Flesh Tearers

Assembling a Stormraven to magnetise for easy transport

2011-09-21T21:31:00.001-07:00

So I am building the 'Raven tonight and as it will be a competitive list I am going to need to take this thing with me all over the place. The wings and tail make that prohibitive so I decided to magnetise them. I will also magnetise the weapon options for TL Assault Cannon, Plasma and Lascannon. I'll leave on the Multi Melta because no one in their right mind would use the Hvy Bolters or Missile Launcher. The doors/Hurricane Bolter sponsons will also be magnetised.

I'll start off with the wings first as they are the biggest task.

Assemble your Stormraven as above. Note I have glued 2 pieces of card to the inside of the doorways. I used normal thin card which I cut from a flap on a GW box. To get the correct shape I just drew round the side door part from the Stormraven kit and cut it out. It fits the doorway perfectly. This allows me to attach magnets for the sponsons/doors later on.

On the roof are the two points where the wings will be connected. GW very kindly provided us with 2 grooves which are otherwise unused. In there I glued 4 magnets as above.

I then 'stacked' a 2nd magnet on top of those I had glued in and put a blob of paint on each magnet. Then I pressed the wing down gently into the contact point so that the paint gave me the correct positioning on the wing part that I would need to attach the 2nd magnets. After the paint was dried I put a dot of super glue on the spot and pressed the wing gently down into the slot. You'll have a perfect fit!

Now this is the cool bit. You don't need to magnetise the turbines or the tail because the wings will hold them perfectly in place for you!

After spraying the wings, tail and turbines I just rigged them up like so and they are all held in place!

"Prime directive"

2011-09-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

So everything more or less has been primed apart from the Stormraven which still remains unbuilt. I may do that tonight. Hopefully will have time tomorrow to do some base layers.

Real happy how Librarian Agur looks sprayed up. He actually looks like a stock mini. And that is always my aim when building conversions.

Assault Marine sergeants and special weapons

2011-09-21T06:27:00.001-07:00

Just finished off basing and filling in any detail that needed fixing on my 3 sergeants and 2 meltaguns for my list ready to prime

Chain Axe tutorial

2011-09-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

Forgeworld Chain Axes - How To....

So, for all Flesh Tearers commanders the Chain Axe is an essential piece of kit. The Forgeworld Chain Axe upgrade sprues look brilliant, but with no hands attached and resin being about as brittle as meringue it can be very hard to equip your marines with these axes.

This can be avoided if you have patience and a steady hand. I use this method to replace the Assault Marine chainswords as the parts are readily available.

Equipment you will need:

A chainsword arm, a paper clip, a FW Chain Axe, clippers, craft knife, pin vice drill.

First point is to clip off the chain sword. This is very easy to do because the fist gives you a nice guide to rest the clipper against.

After you have done this, cut off the crossguard and then using a craft knife cut off the pommel leaving one ridge of the grip below the hand. You will be left with this.

Take your pin vice and then drill a hole through the bottom of the grip you left underneath the hand. Use your eye to angle the pin vice so it comes out of the other side of the fist at a realistic angle. You will be left with this:

Take your paper clip and put a small amount of super glue on it then feed it through the hole in the hand. leave a couple of milimetres of pin exposed either side. It is better to leave more rather than less, as you can always cut off more wire with clippers if it is too long, but can't add more on if it is too short.

Take your chain axe and using your craft knife cut through the grip 2 ridges down

Trim the ends flat using your knife and then using the tip of the blade push a little dent in the very centre of the 2 pieces so you can begin to drill them hollow. Now, being very patient and careful, take your pin vice, line up the drill bit to the dent you made with the blade and begin to drill out the 2 pieces so they are hollow. You only need to drill out a few milimetres so you can afford to take your time and make sure you keep the drill bit straight and parallel with the axe pieces. It is important to remember you can only hollow out the grip, as the shaft of the axe is too thin, so make sure you stop when you get to the top of the grip on the axehead part otherwise you will ruin your resin axe. You will be left with something like this:

Then take the 2 now hollow axe parts and line them up to make sure they have enough hollowed out to fit flush against the fist. When you have drilled them out enough dab a spot of superglue onto the paper clip pin and attach them to the hand like so.

And then you can attach the arm to your marine, ready to bring righteous retribution for the Flesh Tearers chapter.

And so it begins

2011-09-20T02:38:00.001-07:00

Primed these guys first but they will be getting painted next to last.

6 Death Compan
-2 Power Weapons
-1 Thunder Hammer

A 1750pt list for ToS that I can settle on...

2011-09-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after months of faffing about and weighing up the Mephiston issue I've finally gone for a list I am happy with. The main point for me is it needs to feel like a Flesh Tearers force. A nice contingent of Death Company is a must.

Let's go through the list first:

HQ:

Librarian 100
-Shield & Fear of Darkness
100pts

Elites:

Furioso Dreadnought 125
-Blood Fist & Meltagun
-Frag Cannon
-Magna Grapple 15
-Drop Pod 35
175pts

Troops:

6 Death Company 120
-2 Power Axes 30
-Thunder Hammer 30
Chaplain Lemartes 150
330pts

Death Company Dreadnought 125
-Blood Talons
125pts

5 Assault Marines 100
-Meltagun 10
-Lightning Claw 15
-Razorback 20
--T/L Heavy Flamer
145pts

5 Assault Marines 100
-Meltagun 10
-Lightning Claw 15
-Razorback 20
--T/L Heavy Flamer
145pts

5 Assault Marines 100
-Razorback 20
--T/L Lascannon 35
155pts

Fast Attack:

2 Attack Bikes 80
-2xMulti Meltas 20
100pts

Heavy:

Predator
-Autocannon
-Lascannon Sponsons 65
135pts

Predator
-Autocannon
-Lascannon Sponsons 65
135pts

Stormraven 200
-Extra Armour 15
-T/L Multi Melta
-T/L Assault Cannon
215pts

Ok so now the rundown...

