxiliary Command Squad, Vespids
• The lone Pathfinder markerlights an Assault Squad.
• Death Company are markerlighted once out of 3 attempts from Shas'uis.
• The last Stealth Team open fire, killing 5 Guardians
• The newly arrived Vespids use the Markerlights to kill the whole Death Company. There is much rejoicing from Sam, and Gavin will probably have nightmares about Vepids for the next few weeks.
  
• The Commander and his bodyguard finish off the Chaplain. The Fire Warriors finish off the Assault Squad. Sam celebrates, he's wiped out half of Gavin's army already!
  
• The Broadside destroys the Fire Prism in a single shot. Sam reaches a state of oneness with the universe.
• Combat with the Scorpions continues, although we forgot who killed who!
  

Sam
My best turn here. I managed to seriously do some damage to the Blood Angels, meaning that the following turn, the assault squads couldn't do anything to me. I also managed to down the Fire Prism, something that would have caused a lot of havoc. In all, the dice were with me here.

Brad
There were many tears in the Brav camp in this turn. I can't believe Sam's Vespids came on - as soon as we saw them, we knew there was going to be some maulage. Also it seems we forgot to write down the combat with the Scorpions, I know one of the Scorpions died, and several of the Fire Warriors did as expected.

Gavin
Bugger. At least one assault squad was left alive, and Mephiton was unscathed.

Brav Turn 3

• The Wave Serpent joins the battle.
• Gavin's single Tactical squad and his Devastators arrive by drop pod, and his Terminators teleport onto the battle field.
• Mephiston suffers a wound trying to summon wings of sanguinius. WTF?
  
• The Devastators open fire and kill 8 of the 10 Vespids! The Terminators follow suit, and a Crisis Bodyguard falls to assault cannon fire.
• The Tactical squad shoot at a nearby Fire Warrior squad, 6 Tau die and the Plasma gunner suffers a fatal overheat.
• The Dark Reapers kill 3 Fire Warriors, a pretty poor performance. A Guardian Squad kills the destroyed Devilfishes Drones.
• The newly arrived Wave Serpent stuns the Hammerhead with Railgun, making it easier to destroy next turn.
  
• Mephiston suffers a wound summoning the Might of Heroes.
  
• Gavin regrets spending so many points on Mephiston
• The Guardians in the ruins engage a Monat and Stealth Team in combat, killing the Crisis for the loss of one man.
  
• The Crisis engaged by Mephiston is killed by a lowly Guardian! Mephistion is officially useless.
  
• The Scorpions finish the turn by killing 3 Fire Warriors in combat, losing none of their own.

Sam
Ow, this turn wasn't too good in combats. The Hammerhead was open to some good movement from Brad which was why it got mauled quickly. Nice to know Mephiston likes me so much he gives me points

Brad
A pretty decent performance from the Guardians in this round, I was pleasantly surprised. Yet again Gav's luck fails us, no idea how Mephiston managed to wound himself twice, it was so unlucky.

Gavin
No comment.

Sam Turn 4

• All of Sam's army arrives, apart from the last Hammerhead.
• The last few Kroot regroup, after running several miles.
  
• A newly arrived Crisis Suit fails to blow up Wave Serpent from behind, proving once again how hard the Eldar tanks are.
  
• 5 Devastators fall to the Vespids and Crisis Teams firepower.
  
• Only 4 of the 5 Terminators fall to the combined fire of the honor guard and 7 Crisis Suits armed with Plasma and Fusion weaponry, leaving Sam furious.
• Sam's Commander and Bodyguard charge the Devastators, and the bodyguard is wounded. The Vespids offer support, but no Marines die to their pitiful blows.
• Combat - Farseer kills a Stealth Suit. Stealth Suits kill a Guardian. Scorpions kill all but 1 Fire Warrior, who flee. Scorpions run him down, and charge into a Broadside.

