4000pts apocalypse game - blood angels vs. orks

Sunday afternoon was full of orky madness. I will confess, this is only my 2nd time ever playing orks and boy are they fun to watch and kill. Ben Dal who is a regular at the HK warhammer store was nice enough to write a short narrative of the battle. I tried taking pictures so that enrgie would stop giving me grief but halfway, the battle got too intense and I forgot about it completely. hahahaha Here goes...

"Jason, Ralph and I put the forgeworld terrain to the narrative test today with an impromptu 4000pt Apocalypse game today. The Blood Angels had to defend the gates against the hordes of ravenous Orks which included a Stompa.

There were 3 buildings across the field, one of which contained access codes to open the gate, or the Orks could attempt to blow up the Land Raider thick doors.

Initially the Orks met little resistance, driving towards their objective in glee, but the sky soon darkened as over 40 marines descended from above not only claiming a bloody tally and much of the Orks heavy armour but even damaging the Stompa thanks to the efforts of Dante and his bodyguard.
However the Orks proved to be an overwhelming force and carved a gaping hole from the gates with their power klaws. Seeing the dangers Dante recalled his flying forces and took his injured brothers away through a secret entrance and remarshaled his army within the halls of the stronghold for the final stand.
Sensing victory the Orks rushed towards the doors but found it too narrow for their vehicles; only the Dreds and bikes could squeeze through with the mob close behind.
The blood letting within the halls was fast paced and unforgiving, the opening shot from the Ork dread felling Venerable-brother Asrael almost straight away.
But the Orks had expended their energy outside and were much reduced even before the close quarters fighting. When they charged into the line of waiting Deathwatch, the base was well within the hands of the Blood Angels." -Ben Dalgleish

Road to Badlands - Gobbit Lipsmacka

Had some time to touch up on my Night Goblin Shaman who I dub Gobbit Lipsmacka. Took two pictures as the light source was a little from one direction. 

Gobbit Lipsmacka is twin to Snikit Hamstringer. Both were birth in the dark caves on the slopes of Dragonback mountains. Gobbit often spoke of a loud booming "voice" which just confused little old Snikit. Listening to these voices, Gobbit could "interpret" these signs and often shared it with Snikit. It was these voices that kept them alive through the nefarious caves of Night Goblinhood. Fear was a common emotion and one they both sought to conquer by the only way they knew how - to take over the Olde World.

On one stinky day when the squigs were sporing, Gobbit received a vision while observing the stools of a Giant Cave Squig. It spoke of a brutish Orc simply called Zugribar. He was held by hummies in a camp just beyond the Badlands. Gobbit and Snikit put a plan around rescuing this matador of Orcs. This Orc would give them the victory they so need to take over the Olde World.

Where the blood angels at?

My spring cleaning adventures takes me to my first 40k army. The Blood Angels.

Notice all the older edition tanks. Small and lovely!

j-hova's 1700 pts DOA blood angels list

Here's a fun list I made for a recent campaign day. I've had my blood angels army for a year not but I haven't used them much so I'm still figuring out their strengths/play style. Here goes...

Everything will be in reserves, The idea is to drop pod the death co + chaplain. in first with locator beacons to bust vehicles and to tie up/screw up the enemy's plans.

The libby dreadnought will also drop pod with locator beacon and shoot with Blood Lance. Ass squad 1 will have a sanguinary priest attached, Ass squad 2 will have librarian attached. Both these squads will make use of the librarian dreadnought's drop pod locator beacon for safe arrival and surround the dreadnought from incoming charges. Wings of Sanguinious can help the dreadnought keep pace with these ass squads.

The x5 man razorback squad will come in on reserves taking pot shots with TL lascan and provide support where needed. Having a fast vehicle razor back will be key to getting reinforcements rapidly.

Finally, the vanguard veterans will heroic intervene as the final wave of DOA, they're meant to finish things off or they can be used to take down some odd positioned devastator type unit hiding in a corner or something but I usually use it as a mini deathstar. x3 Stormshields for extra protection if shit hits the fan.