Let's start in HQ.... I was playtesting with Mephiston for ages. He's a great unit and easily capable of making his points back. The only problem with him is meta. Poisoned Dark Eldar weapons, Rending S7 Psycannons and PSYK-OUT GRENADES...not even getting into Psychotroke... but Psyk Out grenades make him Nemesis fodder. And I expect there to be a lot of Grey Knights and Dark Eldar. We all know his strengths, but I think at 250pts he suffers too badly against prominent top tier lists. So instead we have gone for your basic Librarian with Shield, which I feel is vital for a heavily armoured list, and also Fear Of The Darkness. Whilst you might see Librarians used often in a BA list to support their close combat elements I am interested in their other strengths. Boosting the survivability of numerous AV13 targets is one. Being able to make a large number of units run off of objectives or even the board edge is another.

Elites.. An area of the BA codex, like many others in 5th ed, which is over-flowing with viable options. The obvious Priests, Assault Terminators, Furioso Dreadnoughts. All good options. I have gone for a Furioso in this list, but in a less common configuration. With a lot of light armoured vehicles as well as the Stormraven in my list, I feel I need a survivable alpha strike unit. I am particularly fearful of IG Hydra batteries and Long Fangs. A podding Furioso can handle both of these very well early on and with 13 front armour are likely to hang around. Mine is equipped with a Frag Cannon, Meltagun and Magna Grapple for a possible 4 shots on entry and the Blood Fist means he can tie up units in combat or assault vehicles as well.

Troops... After dropping Mephiston for a normal Librarian I added in an extra RAS unit with the 150 extra points to bring my scoring units up to 3. This time in a T/L Lascannon Razor so that it can sit in the backfield on home objective but also offer a threat. My two main objective taking units are 5 man RAS squads with Meltagun and Lightning Claw in T/L Heavy Flamer Razorbacks. These are very cheap units that are still able to provide a small threat. They will mainly be held in reserve and brought on late to objective claim.

And then the crux of the list, Lemartes and 6 DC in a Stormraven with a DC Dread with Talons. I'm a huge fan of Lemartes. I6 with Furious Charge means he goes before Halberds if he has to, and he cannot be targeted in combat either. He's a machine. The Dread is great against units that would otherwise decimate the DC, such as Grey Knights with Halberds or Death Cult Assassins. And if the Furioso is stlll around that makes for another very useful unit in assault that can tie up targets I want to avoid.

Fast Attack... 2 Attack Bikes. Multi Meltas. Standard fare.

Heavy... 2 AutoLas Predators for long ranged fire support. Stormraven for Death delivery.

So basically this will be a mainly reserved army, with the Predators, Las Razorback and Attack Bikes looking to out manoeuvre the enemy to get early kills, along with the Furioso to hit some rear armour and generally be a nuisance. Then we bring on reserves to clear house in turns 3-6. I am capitalising on the fact that I have a lot of units that can contest or hold objectives late in game, and am aiming to use a weight of force to overwhelm parts of the board.

Going to now try and learn to use an air brush in the space of a couple of days...

IT IS TIME

2011-09-13T07:04:00.001-07:00

I am going to do exactly what it says on the box!

Heroes of the Flesh Tearers

2011-02-19T22:25:00.001-08:00

For as much my reference as yours, I have compiled a list of all the notable characters. Of these, only Seth and Carnarvon are canonical. I have included some background stories so as to enlighten you all on how I view the chapter and how these characters embody the spirit and personality of the Flesh Tearers in my eyes. As this blog has always been full up of modelling projects, I thought it would be good to include some background material for some of my creations.... Enjoy!

Chapter Master, Gabriel Seth
See Codex: Blood Angels

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Carnarvon, High Chaplain of the Death Company, Watcher of the Lost (Counts as Astorath)
The High Chaplain of the Death Company, Carnarvon, bears a terrible responsibility, as it falls to him to watch over all 400 remaining Space Marines of the Flesh Tearers chapter for signs of the onset of the Black Rage. This is a position he has held for nearly 250 years and it is whispered by many that the strain of watching so many of his friends and comrades descend into the Rage, becoming raging lunatics hungry only for blood, has taken its toll on his sanity. At this time he has the final word as to who must be inducted into the Death Company and which of those Marines must be permanently incarcerated in the Tower of the Lost when they fall so far into madness that even he cannot control them. When not in combat, Carnarvon spends most of his time within the Tower, watching over his charges, ostensibly to find a path that will allow them to rejoin the Chapter. It is with grim acceptance that, when a Brother falls beyond all hope of salvation, when Carnarvon is no longer able to speak words that can touch the Brother's distant memories which have been overcome by the final visions of their progenitor, Astaroth is summoned to bring a final peace to their turmoil.

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Agur, Chief Librarian of the Flesh Tearers (Counts as Mephiston/Librarian)
It is the duty of the Librarians of the Flesh Tearers to travel widely, desperate to find the ancient and sacred texts which they believe must exist, in the hope of finding lasting salvation from their curse. Collected visions and prophecies of their Primarch reside within the Librarium on Cretacia gathered from the far corners of the galaxy, for it is not always lust for battle and uncontrolled rage which sees the Flesh Tearers Strikecruisers make planetfall. It falls to one figure the task of interpreting the words of their fallen Primarch in the hope that somewhere they will find the means to control the darkness in their genetic imprint as their Father once did. That is the Chief Librarian of the Flesh Tearers.

Agur has held this role for 3 centuries and in this time he has seen the doomed fate of the Chapter approaching ever nearer. Never has the task bestowed upon him been more important, nor more pressing. Untold hours are spent poring over texts, re-treading every word in the vain hope of finding something that has evaded his predecessors. Every tendril of the Flesh Tearers network of informants at work to find any rumour or legend of previously undiscovered lore from the preternatural mind of the Primarch, Agur has often personally led expedition forces to capture and reclaim these invaluable clues which may unlock the secrets to controlling the Flaw.

Having held at bay, for no Flesh Tearer can truly hope to overcome, the curse of the Black Rage within his superhuman body for over half a millennia in service of the Chapter, Chief Librarian Agur can be found on the battle field leading from the front, born aloft by great spectral wings as terrible energies play around his psychic hood like a mockery of a halo, for no visage as disfigured as his own could be described as angelic. On Proxis III Agur slew a monstrous Hive Tyrant with a single, earth-shattering blow from his Force Staff. However the creature's final act was to shower the Librarian with bile from its maw so caustic that it ate through his armour within seconds and reduced his once noble features to a burnt and grizzled mess. It has done little to dispel the mythos of the Flesh Tearers as inhuman monsters and demons when commanders are met face to face by the twisted visage of Brother Agur.