Sam
The aim of the Vespids was to hold up the Devastators in combat, along with the squad in there with them. It meant that they didn't shoot any heavy weapons for the entire game. It was a pity the last terminator didn't fall though. This would have meant that the Honour Guard might have been able to deal with the assault squad more effectively. The good thing is that my Broadside got into combat, meaning I effectively pinned the scorpions in place so that later on, my kroot could finish them.

Brad
I pretty much only charged the Scorpions into the Broadside here because he was the only enemy close, and they would have fallen to gunfire anyway.

Gavin
I think Sam made a fatal error by charging his suits in. Even Devastators outclass Tau in close combat, all Sam managed to do with that charge was sign his commanders Death Warrant. I was very impressed by the resilience of the Terminators, not many 5 man squads can survive that kind of firepower and leave a man standing.

Brav Turn 4

• Gav's Baal Predator arrives as reinforcements.
• The main Farseer casts fortune on himself and the warlock aiding him.
• The Dire Avengers disembark and charge a Crisis Suit.
• Mephiston finally passes a psychic test and flies to aid the Farseer in combat.
• Gavin forgets to shoot his Baal.
• The assault marines move into position to attack the honour guard.
• Combat - Assault Marines kill 9 Honor Guard, Terminator does jack shit. The Tactical Marines kill Commanders Bodyguard. Mephiston kills none, but Honor Guard kill 2. The Dire Avengers kill the Crisis suit they were fighting. The Broadside kills the last Scorpion, the Exarch kills a drone.

Gavin
He he he, that is the kind of combat I want! 9 Honor Guard killed in the charge is a fantastic result.

Sam Turn 5

• The last Hammerhead does not arrive! Team Brav almost cheer.
• Sam finally silences the mighty Storm Bolter on the Drop Pod, by blowing it up.
• Broadside trys to kill the Baal, but is pitiful and fails.
• The other mighty Drop Pod is annihilated.
• The Baal is hit by a Seeker Missile, but survives.
• The Kroot charge the Lone Scorpion exarch, and kill him.
• The remaining Crisis suits charge in to assist their commanders in the melee.
• Assault Marines kill the ethereal, and move in to assist the terminator, just as he dies.

Sam
I needed the terminator to die in my turn. If he had, without the Honour Guard firing at him, it would have resulted in the honour guard being able to fire on the assault marines, doing some damage at least.

Brad
Finally the Scorpions die, but they certainly made their points so it was all good, not much else exciting happened in this round, it was good that the assault marines managed to kill the ethereal though.

Gavin
Sam was treating the Drop Pods as if they were Land Raiders in this turn, putting nearly all his firepower towards them. Why he was so terrified of 2 Storm Bolters I will never know.

Brav Turn 5

• The Falcon finally arrives, along with the Whirlwind.
• Mephiston fails his psychic test yet again!
• The Wave Serpent destroys a gun on the devilfish, and the Baal wipes up a Fire Warrior squad. The Falcon destroys the last Devilfish.
• The mighty whirlwind misses it's first and only shot.
  
• The rest of the infantry optimise their positions, getting into cover.
  
• Combat - A crisis suit fighting the tactical marines takes a wound. The Tau retaliate by killing 2 tactical marines. The assault marines in combat with the crisis suits avenge the terminator by killing both bodyguards and a drone in the commanders squad.

Brad
A good performance from the assault marines yet again, it was good to see, especially for Gav since he didn't have much else left.

Gavin
Whirlwinds - why are they so useless?

Sam Turn 6

• The last Hammerhead finally arrives and takes up position on the flank of the Baal and Falcon, Sam celebrates prematurely.
• A Broadside blows up the Whirlwind with ease, with the second Broadside taking out the assault cannon on the Baal predator.
• The Hammerhead kills 4 Dire Avengers, their morale holds.
• Combat - Assault marines kill 2 gun drones, the Tau commander kills 2 marines. The devastators and tactical marines kill one bodyguard and wound the commander twice.

Sam
Here I should have moved the Hammerhead on in a different place, perhaps away from the Falcon in order to destroy the Dire Avengers. It is annoying that it came right at the end where it didn't do much good.

