Adepticon Day 1 Recap - 40k championships

As promised, I'm wiped out but will be recapping the first day at Adepticon.  I had a great time at the 40k championships and learned a couple things

1. Need more practice games to learn the little tricks and make adjustments
2. I have to stop taking "one trick pony" armies.  This sanguinary guard list is a lot of fun but relies on the matchup.

With that said, I placed 15th overall in a field of 246 players... not bad for the biggest championship ever!  Go figure if I could have done a little better!

Since I get wrapped up in the moment, I'm not going to do detailed battle reports, just some nice pictures and an overview.  I'll come back later with my opponents' names as well.

First game was against one of the top 16 finalists.  Great painted tyranid list.  I was facing somewhere in the 50+ genestealer range, so I knew I had to be extra careful in assault.  Lucky for me there was a nice piece of forest mid way through the table... with bugs not getting "frag grenades" I knew I'd strike first.

That was the brave last stand of the blood angel force.  I repelled wave after wave of genestealers, but in the end what got me is the tervigon granting feel no pain.  My opponent rolled 12 out of 14 saves with feel no pain (in combat resolution) and multiple phases there were only two enemies left.  I never was able to jump out and get at the big bugs intact.  Was a fun game, but in the end I was tabled!

Second game went a little better, I matched up with a beautifully painted (in progress) iron snakes army.  He didn't get the chance to do the freehand icons but I am really looking forward to seeing his army finished.  It was one of those games that just went my way, his rolls were not so hot and I was able to dictate the flow with my jump troops.  The Sanguinar was a beast in combat and killed h is weight.  In the end I ended up with the win.  Here's a couple of great models from the game. 

Third game was against a really well played eldar player with beautiful subtle colors and gorgeous freehand work.  It was the typical air cav and I knew he had the advantage when it came to mobility so I had to try and corner his troops.  I decided to not even try for grabbing objectives and focus on "mark for death" and killpoints.  I was able to corral some of his units in a corner and then once I had the killpoint advantage I ran away.  For three turns the angels did a "tactical retreat".  The funny part of the game was Dante and Eldrad going toe to toe for 6 combat phases.  The psycher kept killing a few assault marines mixed in the fray and winning combat resolution by always making his fortune saves!  All said and done, my ancient Dante pulled it off.

Finally my fourth game, I died in a pathetic "almost tabling".  The chaos army of doom with three squads of oblits, two demon princes, dropping melta terminators and lots of deathguard in rhinos.  It was brutal.  I tried to bait his units back, but some not  so hot rolling on my part didn't help.  I ended the game with only a couple of guard left.  The Sanguinar wiffed a couple of times as well and left a demon prince with one wound who proceeded to work my army!  Hey, these things happen.

All said and done, not a bad showing.  I always try to end up in the top 25%... soft scores really helped me get the placing that I did.  Looking forward to the team tournament tomorrow.  4 games down, 7 to go!!!

Here are some great army pictures I saw of awesome armies from the con.

Finished Blood Angel Objective Markers and Assault Squads

I finished up the objective counters for Adepticon for our Blood Angels.  I like to do 5 because that tends to be the max you'll see in most games.  I think a good looking objective really adds to the game.  Here's the finished product!

I took advantage of the marine casualty pack.  For the banner bearer, it was an easy arm swap.  I had plenty of extra banners from the Sanguinary Guard.  I didn't go the original route though, painted it very similar to my Sanguinary Guard banner.  I also didn't like the hurt marine that was long dead... figured why would anyone fight over a dead marine.  That was an easy head swap. 

For the fourth and fifth objective I struggled with what to do, so I went to my bitz box.  I thought the inquisitor "Book of Knowledge" might be something worth going after.  Finally I grabbed one of the Blood Bowl trophies as well as an arcane candle thing. Maybe it's a chaos shrine full of blood... or my chapter going towards the dark side.

All of the bases were from Scibor Miniatures.  I don't like the fact that they sculpted plants on the base.  Painted plants just don't seem to mesh well.  I guess if I was overly concerned, I could have chopped them out; laziness won over!

Here are the shots of the completed and based assault squads.  For the guys on foot, I magnetized their backpacks so I can swap up with jump packs.  It remains to be seen if I can go through a tournament without losing any.

Right now I'm working on the Nob Bikers for the gladiator list, and a Librarian with a magnatized jump pack for the Adepticon team tournament.  I ultimately decided against the Sanguinator for the team list and for a little more utility of the librarian. More updates tomorrow!