It is with equal measures of urgency and hope that Agur continues to spend every moment at his disposal trying to find salvation for the Flesh Tearers chapter before it is too late.

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Sanguinary High Priest of the Flesh Tearers, Keeper of the Sacred Chalice, Brother Amasai (Counts as Brother Corbulo/Sanguinary Priest/Sanguinary Novitiate)
When Amit and 1000 battle brothers headed into the stars following the slaughter of the battle on Terra to bring the fury and wrath of the newly formed Flesh Tearers upon the enemies of mankind, they took with them not only stocks of the precious gene seed but also a golden Blood Chalice presented to the Chapter's Sanguinary High Priest which contained drops of blood taken from the Red Grail which collected the life essence from the corpse of their beloved Primarch after his death at the hands of the Arch-Traitor Horus.

Whilst the Blood Angels' practise of transfusions of blood to new recruits to create new battle brothers was soon dropped by the fledgling chapter, the brotherhood of the Sanguinary Priests still continue the tradition of carrying the blood of their Primarch in their veins as a means of preserving his genetic legacy. This Sacred Chalice now resides in stasis on board the ancient Battlebarge Victus. It is in times of great darkness and dark forboding that current High Priest Amasai can be seen where the fighting is thickest and most desperate bearing aloft the brilliant Sacred Chalice as a nimbus of light emanates from the Chapter's holiest of relics. Amasai is the eldest living Flesh Tearer, having served under Seth's three previous predecessors. Eight centuries of service amongst the spires of the temple of the Sanguinary Priesthood have meant that Amasai has knowledge rivalling even the revered Ancients who are entombed within Dreadnought armour. Some say that the great foresight and perception of Amasai is not merely the result of experience, but that he is gifted with a prescience that is the result of the blood which has been flowing through his veins for nearly a millennium manifesting a fraction of the Primarch's own powers.

Either appearing like a comet from the skies born aloft by his jump pack dismembering foes with his ancient power-axe, or striding across the killing fields swinging his great chain-axe in crimson arcs of death, Amasai's very presence and that of the Sacred Chalice drive his Brothers to ignore near fatal wounds and fight with ferocity befitting their dreadful reputation as the living embodiment of wrath.

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Malach, Captain of the Sanguinary Guard(Counts as Dante/Sanguinary Guard)
When Azkaellon was entrusted the task of remaining on Terra while Sanguinius and his personal guard teleported onto Horus' battlebarge, it was so that the beacon that is the order of the Sanguinary Guard would continue in the event that tragedy should befall the Primarch. After the Battle of Terra and the reformation of the Legions when Guilliman laid down the Codex Astartes, the surviving Blood Angels became six individual Chapters. And so it fell to Azkaellon, the last surviving Guardian, to fulfil his sworn oath to his now fallen Primarch and ensure the tradition of the Sanguinary Guard was continued within the descendants of the Blood Angels, the sons of Sanguinius. The greatest human artisans of Mars crafted one hundred and twenty suits of new Mk 7 armour so beautiful each would have been fit for any Chapter Master to wear. Each finished in burnished gold bearing the heraldry of The Angel himself and paired with mighty jump packs of a design never again seen, 20 were gifted to each Chapter and bestowed upon the most noble, valourous and pure hearted of veterans. Men who on Terra single handedly held mighty gates from ravening hordes of daemonspawn, who slew traitor Marine champions of Chaos and their Chosen cohorts, who performed acts so valiant they will live on forever, their deeds inscribed on great plaques within the sanctum of the Golden Throne. These Brothers became the Sanguinary Guard of their newly formed Chapters. They became shining beacons of hope, living legends amongst their battle brothers who would bring light after these darkest of events.

It is 10,000 years since the Battle of Terra and the Flesh Tearers have endured much in their long history. Mighty heroes have come and passed. The Flaw has decimated their ranks leaving them on the precipice of destruction. Constant battle has left them bloodied, bruised and staring into the maw of oblivion. It is at this hour more than any other that the shining beacon of light and hope is needed more than ever. For whilst out of all of the descendants of Sanguinius the Flesh Tearers have been the most touched by the curse of the Black Rage, those who have ascended to the hallowed ranks of the Sanguinary Guard have displayed an incredible ability to withstand the Curse. Through strength of will, purity of purpose and divine guidance these golden brothers have harnessed the fury within themselves and focussed it into an unerring force on the battlefield. It is well known that to ascend to the Sanguinary Guard is as close as a Flesh Tearer will get to obtaining immortality. His name will live on forever amongst the greatest heroes of the chapter. Whilst the ranks of the Flesh Tearers are battle weary and in constant action performing only the most necessary of repairs to their battered and well-worn equipment, their Sanguinary Guard stand apart, their mirrored golden armour reflecting the rays of light like some form of divine aura. For these are living relics which have been worn by countless heroes who continue to perform deeds that could one day match those of the original 20 for whom these suits were made.