Gavin
The Assault Marines seem to have slowed down here, which is a pity.

Brav Turn 6

• The Fire dragons disembark from the falcon and proceed to annihilate the Hammerhead. The Falcon takes out the Broadsides' drones.
• The Wave Serpent attempts to finish off the Kroot but only kills a hound.
• The Farseers spells combined with the Dark Reaper exarch finishes off the last fire warrior squad.
• Combat - The assault marines take out two drones, while the tactical marines finish off a bodyguard.

Brad
Mostly just mopping up here but all in all it was a good turn. I was thinking the Fire Dragons weren't going to do anything, and I was unsure of their abilities when facing a skimmer but it turns out they live up to their position as tank hunters and kicked ass. We almost got full points for the Kroot squad but that little jammy git was left at the end.



Result

Brad - Major Victory
Gavin - Minor Victory
Sam - Loss

We decided on this result because while Team Brav annihalated almost all of Sams army (and would have mopped them up with ease given 3 more turns), Gavin lost 3/4 of his army, compared to Brads 1/4 losses.


- Gavin, Brad and Sam

How to take a decent photograph.

Well since I've got the facilities, I thought I better take some photographs. Now Gavin has lent me his studio so I took some photographs using that, a daylight bulb and a tripod, using my Fuji Finepix F700.

Here are some of the better photos that I took:

• Farseer painted by Brad.
• Blood Angel, Ethereal and Crisis Suit painted by Gavin.
• Fire Warrior painted by myself.

My apologies for not being able to play around with these images, but I blame the blog......

Anyway, onto tips. As you can see, I used the studio. The two colours for the background were blue and grey. Now personally, because I take a lot of photographs of bone, I love taking pictures with a blue background, it highlights the models extremely well and provides a good contrast to the models, enabling you to see the details easily. When I haven't done this was when I used Gav's blue Tau and Brad's Eldar. Personally, I would only use this unfrequently, preferably when using it for blue models, but it has reduced the shadows in those pictures.

I took the photographs using daylight and a GLS Bulb, a daylight bulb in other words. It was about 7 in the evening, in the summer and the light was at an angle and strong, coming through the conservatory window providing plenty of light. To prevent too much light getting into the lense I had the back of the studio to the window, so it only got indirect natural light, nothing else. I used the GLS bulb as a more direct source of light meaning I could play around with my direct lighting. I believe you can get these bulbs in the shops pretty cheaply too, so I recommend buying one if you are going to do some photography work. Hopefully Gav will provide the prices for each particular thing later on.

OK, onto the photography. Close up detail shots require either a steady hand, or the use of a tripod. These things prevent hand shake and are adjustable to the degree of photography you want, I believe you can pick them up at places like Jessops cheaply, even for small handheld cameras. Due to the height of the tripod, however, I was forced to raise the surface of the studio slightly with books in order to take the pictures at an angle I preferred, as you can tell. Finally, to take the photograph I used a macro function, allowing me to take close range shots of the subject. Check your camera manual for how to do it, as it will give a distance of focus at which you can take the photograph from, mine is 9cm. Take as many photos of your subject as you like, remember, if you are using a digital camera, you can delete your work, effectively being able to perfect your shots.

If you haven't got a studio, a contrasting surface and the daylight bulb will work just as well. My early photographs used the laminated floor of my bedroom and a white bookcase.

Hopefully this will help. This guide should assist you when taking photographs of objects. If you want, you can provide a scale too - a ruler in metric measurements is the usual measure, however if need be, using something unorthodox will work just as well like a thumb or even a pen, it all depends on what you have to hand. Anything which is of a known size will work.

Finally a few tips.

1. Try messing around. Have fun, do different things and then play around with the images on your computer. Ensure that they are at least slightly accurate and keep a record of how you altered them if need be.
2. For perfectionism, take pictures of small coins. Taking ones of multiple objects should challenge you.
3. Have fun.

-Sam

My Patronus!

