Special Teams

While I certainly need a few more generic Marine with Bolter marines painted, it's more fun to paint the special guys.  The most recent bunch has rounded out my Veteran Squad and Honor Guard in Artificer armor as well as adding to the special and heavy weapon arsenal.

Veterans showing off Terminator Honors

Same veterans from the front

Honor Guard in artificer armor

Lascannon, MultiMelta, MultiMelta, Meltagun

Trooper, Sargeant, Trooper

I'm using my new iPhone4 to take the pictures and I'm really pleased. It's a lot easier to get good closeups with the phone than with my camera.  I'm not sure the quality is quite the same, but for convenience it's really working.

-Adam

http://mentorlegion40k.blogspot.com/

First Battle in Years

Finally cleared off the kitchen table and played a game of 40k with Alex, my son.  Since neither of us really knows the rules, I just pulled out two essentially identical Marine armies, probably about 600 points.

We each had:

HQ: A Librarian
Troops: Tac Squad x10, 1 special and 1 heavy weapon.
Fast Attack: Assault Squad x5
Elite: Dreadnaught x1

Because the forces were so small, we agreed that any unit or character could capture an objective, except the dreadnaughts. It didn't really matter since Alex pretty much wiped me out.  The idea was to learn how to move, shoot, and assault.  That we managed no problem. It was fun!

Alex learning to measure movement.  

Mentor Legion Assault marines killing Ultra Tac marines for control of the objective (the Rapier Gun).

Alex was moving his unit. We had to adjust to keep unit coherency.

Dreadnaught vs. Dreadnaught. My Lascannon was a big advantage, but the worst I could do is immobilize his.

Close up of the Assault.  Eventually he wiped my squad out.

My Librarian secures an objective (a wounded marine) while watching the Mentor Tac squad take another in the woods not far away.

Great first game.  Because the armies were so similar, it seems like it was dice rolls that kept things close, but really, Alex's decision to attach his Librarian to the Tac squad meant while mine was eventually destroyed by his Assault squad, my Assault squad was defeated when I attacked him.  Those extra attacks from that darned Force Sword really made a difference. I'll know better next time.

-Adam!!!

Bragging

I love to brag, and dammit, I am getting great at painting the Ultramarine logo. Check it out.

The flash photo makes the colors all washed out, but I'm proud of those shoulder pads.

The blue-on-white one isn't perfect, but good enough for me.

Veteran Sargeant, Veteran, Veteran (Eagle), and Devatstator with Multi-Melta 

-Adam

Magnificent Magnetics

In my Speeders post I had an unpainted Rogue Trader Space Marine Land Speeder.  Since posting that the speeder has been (mostly) painted, as you'll see.  Also since posting my first package of wee magnets has arrived from Hong Kong. I had never even heard of magnetizing miniatures until just the last few weeks, but now that I've seen what they're like, I can see the appeal. All that and it's pretty darn easy to do.

You can see the magnet  just above the red 'bottle' next to the marine seated on the right.  It's the silver disk. Originally there was a post  that was used to mount the weapon.

This was originally an Attack Bike Multimelta, but I've got lots of them and the  Speeder I bought was missing its weapon. They're the same, except I had to hack the mount off of this, which I wouldn't be using anyway.

I just pop that baby right on there like so...

And there it is.  The "green stuff" that's holding the magnet on the weapon isn't quite dry, so I can't paint it quite yet.

Here are my two speeders together. The one on the right has an old fashioned glued-on weapon.  Yuck!

I have a whole bunch of magnets, and from what I gather, other players go crazy magnetizing almost anything.  I bought three Imperial Guard Sentinels off Ebay and every little thing on them is magnetized. I'll may have to remove some of those for a sturdier model, but then again, maybe not.  It's clearly a great solution for a lot of situations.  I can't wait to find out what else might work.

-Adam!!!

The beginning. The very beginning.

I've decided I want to collect all of the 1st edition "Rogue Trader" Space Marine models and turn them into a playable modern 40k army. I'm already well on my way, with just a few holes to fill.  I just put a big dent in my missing minis list winning an auction of not just 1st edition mini's, but pre-1st edition minis. I have two of these guys already, so now i'll be able to field a full squad of 10.  YESSSSS!!!!

This is the eBay photo. I'll be stripping them and painting them Ultramarine.

I can't wait until they arrive.  I've never been happier about winning an auction, ever!

-Adam!!!

Speeders, Speeders, Speeders.

One of the worst miniatures in the history of Warhammer 40k is the original Rogue Trader Land Speeder.  So naturally, I have three of them. Painted up it looks ok, but the mold is bad so there's lots of flash, nothing fits together right, and it's just plain weird looking.  Usually I prefer the older stuff to new, but this is the one exception. Modern speeders (including the chunky 2nd version, which I don't have) are simply better.

My three old-time speeders.  The middle one was just completed today.

Space Marine Land Speeder. 95% completed. I'm going to copy the antenna that goes on the back so I have a second one for the unfinished speeder (pictured on the right, above.)

One version of the Genestealer Cult army list allowed them to have speeders.  Like this one, I would expect.

Even I have to admit, this is a much better model.

-Adam!!!

The Brothers Grimm

While I've had both of these dreadnoughts for years, I've only just transformed Brother Hamus from a Contemptor type, with both left and right close combat arms, to a Deredo type with a close combat arm and a missile launcher (yes, that is actually supposed to be a missile launcher.)

Brother Hamus Grimm on the left.  Brother Aldus Grimm on the right.

Brother Hamus, Deredo "Eddy" Dreadnought.

Close Combat Arm & Missile Launcher

Brother Aldus, Furibundus "Fury" Dreadnought

Close Combat Arm & Lascannon

I have a third dreadnought which I may strip and repaint as an Ultramarine (It's currently got Mentor colors, but I don't use my old minis for my Mentor army) but I've only got the close combat arms and I don't see a good choice for fielding a dreadnought with that weapon configuration. It also has literally two right feet. The left foot is actually a right foot surgically modified to fit, and it's not very slick at all.  I stole the missile launcher from it and repainted it for Hamus.

Rogue Trader Ultramarines

No school like the old school.  The paint jobs are purposely designed to mimic the original style of Rogue Trader era Warhammer 40,000.   All of these squads are designed to be legal using the current 5th edition rules.

HQ 

Captain, Librarian, Chaplain, Techmarine (not HQ, I know)

Command Squad

Elite

Veterans

Terminators

Fast Attack

Assault Squad #1

Assault Squad #2

Heavy

Devastator Squad 

(Conversion-Beamer on the right is played as a Plasma Cannon.)

Troops

Tactical Squad #1 (w/Plasma Gun)

Tactical Squad #2 (w/Missile Launcher & Flamer)

Tactical Squad #3 (5-man)

Unfinished minis: Scout Squad, Dreadnaught (x2), Land Speeder, Bike Squad, Assault Bike

-Adam!!!