Of all the Sanguinary Guard currently in service of the Flesh Tearers today, it is Malach who's name is held in as much awe as that of those of millennia past. As Captain of the Guardians, he leads them into battle as the embodiment of divine wrath. It was six hundred years previously that as a member of the 1st company, Malach led his unit of Vanguard dropping directly into the heart of an Ork invasion of the Warlord Umbrag the Butcher on the industrial moon Targos. As the Imperial defence force was being overrun by thousands of the green horde, a Thunderhawk gunship of darkest arterial red and black was seen to drop out of orbit and strafe the Ork lines. Malach and his squad descended directly onto the Warlord's armoured column of Battlewagons and destroyed three immediately with Infernus pistol and Meltabomb. As the hulking figure of Umbrag in his Mega-armour stumbled from the wreckage along with his bodyguard of Mega-Nobz, Malach's squad charged immediately whilst the aliens were still disoriented from the blast. One swing from his Thunder Hammer and the Warlord was dead, as his squad members cut down the now fleeing bodyguard. Seeing this feat of arms, the Ork Waaaagh was broken and they died to the guns of the now re-invigorated Imperial forces. But, it was not after this that Malach was raised to the Sanguinary Guard. Nor was it after he killed the Word Bearer Dark Apostle Krune in single combat. Nor after he planted the Melta Bombs which disabled the Eldar Phantom Titan at the Battle of Werdum, for these are all feats that are expected of the men-become-gods of the Sanguinary Guard. Feats that are recounted for days during the rare high feasts as inspiration to both new aspirants and grizzled veterans alike. No, it is due to his unwavering control and unquestionable faith that Malach was inducted into the Sanguinary Guard and his name will live on, as well as the innumerable tales of bravery and heroics since as an inspiration to all Flesh Tearers who will come after him. And why his foes will know what it is to look upon death whenever the golden host descends upon the battlefield, for nothing else in the Imperium is at once so beautiful yet so utterly terrifying.

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Ancient Shavur, Furioso Librarian Dreadnought
Shavur served as Chief Librarian of the Flesh Tearers some 6 millennia ago and was responsible for personally retrieving several works of Sanguinius previously thought lost forever. It was on the ash-wastes of the moon Corinth in the Segmentum Tempestus that Brother Shavur suffered the wounds which even his super-human physiology could not recover from and was interred within the sarcophagus of a Furioso Dreadnought.

Since then Ancient Shavur has remained with the Flesh Tearers on Cretacia, spending most of his time in the dream state of stasis only to be awakened in the event his insight and knowledge is needed when a new sacred text is discovered. It is only in the darkest and most dreadful of circumstances that Shavur's new Ceramite and Adamantium body would set foot on the battlefield carrying his enormous Force Halberd. His powers amplified and channeled through the arcane circuitry surrounding the life support systems in his living tomb, Shavur can still unleash terrible energies or even bear himself aloft across the battlefield through sheer force of will.

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Brother Captain Lucius of the 2nd Company (Counts as Lemartes/Death Company)
Brother Captain Lucius led the 2nd company of the Flesh Tearers to reclaim the lost planet of Ammonai in the Baal system. The daemonic hordes of the returned Ka'Bandha had descended on the planet through warp rifts opened by darkest magicks and long forgotten pacts and overrun the population in one night of slaughter and bloodshed. 8 million were sacrificed the next day and great altars and temples were erected at the centre of the capital as the blood ran so thick it flowed down into the ocean some 5 miles away.

Answering the call of Dante, the full fighting force of the Flesh Tearers mobilised in what could be their very last stand. Coming out of warpspace outside the Baal system, the strike cruisers of the 2nd company mobilised Thunderhawks, Storm Raven and Drop Pods ready to make planetfall and face the daemons head on in a battle for Sanguinius' home system. It was at this point that terrible visions of the past and the future overcame every marine in the orbit of Ammonai. Reliving battles on Signus Prime, at the Eternity Gate and the final duel with Horus, as well as being plagued with visions of Baal aflame and copper skinned daemons bathing in rivers of blood all seventy three brothers of 2nd company including Captain Lucius were falling one by one to the Black Rage. Even the company's Sanguinary Priests and Librarians succumbed, with only the three Chaplains remaining unaffected. And so it fell to them to task the serfs and technicians to repaint all of the company's battlegear black, for that night every Brother was inducted into the Death Company.

Wielding his Power Axe, Lucius and his Honour Guard strapped on their jump packs and embarked onto their Storm Raven as the Chaplains recited the words of the Black Mass. The full might of the 2nd company descended into the capital clad in black battle plate. None expected to return.

Sanguinary Guard

2011-02-11T00:32:00.000-08:00

Eventually I will run out of things to build and will be forced to paint....

Until then.. Sanguinary Guard!

I am of the school of thought that SG work best as infantry killers and should be kept as spartan as possible when it comes to all their pretty upgrades. Chapter Banner is a must. At most I will stump up for a single Infernus Pistol and MAYBE a Power Fist just in case nasty things try and pin them in combat.

So with that in mind I set about building 5 Sanguinary Guard models.

You should be familiar with Malach, my 'counts-as' Dante who can also double as a Sanguinary Guard squad leader, se he gets included in the group shot. He is a pretty extensive kit bash so check the previous posts about him. Joining him is the updated Sanguinary Priest now sporting a pretty snazzy looking Dark Angels Mk3 helmet.

So we have 3 basic Glaive and Angelus guys. A Banner Bearer who I decided to make differently so as to allow me to interchange the Chapter Standard on his model and the Honour Guard model built previously (Cos the BA Chapter Standard in the SG box is of no use to me anyway!) and finally out of picture we have a fully magnetized utility Guardian. More about him later.

Here's the updated Priest, I went for the Claw because.... it looks pretty damned cool right? Even though with FC the Power Weapon comes out nominally on top, I can't see this unit really needing to worry about causing wounds!

The Ravenwing helmet looks pretty spot on as a stand in 'Apothecary' helm, and it looks pretty neat on the model. I was in part inspired by DV8's beautiful Sanguinary Priest and swapped out my bare head for an older mark of armour on seeing his use of the Mk4 helm. I felt the Ravenwing helm fit the Priest perfectly with its extra gear.

Next up is the Banner Bearer

Wasn't too difficult to do. I used the sword arm from the SG box and cut off the whole hand carefully. I then used my dremmel tool to 'hollow out' the wrist socket and positioned a trimmed down fist holding a banner pole which came from an arm on the Command Squad marine sprue. The small gaps were filled with green stuff. The banner is actually magnetized to the pole as you can see here:

I used the small dremmel tool to hollow out the point on the banner that you would normally glue to the pole and used magnets to get a flat and strong bond. This means when I paint a beautiful Chapter Banner, I won't have to do it twice! My Honour Guard can literally borrow it too! It's almost fluffy!

The three 'standard' SG are done using various bare heads from different sprues and the axe heads from Sevrin Loth's Honour Guard

Head 1 is from the Chaos Warrior sprue, Head 2 is from the Space Wolf sprue and 3 is from the Chaos Terminator Lord sprue.