- Alex

News - Space Marine Apocalypse Releases

Stolen from Bell of Lost Souls, here are some pictures of the new Space Marine units for Codex:Apocalypse. First up is the Land Raider Terminus, a new Raider variant. It has many, many Lascannons but no transport capability - making it the opposite of the Crusader.



Here we have the new "Masters of the Chapter", which is a collection of 4 Company Captains. I love these models, and will definitely be getting them to use. Being a fool, I've been planning to make models for all 10 Blood Angels Company Captains, and this set will definitely help me along the way. Add to these 4 the original metal models, I have 6 of the 10 models covered already! I just need to add 4 Plastic Commanders, and I'm good.



Bigger pictures here.

- Gavin

Mega Battle - 2000pts Blood Angels

Well, seeing as everyone else has, I'm going to post my 2000 point list for the upcoming mega battle - Blood Angels and Eldar versus Tau. The interesting thing about this list is that it the whole list will start in reserve under the escalation rules, so it's going to be vitally important that the allied Eldar units can hold out until they arrive.

I'm not going to mention the tactics I will use for the same reason Brad and Sam didn't - we don't want the opposing side to read them! Rest assured, we'll all post our plans and thoughts after we post the battle report.

It's going to be quite a different army from my normal one, because I don't own too many Blood Angels (a new army for me). Instead, I'll be proxying using Brad's Blood Angels and my Chaos Marines to fill in the gaps. I can't wait to see how my list actually performs on the tabletop....

Background!

The list represents almost half of the Blood Angels third company, which has been commandeered by Lord Mephiston until a suitable replacement for Captain Tycho is found. Chaplain Grimmauld is leading the Death Company as usual, and 5 Terminators from the 1st Company have been assigned as support. They are rushing to defend an Imperial World which is under invasion by foul Xenos, and are receiving disturbing reports of in-fighting amongst the Xenos. After 6 hours of mediation en route, Mephiston decreed that the Xenos breed known as "Eldar" shall be used as a tool to remove the larger Xenos threat of the Tau, and thus he opened communications with their leader to negotiate an alliance.


The List!


HQ

Chief Librarian Mephtiston - the Lord of Death
accompanied by
5 Honor Guard - Jump Packs, Sanguinary Priest

Chaplain Grimmauld - Jump Pack
accompanied by
6 Death Company - Jump Packs

Elites

Terminator Squad - Assault Cannon

Troops

10 Assault Marines - Power Weapon Veteran

10 Assault Marines - Power Weapon Veteran

10 Tactical Marines - Power Weapon Veteran, Plasma Gun,
inside a
Drop Pod

Heavy Support

Baal Predator - Heavy Bolters, Storm Bolter

Whirlwind

10 Devastator Marines - 4 Multi Meltas
inside a
Drop Pod



Expect a heavily proxied Battle Report sometime soon, perhaps Wednesday.

- Gavin

Mega Battle - 2000pt Eldar

Well, here's my list for the pretty huge battle that we'll be having. It's only 2000 points because I will be allied with Gav.

HQ

1 Farseer - singing spear, spirit stones, runes of witnessing, mind war, doom and eldritch storm

1 Farseer - singing spear, spirit stones, runes of witnessing, mind war, fortune and eldritch storm

Troops

2 Guardian squads with 11 men, eldar missile launcher and warlock with singing spear and conceal

2 Guardian squads with 11 men, scatter laser and warlock with singing spear and conceal

10 Dire Avengers including exarch with dire sword and bladestorm

1 Wave Serpent with twin-linked shuriken cannons and vectored engines

Elites

6 Striking Scorpions including exarch with scorpions claw and shadowstrike

6 Fire Dragons including exarch with dragon's breath flamer and crack shot

Heavy Support

1 Falcon Grav Tank with scatter laser, holo field and spirit stones

1 Fire Prism with shuriken cannon, holo field and spirit stones

5 Dark Reapers including exarch with eldar missile launcher and fast shot

In total I actually managed to use exactly 2000 points, I've mainly just gone with what I have and tried to proxy as little as possible. The list is subject to change depending on Gav's list.