Sanguinary Guard Done! (with basing)

It's so nice to see a finished product, I just wish I was a little better at taking pictures.  Here are the shots of the 4 squads of Sanguinary Guard with the basing finished.  These miniatures took way longer then I expected.  I'll have shots of the 2 squads of assault marines finished tonight after I'm done with the backpacks.

For each of the squads, I tried to match their right leg knee-pad.  For gaming purposes, I also numbered the bottom of the base so I can identify which squad is which easily.

I had a lot of fun basing some of the taller resin bases.  With the ruins, I was able to glue some dried flowers against the facing for support.  Places like Hobby Lobby or Michaels are perfect to find supplies.  One plant is worth decades of projects.  I'm still using the dried plants/flowers from my kroot project a few years ago and I haven't even gotten 10% through the supplies.

Tonight, I'll have the backpacks done for my assault squad and I'm going to try and get as far as possible on the five objective markers.  I'll be sure to post progress.

Lucius Pattern Drop Pod

Making some major progress this weekend painting.  I finished off the Sanguinary Guard as well as my lucius pattern drop pod for the team tournament.  This drop pod was a recovery project.  I bought it off someone years ago, and it was badly mangled.  With a little TLC, lots of simple green, and elbow grease, I think I was able to clean it up for the most part. 

I didn't go with any dirt or exhaust effects, went with a clean look.  Also I kept the metallics pretty simple.  I may go back and do some extra highlighting if I have time.

Right now I'm working on the objective markers as well as the magnetized backpacks for my assault marines on foot.  I'm lazy so I'm not pinning the backpacks to corks, so my hands are completely covered in paint trying to hold them while applying detail.  Here's a "unfocused" shot of the army so far.

I'm going to take a little break from the painting and start applying foliage & flowers to the bases.  I'll put a couple of close up shots with what I come up with, I feel like I'm almost doing flower arranging.  Here's some of the materials I'm working with.  I'm going to try some new materials today, I'll provide my review of how they hold up.

On to the flowers!

Blood Angels Objective Markers

I whipped up my 5 objective markers for the Blood Angels.  A couple were stretching it, I just didn't have the creative juices flowing on this project like some of the other armies I've done.  I think I'll go back eventually and do a cool statue, I really like how Dave Taylor did his on his Greatsword Unit.  I took the easy route and modified the marine casualties.  I also did a book of knowledge looking one along with a chaos type looking cauldron.  Guess it could be full of blood angels blood... muhahahaha!

It's a little too windy to do any priming outside, so I think I'll head to the Chicago Battle Bunker to get some painting in all day.  It'll keep me focused, this is the weekend to wrap up a bunch of the things I need to get ready for Adepticon.

B.A. Priests done, & lots of assembly

It's crunch time now with only a few weeks to Adepticon.  It's time to maximize painting time when I'm not traveling and I really need to get some practice games in.  Here's the finished product of the priests and the non helmeted assault marines (minus backpacks).

So what does my hobby A.D.D. do?  Makes me want to procrastinate by assembling a bunch of models.  It was nice to spend some time on the couch with my wife and I got to put together the storm raven, two dreads and 5 death company.  I bought the forgeworld chaplain dread awhile back and by adding bits of the new furioso dread, was able to make a sweet looking death company dreadnought.

I've decided in my gladiator list to add Snikrot & Pals to one of the sidebars.  Traditionally there is one of those missions where a model is able to carry some sort of nasty titan killing vortex grenade.  Snikrot should be the perfect vessel.  I bought the standard kommandos, but needed a few more so I added some old backpacks and bitz to a few ork boyz to make them part of the crew.  I had the chance to make two of the new ork burna boyz too... great plastic kit.

Currently on the workbench is my custom Dante (figured I'd make him look better in plastic) along with the Sanguinator.  As I was working on the priests' power swords I worked on these at the same time.  Additionally in this batch I'll be painting the chapter banner and power fist for the Sanguinary Guard.

Tomorrow will be a non-stop hobby day at the Chicago Battle Bunker where I'm hoping to get a practice game in with my Blood Angels and Ork Gladiator list.

Progress on B.A. Priests

I'm off for a few days traveling on business so I won't get any evening painting sessions in.  Here's the latest on the Blood Angels Priests and the rest of the assault squad on foot (minus backpacks).  I did the next stage red, along and white along with laying down the base gray, black, brown, blue, flesh, and green.  I find after I put my mid tone red down it's good to fill in the other base colors before I start pulling in detail.