And finally we have my utility marine! If I use Malach as Dante rather than a standard SG then this guy comes in to play. He has been completely magnetized so he can step in and adopt any role in the unit.

You can see him modelling this season's Glaive and Angelus, Power Fist and Infernus and Power Fist and Angelus set ups.

2011-02-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Humbrol hobby spray tests.... not good

2011-01-30T01:28:00.000-08:00

So i tried out the Humbrol acrylic paint I found which was a perfect colour match.

The problem I got was in the initial attempt to use it the finish was INCREDIBLY glossy. I am going to try and use it again by doing lots of very very thin coats to try and force at least a satin finish but I am not holding out any hope.

See for yourself anyway....

Completed Ancient Shavur, Librarian Furioso Dreadnought

2011-01-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

Allll done.

Venerable Librarian Furioso MK IV WIP

2011-01-29T06:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick WIP pic of my Furioso Librarian dread. I had the idea of converting a Venerable MK4 as a Librarian dread a while ago and never did quite capture the psychic hood correctly with green stuff, so when the new plastic kit came out I knew the sarcophagus would be perfect material to cannibalise for parts!

So here he is having just put that Force Weapon to work by cleaving a Khorne Berzerker in two!

He still needs some green stuff work, and some more detailing. Plus the obligatory Guitar wire as well.

How to magnetize the doors/sponsons of a StormRaven: Attempt 1

2011-01-28T02:00:00.001-08:00

starts playing Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.....

2011-01-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

Oh gosh... new toys new toys *claps hands*

So I am going to be magnetizing these bad boys and as I havent seen anyone do it yet, I may as well put up a tutorial.

I'll start off with a step by step of the assembly of the main parts...

1. Main hull - We leave off the canopy and the pilot as they are needed to be painted separately. The plastic 'glass' cockpit is attached after painting

2. Rear stabiliser

3. Wings and thrusters - You actually need to clip off a bit of plastic on the inside of the thrusters otherwise they don't fit in their housing flush with the tail stabiliser

4. Complete main body

Part 2 to come tomorrow.... Magnets, drills, dremmels and brown stuff. Oh my!

New spray find.....

2011-01-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

Here is a new (to me anyway) spray I have found manufactured by Humbrol which is readily available in the UK at many hobby store chains for under 5 pounds for a 150ml can. It is designed for plastic kits and is rather conveniently almost a perfect colour match for Red Gore! In fact it actually has a far deeper blood red hue compared to the bright Red Gore paint which makes it PERFECT for all your Flesh Tearing needs!

Here is a direct colour comparison of the spray next to Red Gore when still wet. I put it over a grey primer to give you the 'true' neutral tone of the paint...

You can purchase it here, along with their full range of colours...

Purchase here for £4.29 a can

Furioso...HO!

2011-01-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

Just built my 2 Furioso's. One Forgeworld Ironclad with plastic arms and rabblerouser pattern Blood Talons, one old school metal dread with Ork Killa Kan buzzsaws for hands. The Forgeworld model is magnetized on the arm joints, the heavy flamer is also magnetized to be swapped for a storm bolter if points need to be saved, and the banner is magnetized for ease of transport.

The metal Furioso is all glued together, because magnetizing metal is a bloody headache due to the weight, and because it will be a second Furioso to be used only in larger lists. The buzzsaws can theoretically represent either of the Furioso CCW options.

I will be building one more DC dread out of the plastic kit, and a converted FW Mk4 Venerable dread, using the Librarian Dread arms from the new plastic BA dread kit. That way every one of my dreadnoughts will be a unique piece, befitting of such ancient venerable relics.

I must say, while I am very happy with rabblerouser's excellent resin Talons, the new GW plastic ones look superb. I really like the look of the plastic kit. I ordered one but may end up buying another one day no doubt.

Baal Predator

2011-01-23T18:15:00.000-08:00

I know, I know... I am a bad person. I went missing for months. I've been working pretty hard on various other non gaming related projects and have alas left my Flesh Tearers in the lurch

Well I am back and I am going to be trying out some AV13 goodness, so let's start off with one of our favourite toys.... The Baal Predator!

This is a really great kit and I had a lot of fun putting this together and working out how to magnetize this bad boy for maximum use! While in my newest list I am going to be running a bare bones Flamestorm Baal, I want to keep it open to run as every configuration.

So let's start with the *nearly* finished tank (the fuel tank covers have not been glued on until painted so I can actually reach them)...

You see it running the Flamestorm turret, the standard doors and a couple of FW brass etch decals. Let's take a look at the guts and how we put it together...

First of all, the most important part is the turret. With most Baals being run with just turrets whether Assault Cannon or Flamestorm, it is important to put these together with magnets whilst keeping all joins seamless.

There are 3 parts of the turret that need to remain removable, that is the main gun, the rear tank/ammo case and the main gun shielding. There is a very good online guide on youtube to magnetize the Baal which I came across after building this, which uses lots of plasti card and keeps the turret gun housing glued on with parts trimmed off, but I decided to leave the gun shielding loose. It doesn't need to be fixed as gravity will keep it on the turret at all times during play. Here's the turret along with it's loose unmagnetized parts...

You can see I haven't glued on the cupola or the gun shield. They slide right onto the turret without need of glue and sit there without the need of magnets. It is important not to glue on the gun shielding as is, because it has some notches on the side which will stop you swapping out the guns.

As you can see from this picture, I glued the 2 small magnets onto the Flamestorm cannon, and then when they were dry I simply placed 2 more magnets on the end to ensure polarity was correct. After that, I chose to use modeling putty (brown stuff) and glued a nice lump to the inside of the turret where there is a gap between the end of the Flamestorm and the mount for the gun. I put a dot of super glue on the end of the 2nd magnets and then pressed the Flamestorm cannon firmly into it's housing so it was properly placed. When the putty and the glue had set, there was a perfectly spaced magnetic bond between the turret and the Flamestorm Cannon. The Assault Cannons use the same mounting and are therefor also perfectly spaced and fit snugly.