- Brad

Some photos

Well as part of my degree I have to take close up photographs of small objects. As an exercise to help me I played with my camera and practiced taking some photos of my Tau. Here are two pieces I've done, a Tau Shas'ui Fire Warrior holding a sensor device and a conversion with a Fire Warrior using a pair of binoculars.

A few notes for these photos. I used a Fuji Finepix F700 camera on the floor of my bedroom against the white bookcase. By using the Macro function available on my camera I was also able to take the pictures 9cm away from the models in question. I also used a backlight of a desktop lamp to light up my little studio but if I had the time, I would have also included some reflected light, in order to light it up even more. With more time, I could have taken better photos but these will do for now.

- Sam

Need a Bits Box?

Hey there!

It's 1:45 in the morning, and I really should be getting bed soon. I have work in the morning don't you know! Instead I've decided to write this really short article/advertisement, to help anyone who had a messy bits box.

Believe it or not, for 3 years my bits box was just a box full of bits, completely unordered. After that, it became a bigger box, then a big box and a small box, eventually 2 big boxes. Throughout all 7 years of complete Bits Box chaos, I never once thought of organizing them in any way at all.

Recently, I've found the solution - or my solution, at any rate. It might seem obvious to most people, but small boxes with dividers are perfect. Although they are meant for use with electrical components, it's as if they were designed for modeling.

This one here is the one I use for my 40K armies, with each army having one for it's bits. Soon, I may have to get a second for my Space Marines, cause you know, 8 years of collecting marines is a lot of bits.

This here, is my standard Fantasy box. As fantasy armies tend to have more spare parts and larger pieces (in my experience anyway), the larger compartments are better suited here. Again, each army has one each.

For size comparison, just check the picture at the top of the post. Next time you're near a Maplins store, pick one of these up for a few quid, you won't regret it.

- Gavin

Mega Battle - 4000pt Tau

Well since I now have a free house with a big floor to play on, we are going to have one of our rare 40k games, with myself taking on Brad and Gavin in a 4000 point skirmish. As requested, I'm going to post my 4,000 point Tau army which Brad and Gavin will be attempting to beat using their combined 2,000 point forces of Blood Angels and Eldar. My list is as follows:

HQ

Shas'O Ukos
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Shield Generator, Multi-tracker, Drone Controller, 2 Gun Drones, Stimulant Injector

Bodyguard

Tor, Twinlinked Plasmas, Shield Generator, Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones, bonded and with a target lock

Kor, Twinlinked Missile Pods, Shield Generator, Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones with a target lock


Aun'O Tor- Honour Blade, Drone Controller, 2 Shield Drones and with his Honour Guard: 12 Fire Warriors with a Shas'ui, markerlight, bonded and with a target lock


Shas'O Kais
Cyclic Ion Blaster, Missile Pod, Shield Generator, multi-tracker and bonded

Bodyguard
Shas'vre, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, shield Generator, multi-tracker, target lock
Shas'vre, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, shield Generator, multi-tracker, target lock

Elites

6 Stealths with a Shas'vre and 2 Fusion Blasters, the Shas'vre has a target lock and they are bonded

5 Stealths with Shas'vre and are bonded

Monat 1- Shas'vre, twinlinked plasmas, shield generator, Iridium Armour and a Fail Safe Detonator

Monat 2- Shas'vre, Fusion Blaster and Burst Cannon, Shield Generator, multi-tracker and a drone controller with 2 gun drones

Monat 3, Shas'vre with Airbursting Fragmentation Launcher, Burst Cannon, Shield Generator, multi-tracker and 2 gun drones

Shas'vre with 2 Shas'ui. Bonded

Shas'vre- Plasma & Fusion Blaster with shield generator and multi-tracker
Shas'ui- Plasma & Fusion Blaster with shield generator