This sunday will hopefully be a day full of hobby action.  I'm heading to the Illinois's battle bunker to get painting in and hopefully two practice games; one for my 1850 singles list and to try out my ork gladiator 2,250 list (stompa & nob bikers list). 

Blood Angels Progress... on to the Priests

Made some good progress towards my Blood Angels today.  Finished up 6 of the assault marines on foot minus their backpacks (I've magnetized them so I can switch them back and forth) and foliage on the bases.  I'm happy with the way the yellow helmets pop.

Here's the start of my next batch of marines.  3 Sanguinary Priests (two jump packed versions and one magnetized for walking), along with the remaining 4 assault marines on foot that don't have helmets.

They look all shiny without any wash!  I'm hoping I can make some decent progress tonight.  Once these are done I'll be finished for Adepticon with all the "red" blood angels.

I'll leave you with the 90 done ork boyz.  Sad thing is I'll probably get zero practice games in before the gladiator tournament!

Blood Angels Tokens

I was tired of constantly forgetting to roll for Red Thirst as well as remembering which unit had it in the game.  Last night I created a bunch of tokens that should help do the trick.  I also did one for the Sanguinator's blessing as well as the Death Mask of Sanguinius.  Real easy to do, just took a bunch of extra 25mm bases and went to town.  I put some 'ard coat over the top to keep them from smearing with handling.

The weekend was fairly productive.  I was able to finish the 15 grotz and 20 boyz that were in progress and started on batch painting my last 30 boyz.  I've been more in the mood to speed paint so the Blood Angels are taking a little rest.

This week's goal is to finish 30 ork boyz and 10 blood angels assault marines.

Angels Practice: Every Man Counts!

I had the chance to square off last night in a practice game of my Sanguinary Guard list.  Played against a really well rounded ultramarine list that had a ton of shooting power.  I was extra lucky on my saving throws, which really puts emphasis on the point that every man counts.  For reference, this is what my 1850 list contains:

HQ: Dante
HQ: Sanguinator
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard with 2 infernus pistols, 1 Chapter Banner
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard with 2 infernus pistols, 1 Power Fist
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard with 2 infernus pistols
Troop: 5 Sanguinary Guard with 2 infernus pistols
Troop: 10 Assault Marines, power weapon & infernus pistol sgt, 2 meltaguns
Elite: 2 Sanguinary Priests with jump packs and power weapons.

My opponent castled up with two thunderfire cannons and marine squads and deployed his "bait" of a sternguard squad in the middle of the board along with a land raider with 5 TH/SS Terminators.

I stole the initiative and all but Dante's squad (with sanguinary guard) moved up.  Way too aggressive move on my part since it put me in to a first turn charge with his terminators.  I got lucky and killed off a terminator but they killed all but one man from the sanguinary guard unit... very bad rolling from my opponent.  Turn 2 I proceeded to drop in Dante (who doesn't scatter) who nuked the land raider, and my two other squads converged and killed off the terminators.  The Sanguinator charged the entire sternguard squad solo.

Needless to say it was downhill from here for my opponent as I proceeded to move at all his units.

Some learnings though:

Thunderfire cannons are nasty.  With the one round that causes the unit to be in difficult terrain... meaning I would take dangerous terrain tests when the unit moved the next turn.  I lost 4 guys in my own turn jumping. That's over 10% of my list since I only have 34 models!!!

Stacking bonus is key: This list is all about synergy between the Sanguinator giving +1 attacks and the two priests giving feel no pain / furious charge.  I need to really be careful about the placement of the priests.  Many times I got a unit just outside of the priest's range.  Every model counts.

Time to make some markers: It's easy to forget who got rage, and which bonuses are distributed.  I think I'm going to make up some counters to help remind me what's going on in the battle.

I'm lucky that I'm getting a second game in this week against another strong opponent.  It may end up being a blood angels vs. blood angels matchup.  I'll bring the real camera this time so I can make a proper battle report.  I'll leave you with my purgatory shot; aka the death pile of marines.

Red & Gold: Blood Angels Update!

Now that I've finally settled in to the new place, I have my photo booth up and running.  Adepticon is fast approaching and it's time to kick up the updates along with getting painting done!  Here's some progress I've made on my assault marines and sanguinary guard.  I haven't added any folieage or grass to the bases yet, I like to do that in bigger batches.

I've also experimented with a new way of doing blond hair.  What do you think of this method?  I start with Tausept Ocre, then line in some bleached bone, then a little bit of lining in white. The example is on the far right.

Tonight will be another update, as I'm going to take a good look of my total project and what I have to do!