Librarian Dreadnought
-Blood Lance
-Wings of Sanguinious
Drop Pod
T-210

Assault Squad-10
Thunderhammer
Meltagun-2
T-240

Assault Squad-10
Powerfist
Meltagun-2
T-235

Death Co.-4
Drop pod
T-115
Chaplain
Powerfist
T-115

Assault Squad-5
Powerfist
Meltagun-1
Las-cannon Razorback
T-165

Librarian
Jump Pack
-Unleash Rage
-Shield of Sanguinious
T-125

Vanguard Veterans- 7
Power Weapons- 2 + (1 free on srg.)
Jump Packs-7
Stormshield-5
Powerfist
T-420

Sanguinary Priest
Jump Pack
T-75

Storage and WIP

This is a smart take on a Fantasy terrain piece. The guys over at Battle Bunker converted it for their 40k tables. Smart.

This is how I am storing my minis at the moment - IKEA storage. The height works for tall miniatures with raised weapons and banners. I will be using it to transport my bigger creatures too like the Arachnarok which is plastic. You can see that it stores the minis in their movement trays but they need to be magnetised to prevent them from moving about. Metal models really do need a proper foam casing to keep them in place and not destroy each other. I am working together with Jay to create custom foam for Orcs and Goblins.

Popped out the older mob of Orc Boyz and rebased them. Used Dark Flesh for the rims and washed the banner with Badab Black to give it more definition. The more I use the GW washes the more I am convinced this is the way forward. I spent so many hours in the past trying to create gradients using my paints. Using the GW washes, I created shades and highlights in one sweep. Unbelievable.

My focus for this week is to get this Rock Lobber to gaming quality. Base coats are done on most of them. I just have to highlight the crew and then work a little more on the Rock Lobber. Highlight then washed then highlight it again. Will post once it is completed.

Road to Badlands - The Warlord

The one thing missing from the list I made was a warlord on foot. Before I made my order from my LGS I looked at the GW website but realised that it was all rather "normal". Thought about using my Orc Warlord that Sam made for me by putting him back on foot at first - the picture is rather outdated though as I have painted him to completion.

So I went about digging my "New Miniatures" box in my store room. Guess who I found? It's Grumlok and Gazbag! Only the nastiest and most souped up Orc!

While I do not plan to use him as Grumlok in the campaign, I will be using this miniature to represent my original Orc Warlord Zugribar and his retainer, Snikit. 

Having crossed into the Badlands to run away from his human captors, Zugribar has finally amassed a large enough army to call himself a Warlord. Zugribar plans to use this opportunity to kill as many hummies for revenge! Once he gathers enough Orcs and Goblins flocking to his banner, he he will march out to attack the hummies who took him captive and tortured him. 

I have also opened up a new section called the Road to Badlands and will capture any articles put up by you guys for this campaign. Awesome way to see your army develop with a story! 

Hong Kong Ares Campaign Day - Blood Angels DOA List

HQ
Librarian

Jump Pack

-unleash rage

-Shield of Sanguinious
T-125


Elites
Librarian Dreadnought

Drop Pod

Locator Beacon

T-220



Chaplain

Powerfist

T-115



Sanguinary Priest
Jump Pack
T-75

Troops
Assault Squad-10
Thunderhammer
Meltagun-2
T-240

Assault Squad-5
Powerfist
Meltagun-2

Las-cannon Razorback
T-165



Assault Squad-10
Powerfist
Meltagun-2
T-235



Death Co.-4

Drop pod

Locator Beacon

T-125



Fast

Vanguard Veterans- 7

Power Weapons- 2 + (1 free on srg.)

Jump Packs-7

Stormshield-5

Powerfist

T-380

Grand Total: 1700

Mordhiem warbands nostalgia

I am currently embarking on my annual miniature spring cleaning and dust removal of cabinets. Year after year these guys never cease to remind me of the crazy fun times I had when we were playing it!

Here are my orcs and middenheimers.

Road to Badlands - The Gathering

After giving a good round of encouragement to Ethan regarding building his army and participating in our home campaign Blood in the Badlands, I decided to round up my miniatures for a group shot and overview of how much I have to do in order to be ready for the campaign. 