Troops

5 Fire Warrior Squads with 12 men, Shas'ui, markerlight, target lock and bonded

20 Kroot with Shaper, Armour Saves and 2 Kroot Hounds

1 Devilfish with Target Array, multi-tracker, 2 Seeker Missiles, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod and Flechette Dischargers

Fast Attack

6 Pathfinders with a Shas'ui, bonded and 3 have rail rifles as well as having photon grenades

Attached Devilfish with Target Array, multi-tracker, 2 Seeker Missiles, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod and Flechette Dischargers-

10 Vespids with a Strain leader

Heavy Support

Shas'vre Broadside Monat 1- Shield Generator with Multi-tracker and drone controller with 2 shield drones

Shas'vre Broadside Monat 2- Shield Generator with Multi-tracker and drone controller with 2 shield drones

Hammerhead 1- Railgun with 2 Burst Cannons, multi-tracker, target lock, disruption pod, decoy launchers and 2 seeker missiles

Hammerhead 2- Ion Cannon with Smart Missile System, multi-tracker, target lock, disruption pod, decoy launchers and 2 seeker missiles

-------

Which brings up the grand total of 3996 points. Brad, and Gavin, when are you two going to post your lists?

- Sam

For the Greater Good!

Hi, I'm Sam and I'm the Tau player. I try to theme my army around the Water caste world of Dal'yth, so my colour scheme is white armour with a black under suit, red highlights. Whilst I'm not that spectacular a painter, my positioning of the models combined with the colour scheme is alright and I've done a few nice conversions under the watchful eyes of Gav. My nemesis in 40k is the Blood Angels, the Death Company have terrified my troops too much now and I rarely win against them. Hopefully, the result will be different in the next battle which promises to be very big. 4,000 points for each army with Brad and Gav having a combined force of Blood Angels. More on that later but I might occasionaly produce a few battle reports, etc.

-Sam

Alex Arrives!

Hello there, I'm Alex and I collect Necrons. However unlike most people I do not paint them in a metal looking style. I chose to paint my undead mechanical army in a sort of ceramic way. Much like a storm trooper but with a hint of blue. I believe I am nearing about 2,000 points with them and I am currently working on painting a monolith.

-Alex

Painting

Heres a list of things that I find it hard to paint without. This is pretty much all I use for painting.

Lots of Paints

Whether it's a pyramid or a pile of paints, I need some kind of paint to put on my models. I usually use the GW and GW Foundation paints, as they are awesome. Valejo seem pretty good, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.



























Natural Light

This is a must have. There are 2 sources of natural light - a window during the daytime, or a daylight bulb (available for a few quid from Maplins, where I work). I only use the bulb when it's too dark to use the window - I generally try to avoid painting by normal bulbs.



















Brushes... and other stuff

I have 6 different brushes in varying sizes, which I alternate between. Tank, Large, Detail and Fine Detail are must haves - and I tend to avoid drybrushes. For very fine detail I use a Kolinsky Sable brush, which costs twice as much as a normal brush, but is also worth twice as much. In my opinion at least, Brad may disagree.


Well, that didn't take long - I think I'll get painting, so I have some more models to post.

- Gavin

Hello from Brad

Well this is just an introductory post, I don't really have any decent photos of my models so I'm not going to be talking about them much yet. I haven't really done much with my miniatures for a while, just having the odd battle now and then with unpainted models.

So then; I collect Eldar (used to be Ulthwé but I'm thinking of changing them) of which I have close to 2000 points, and roughly 2000 points worth of Blood Angels as well, although I could probably make that a little more, particularly with the new rules. I'm thinking about converting some normal Space Marines into Death Guard for no particular reason, not really collecting them as an army, just something to do.

So yeah that's pretty much it for my armies, as I said I won't be going into too much detail about them yet, that will come later and you can see the make-up of my armies properly. I haven't painted in a long while (I love converting models, so I tend to just make something and then leave it unpainted) but I hope to break out of the trend some time so watch this space. When I do eventually get some models up on here, it will likely either be the Death Guard or some of my Eldar.