The rear of the turret is incredibly easy to magnetize by drilling a large hole in between the two pegs using a large dremmel Bur tip. Repeat this on the Flamestorm fuel tanks and the Assault Cannon ammo crates.

That leaves the doors/sponsons. Again these are both relatively easy. I used quite strong magnets and it made them quite tough to pull apart without scratching at the Rhino doors, so I cut through the hull and made holes so I could push the doors out from the inside, and save the paint job from unnecessary wear and tear.

As you can see again I used a lump of modelling putty to ensure the magnets matched up with each other over the gaps.

So that's how I did my magnetized Baal Predator. I haven't done the side sponsons yet, although they will be something I go back to in the future.

Hope you enjoy.

Here's a pic with it next to my hybrid Predator...

Thanks to Brother-Captain Lucius

2010-10-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

After a mistake on his part mis-identifying parts for my Standard Bearer conversion, I felt inspired by Brother Captain Lucius of Bolter&Chainsword to convert the spare Lemartes body I had saved for a future Legion Of The Damned project into a member of my DC Jump Pack squad!

I did some swapping around with parts.... heads removed from other models as well as arms. Now I am left with something that I feel looks very unique! Korvydae's head. Astorath's axe. DC plastic bolt pistol arm and FW shoulderpad.

Undecided what style of jump pack to give him. May just use one of the plastic DC ones.

He can double for Counts As Lemartes if needed. And henceforth he will be known as Brother Lucius, former captain of the 3rd Company, now fallen to the Black Rage.

Really happy with how the squad looks. They look like Company veterans who have finally succumbed to the Black Rage, which is exactly the imagery I was going for.

Honour Guard: Battle Standard Bearer

2010-10-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Finished the Honour Guard as well. Last member was armed with Company Banner and a Power Weapon. I used a Vanguard Vet body and dremmelled out the head very carefully and replaced it with one from my baggy full of marine spares. The banner arm, head and bionic arm are all from the Command Squad box. Shoulder pad and Axe are both from the FW Sevrin Loth. So that's my JP Honour Guard completed!

Again, apologies for the weird uploads....

Every game is Annhilation: Pt 1

2010-10-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I started building my 'for fun' Death Company 1500pt list. Looking at some of the older models I'd made, they looked a little 'spartan' when it came to Death Co. accoutrements. Lack of purity seals, skulls etc. these things should still be present on a Flesh Tearers Death Co. member, even if the over the top sculpted details found on the Blood Angels DC sprue isnt.

So I took to mixing in pieces of the DC sprue with plastic marine parts and of course more Forgeworld bits.

The results came out pretty good!

As these will act as Astorath's unit, they are given a bit more detail and decoration than some of the other models I will be making for my DC. They represent the hardened vets who have fallen to the Black Rage rather than normal marines.

Edit: Apologies for the rotated pictures. Blogger is doing madness and the files are 100% the right way round on my computer. Anyone knows how to rectify this let me know!

Honour Guard & Dante Counts as....

2010-10-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

So I completed 3 new Honour Guard models which you will have seen me working on over the last couple of days. Along with my Corbulo/Sang Priest conversion which I magnetized to be able to join any unit and an as yet to be created model with Chapter Banner and a Power Weapon they will form my Honour Guard unit if they ever take the field equipped with Jump Packs. More than anything they have been a really fun modelling project with each one of them able to pass for a Captain in their own right.

The unit will be as follows on the tabletop:

Honour Guard
5 x Jump Packs
1 Marine w/ Thunder Hammer & Meltagun
1 Marine w/ Chapter Banner & Power Weapon
2 Marines w/ Storm Shield
1 Sanguinary Novitiate

Here you can see the 3 new models alongside the Sanguinary Priest and my updated Captain with Twin Lightning Claws who now sports Mk5 Heresy legs courtesy of Forgeworld.

Also now fully completed is Malach, Captain of the Flesh Tearers Sanguinary Guard. I am really happy with how he turned out. He really represents both the glorious legend and tradition of the Blood Angels and their Second Founding successors, whilst also personifying the perhaps misguided image of the Flesh Tearers as demons or blood thirsty madmen. Underneath the terrifying visage of the Sanguinary Death Mask is an arguably more terrifying appearance of a centuries old veteran who literally bears the scars of thousands of frontal assaults.

When you buy everything Forgeworld release, you can make some cool shit!

2010-10-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some jump pack models today. Mainly Sanguinary Guard and Honour Guard as knocking out row upon row of Assault Marines can be pretty tedious!

Whilst in the new rules he is pretty lacklustre for his high points cost, Dante has always been an iconic character for any Blood Angels force and I wanted to have the option to use him Counts As if the mood took me. Using the Sanguinary Guard kit and various other resin parts I went about making a model that can not only stand in as Dante but also will look the part as simply a Sanguinary Guard 'sergeant'. As with My Corbulo and my Chief Librarian conversions I again went for the angellic and demonic juxtaposition which I feel reflects the history and the image of the Flesh Tearers. Underneath the 'Death Mask' of this model we find the hideously disfigured face of Lord Zhufor! In his left hand he carries the Death Mask which was painstakingly removed from Dante's torso which remained from the Corbulo/Sanguinary Priest conversion I did previously (Kids NEVER throw away bits!) and in his left is a converted and repositioned Power Axe taken from Sevrin Loth's Honour Guard using the haft of a Space Wolf Terminator axe. I should just say that Sevrin Loth is one of the best value things on sale at Forgeworld. You get an insanely beautiful Librarian model which is a synch to remove chapter detail, you get resin torso and weapons sets for 4 Honour Guard models AND you get a complete plastic Command Squad in the bag. That's great value at £36 pounds! I intend to sculpt a cloak or ornamental cape over his left shoulder, possibly using lizard skin to represent the homeworld of Cretacia. Anyway, here he is.....