First off, the list. Took about an hour to write what I considered a balanced list with new and old units thrown in for fun. 

Secondly, I then cracked open the boxes of minis to regroup the minis. The above are the minis which are complete. There are some work to be done on them as you will see down the list.

37 Night Goblins all marching to war. The 3 Fanatics at the back obviously need to be painted. There are 3 more Night Goblins which needs to be painted at the back. The rims of the NG need to be painted.

Looks like this is the only leader I have ready painted. Although all ready, need to re-base him.

Rock Lobba ready to fire sir! I painted it halfway in HK then left HK so I have to work on this one. Do you guys suggest I base the war-machine or not?

I did some work on these guys awhile back but was heavily guided by one of the best painters in HK. I don't intend to repaint them first as I still have so much more to paint first before I move onto the painted units. Mobs can come from different tribes so I can leave them this way until I get more time.

My list has more of these guys but at the moment, you will only spot 20 of the Black Orcs built. All ready for paint.

Another mob of Boyz. My idea behind this army is to depend and take advantage of the improved Choppa rule. Looking forward to redo their bases.

Finally of course, here are the new minis which I have yet to build. I am so glad I stocked up on these minis when I ordered in the past from Maelstrom before the GW embargo. Will be building them up soon so I can  play with them. Still have another Mangler Squig coming in the mail.

Guys, do post your WIP's here! 

Blood in the Badlands

I have been spending some quality with my most recent book, Blood in the Badlands. Got it surprisingly quick from my local "source" at a more reasonable price.

On to the book, it has an awesome quality feel to it. If you have one of the existing Army Books like Tomb Kings or Orcs and Goblins, you will know what I mean. Strong hardback and good bindings. If this is the way GW is headed, I am happy.

Flipping the first few pages, you will see unique rules for the campaign including Post Battle effects. Basically the more games you play, the better your army becomes. But on the flip side, there is also a chance you will lose your General and the heroes! LOL!

The theme really is about getting together with a group of friends and then using the scenarios inside to create a chain of battles which make sense. They took a whole year to complete the campaign but there were realistically only a few battles.

They used two Mighty Empires pack and the map based campaign is cool. I have always wanted to do this with the group but it's a question of commitment.

Glorious battles from the GW crew. It's nice to see non-studio painted figs being used too as they are real players.

So you get synopsis of the games they have. And of course at the end of each season, they had a mega game with multiplayer scenarios.

At the end of it, is this a worthwhile purchase at GBP20? Well, depends on how you look at it but I choose to see it as a bumper White Dwarf with cool rules, miniatures and big battle report. Thumbs up GW

Anyone keen to do a campaign? We can tie it into our Quarterly Event!

Painting Session

Two of the guys came over to my place recently to paint some models. Youcai passed me quite a number of miniatures that I ordered recently so I invited Melvin and Sam over (Sam didn't turn up though...).

My target for the day was to churn out as many Orcs as possible within the shortest amount of time. Armed with my able assistant, my girlfriend, I started pushing out models. 

 YC and Melvin working on their models.

Working on my models 5 at a time, I am going for a very simple bulk army method. Goblin Green for skin, Graveyard Earth for cloth and wood. Wash everything in Badab Black and Devlan Mud and I am done! Drybrush base with Bleached Bone and rim the base with Dark Flesh. This is really the base model - implying that I can always go back and streak in highlights to improve their look. However, since these are Mantic models, I am not too inclined. LOL!

 60 models in a box and you can see why I am going for the super fast method

 Melvin using the wet palette technique keeping his paints wet

 A nice rainbow to a beautiful day.

 Various stages of the models. Base colours without washes on just yet are better on camera

More base colours

 Once they are washed, it becomes quite muted.

 So I took a photo with flash!

And another which I hope is a better picture.

Painting sessions are awesome to get a ton done in a short time while making it a social activity. I am sure the other 2 guys would agree. 

Dark Eldar WIP Warriors

It's been intense hard work getting all the layers of highlight on but here they stand completed in the armor department.

Now left with some details and weapon painting and their ready!

Next in line. 20 wyches.