- Brad

Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor

Behold my Inquisitor Lord - Tantalid. He's the witch hunter, in case you didn't guess. I painted this (limited edition) model for use in 28mm scale Inquisitor games, of which I have had one so far. He's probably my best painted model so far.

Below is a group picture, with his rivals. The dancing one was painted by Jason Evans, and the Green/Bronze Daemonhunter was painted by Sam Carter.


-Gavin

Pre-Heresy Dark Angel

I converted this guy up from the standard Space Marine sprue, mixed with plastic Dark Angel pieces, for a laugh really. He's only WiP, but I might finish him.... one day.

He represents a Pre-Heresy Dark Angel, wearing one of the suits of Mark 6 Corvus armour that was only available towards the very end of the heresy. I think I may convert up 5 of these babies, and use them as Fallen in my Chaos Marine army (a unit of veterans rules wise).

For Pre-Heresy rules, check THIS out.

Enjoy...




EDIT - As BowieFan on Golden Throne rightly pointed out, Mark VI armour was not around pre-heresy, so this guy represents a Dark Angel during or straight after the heresy.

- Gavin

Blood Angels - Army List

Recently I've been working on a small Blood Angels army, unit by unit. As my first unit nears completion, I might as well show some pictures, and post my lists.

Personally, I think the new Blood Angels codex is fantastic. It's a lot more in keeping with the Space Marine background and is easier to use, which is brilliant. I prefer it to the vanilla Space Marine codex, for a free codex it's nigh on perfect. Of course, I've yet to use them on the tabletop...

This list represents a strike force from the 3rd Company, sometime after the death of Captain Tycho (who captained the 3rd company). I will buy Tycho eventually though, he's too manly to miss out on.

Modeling-wise, I want to use a large amount of Mark IV 'Maximus' armour using the Forgeworld Red Scorpions upgrade kit. This will not only look great (I hope), but allow me to use many of the units in a pre-heresy setting. The only units marked down for this in the list are the Assault Squads, but I will add more in future.

I've very nearly finished painting the only Tactical Squad, and at the top of this post are some pictures of my efforts. Some work still needs to be done, mainly on the bases and the veteran sarge.

Now, here is the list!

-1,500pts List -

Chaplain : Jump Pack, Bolt Pistol, Crozius, Rosarius, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades

Death Company : 6 Models with Jump Packs, Blot Pistols, Chainswords, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades

Tactical Squad : 10 Men, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Bolters, Missile Launcher, Flamer, Veteran with Power Sword, Rhino with Smoke Launcher, Searchlight and Over Charged Engines

Assault Squad : 10 Men, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, 2 Plasma Pistols, Veteran with Power Sword

Assault Squad : 10 Men, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Veteran with Power Fist

Devastator Squad : 5 Men, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, 4 Multi-Meltas, Veteran with Bolter, Razorback with Heavy Bolters, Smoke Launcher, Searchlight and Storm Bolter

Land Speeder : Multi Melta

Land Speeder : Multi Melta

Land Speeder : Multi Melta and Assault Cannon

-------

For 2000pt games, I will add the following 500pts:

-2,000pts List-

Librarian : Terminator Armour, Force Weapon, Storm Bolter, Psychic Hood, Wings of Sanguinius, Might of Heroes

Terminators : 5 Men, Storm Bolters, Power Fists, 1 Assault Cannon, Veteran with Power Weapon

Scouts : 5 Men, Krak Grenades, Frag Grenades, 4 Sniper Rifles, 1 Missile Launcher, Veteran with Melta Bombs

1 Extra Death Company Marine







- Gavin

Very first post! Wow!

'ere we go....

I've made this blog to post my Games Workshop related stuff, so I'm gonna fill it with anything I paint, army lists I write, all sorts of stuff like that. I decided to do this after seeing the excellent Bell of Lost Souls on here, which is now one of my most visited sites.

I don't really expect many visits here, but it's something nice to do. Anyway, you can also come and visit my forum if you want to, it's worth a look.

Expect some posts soon, non-existent readers.

- Gavin