Malach, Captain of the Flesh Tearers Sanguinary Guard

As he could be used as a regular Sanguinary Guard or even with Sanguinary Guard utilising Dante's ability to make SG Troops, I needed to build a Sanguinary Priest to run with them. I would imagine that a Sanguinary Priest who is deployed alongside these living legends in battle would be of a particularly high standing and senior rank, especially within the heavily depleted numbers of the Flesh Tearers. I gave him the honour of wearing the Artificer armour of the Guard and armed him with a Lightning Claw. This was a pretty simple kitbash with not much in the way of conversion of sculpt work so I may go back to him and add some detailing.

Then on to the Honour Guard. The highest ranking veterans within the Chapter I envisioned these marines as almost Captains in their own right. Whilst keeping their wargear understated I wanted to represent their history and status. Using some of the Forgeworld armour variants helped greatly and I utilised some resin shoulderpads to give them that little flourish. Arming them as I intend to use them with the special weapons on models I don't intend to be absorbing Power Weapon hits, whilst the Storm Shield wielders carry no extra weapons to keep costs down. Why would you want to risk your Thunder Hammer not getting to strike by using him to take a 3++ save when not necessary? 3+ and 4+ FnP is more than adequate against mundane CCW attacks.

This guy again is the product of buying everything Forgeworld release... Raven Guard veteran head. Mk 5 variant legs. Khornate Chain Axe as standard.

This model utilises the MK4 variant legs, the Mk4 Vanguard Torso and Sergeant's helmet, Shadow Captain Korvydae's Thunder Hammer and a old mark Meltagun slung across his shoulder using model railway chain link.

Hope you enjoy and get some inspiration from these. More to come!

Death Co. Dread 2 WIP

2010-10-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Picked up a MK4 Dread from Forgeworld which came through today and set to work on converting a charging Death Co. Dread to contrast against the modified plastic one who is striding through foes.

I have modelled something similar to this previously with a converted Space Wolf dread I built last year which you can see here: http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt91/SamaNagol/DSC00399.jpg

The feet needed to be repositioned and first I fixed the right foot to the base. I then placed a small amount of green stuff in both the ball joints of the ankle to give some grip to the new pose and went about sorting out the left foot. All three front 'toes' had to be carefully chopped off straight using a modelling knife and the stubs left were filed at an angle so the heel could appear to be off the ground in a running pose whilst the middle toe remained flat to the ground. The foot was then glued down and the ankle joints glued to the ball sockets simultaneously to ensure the angle was correct. The bal socket of the right foot was filled in and smoothed as there is a gap left.

It is a surprisingly easy conversion to do if you are willing to be careful, precise and take your time.

I then assembled the rest of the dreadnought to complement the running pose and finished the mk4 arms with Claws/talons as per the previous dread. This time I left the melta/flamer off as I intend to use the weapons from the forthcoming Ironclad from Forgeworld underslung on the mk4 torso. That ironclad will be given the plastic ironclad arms with Talons on and underslung weapons on the arms instead.

The arms are angled and will be filled in with cabling and wires and such.

So there it is. Needs detailing with the FW Brass etch and some other bits and bobs. Will have a go at scultping a banner too.

Death Company Dread with Blood Talons

2010-10-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

So my new Dreadnought claws arrived this week courtesy of rabblerouser on Warseer. I saw them in one of his WIP posts and I had to have some.

Edit: You can contact/find out more about purchasing these awesome Claws here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267458

So here they are. 3 'fingers' and a 'thumb'. The central piece fits perfectly on both GW and Forgeworld arms. I will be using FW arms for my first dread.

So I assembled my claws and the Forgeworld arms. I clipped off the tab on the FW arm and drilled out a hole with the dremmel in which I superglued a small magnet. I drilled out a hole in the claw central piece and affixed another magnet so that I can interchange if necessary between Blood Talon and the original Fists. As I was using a GW plastic Dread body, I also attached an underslung melta and flamer to each arm after trimming them to fit and filling the gaps with green stuff.

The arms are also magnetized so they can be removed, I magnetized the back pack for ease of travel and added a chaos smoke launcher for decoration.

You can click on the pic to see the finished model in better detail

Man... I've really fallen off!

2010-08-30T19:30:00.001-07:00

My bad. I am back now! Let the Tearing of Flesh re-commence!

Daemons.....

2010-06-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Played a game today vs Chaos Daemons. Was keen to test out the Fast vehicles and the shooty goodness.

1500pts again, his list was as follows:

Fateweaver

Ku'gath

3 Flamers

8 Bloodletters

1 large unit of Plaguebearers (I forgot to note how many)

Soulgrinder with 3 guns.

He started off with the plaguebearers, fateweaver, 1 unit of flamers and Ku'gath on the table. Soulgrinder, 1 unit of flamers and the 'letters in reserve.

Mission was Bases and deployment was quarters.

He went second so I deployed both my Vindicators on opposite sides of my deployment zone, the Rhino and one Razorback to the right with 2 attack bikes, the 2nd Razorback near my base in my corner, and the Death Co. with the last Bike to the left. Everything moved 12" and spread out with the Vindicators covering both my base and the midpoint of the table. The bikes, DC and Rhino and Razorback made pincer movements round the flanks whilst still covering the centre of the board with their weapons.

He brought down Fateweaver on his base along with his Plaguebearers who scattered in front of the ruins his objective marker was inside. Ku'gath came down next to my objective. The flamers came down next to the Vindicator and bike which were going towards the middle of the table via the left of my deployment. The Flamers scored a 'Shaken' result on the left side Vindicator.

Not having much experience against Daemons, apart from with my Grey Knights, which is almost an auto-win, I am going by recommendations. And I am told that the key to beating them is much like the old Nids. Work your way down the food chain. Greater Daemons > Daemon Princes > Scoring units. So with that in mind... I moved 2 of my attack bikes into position to fire at Fateweaver, the Death Company RB moved forward 12" towards his objective, Fateweaver and the Plaguebearer unit. They would be charging Fateweaver next turn and taking him down! The first Multi Melta attack Bike attempted to fire at Fateweaver but was out of range from across the board. The 2nd took aim and scored a wound. He failed his invulnerable on a 1. He failed his re-roll on a 1. He then took his leadership test... double 6! He is gone! What luck! Something I won't see in another 1295 games!

I fired everything else that could shoot at Ku'gath and dropped him down to 4 wounds.

His turn 2 and his Soulgrinder appeared. He plonked it down right in the centre of the board next to my Vindicator, attack bike and his Flamers. His second unit of flamers also came down next to my Rhino, Razorback and 2 Attackbikes which were progressing around my table edge toward the right flank. He managed to drop one of the Bikes down to one wound with the newly arrived flamers, weapon destroyed on the left Vindicator and strip a wound from one of the attack bikes in the process with his other Flamers after the Soulgrinder missed with it's Blast weapon. Ku'gath charged a Razorback and managed to wreck it.

My turn 3 and the DC disembarked and moved towards the Plaguebearers. The Heavy Flamer killed 2, and as he removed them from the side closest the DC, I got flashbacks to the Salamanders game and stopped shooting at them! The weaponless Vindicator formed a shield wall next to the ruins of the objective marker to protect the DC Razorback. The functioning Vindicator nearest my table edge fired and missed at Ku'gath. Assault Cannon fire took another wound from Ku'gath. The Assault Marines who had gotten out of the wrecked Razorback fired their Meltagun and reduced him to 2 wounds. As they were suffering from Red Thirst I decided to charge them into combat, hoping the Sergeant with his Lightning Claw would succeed in taking that 1 wound needed to kill him. I succeeded in causing 0 wounds. He killed 2 in return. They passed their No Retreat saves. The Death Company charged the big mob of Plaguebearers and killed 2. He managed to kill 1 back. He then lost another one from No Retreat.

His turn and the Bloodletters didn't show. He moved his Flamers to flame multiple units and advanced the Soulgrinder towards the weaponless Vindicator ready to crush it. His units of Flamers managed to kill 2 attack bikes and drop the last one down to 1 wound but not managing to glance the weaponless Vindicator. Soulgrinder only managed to score a Shaken on the Vindicator with no gun. More Plaguemarines died. No DC died. Ku'gath again took no wounds and killed another 3 marines, leaving just the sergeant. Soulgrinder assaulted the Vindicator and did nothing to it.

I drove my remaining Razorback round the side of the ruins with the Plaguebearers and DC fighting over home base. The Assault Cannon and the last remaining Meltabike took shots at the Soulgrinder but did nothing. The Rhino with the Librarian and Corbulo in span round and made a beeline 18" for my home objective in order to hold it as the last of the Assault marines would be dying shortly. The sergeant duely obliged and dropped down dead. I dropped a Vindicator shell on the Flamer unit near my table edge. 2 died. The sergeant of the Assault squad duely fell down. More plaguemarines died, and 2 fell down from No Retreat leaving only 4 left.

His turn and the Bloodletters turned up near my home objective and ran 2" into a wider spaced group. The Soulgrinder charged in to my Death Company, and the lone Flamers remaining had a go at glancing the Vindicators 1 each with no joy. Ku'gath walked towards the Vindicator nearest him and burped, but didnt manage to glance either. Soulgrinder charaged the Death Company, and killed one. The DC killed 3 Plaguemarines. 1 left.

My turn 5 and the Vindicator with the gun drove 12" up to Ku'gath and contested my home objective, ignoring him completely and focussing on the 8 Bloodletters. Pie plate hit and wounded all 8! 6 fell down. GREAT SUCCESS! Rhino races forwards closer to the home objective but still not close enough. Now all I needed was the Meltabike to take one last wound of Ku'gath... but he missed. In combat the Assault Squad got out of the Razorback and charged the last Plaguemarine on home objective. They killed him and all I needed to do was take down the Soulgrinder with my DC Power Fist, but failed to penetrate.

His turn and he ran the Bloodletters into the ruins next to my objective to contest. He flamed and charged both Vindicators with his 2 remaining solo Flamers to no avail. The Death Company and Soulgrinder were still going at it, and this time he killed 2, leaving just the Power Fist marine. He swung back needing 3s to hit, but only managed a 2 and a 1! ARGH! So he had Bloodletters and Ku'gath contending the objective in my deployment zone with my Vindicator. I had the Death Company and a full strength assault squad contending his base, vs the Soulgrinder which was just within 3".

Unfortunately the game ended. I was sure I could have definitely killed the 2 remaining Bloodletters and Ku'gath with my Rhino full of marines and the last Meltabike. He would have killed the last DC member with Fist, and continued contesting. I should have sent the Rhino to assist the Death Company with the Thunder Hammer sergeant inside, swinging at St9 on the charge with a re-roll unused from Corbulo, and sent the Razorback back to home base to clean up. That being said I was INCREDIBLY lucky to remove Fateweaver so early. An enjoyable game. Fast Vehicles ROCK against Daemons. Fear of the Darkness and Shield do not! Haha.

Win, Lose or Draw...

2010-06-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Played 3 games on thursday Win, Draw and Loss

First game was against Red Corsair Chaos Marines.

Huron and 9 Marines with Power Weapon, Plasma Pistol and a Meltagun in a Rhino
Chaos Lord with MoK, Terminator Armour, Daemon Weapon & Combi Melta, 10 Marines with Meltagun, Flamer, Power Fist and Icon of Glory in Land Raider
10 Chaos Space Marines w Heavy bolter, Power Weapon, plasma pistol and Plasma Gun in a Rhino
Daemonic Vindicator
Tri-Las Predator.

I used:

Librarian, Corbulo, 6 RAS with Thunderhammer and Melta in Rhino
5DC with Fist and PW in Flamerback
6 RAS with Lightning Claw and Meltagun in a TLACorback
6 RAS with Lightning Claw and Meltagun in TLACorback
2 Vindicators
3 individual Meltabikes

The game was Capture and Hold, and the deployment was quarters.

I wanted to test out the fast Vindis so ran them together with an attack bike round the side of a big bunker partially covered so they could nip out 12" then drop a pair of pie plates on top of his Vindicator or Predator. Unfortunately he went first, I failed my cover save, one of my Vindicators evapourated. This caused me to stay back and hide the other vindicator when the bike also died in the first turn. I left the Vindicator and one of my TLACorbacks on my home objective out of sight of the mean Predator and Vindicator.

His other force was split into 2 with the 10 man rhino squad on his objective whilst Huron and the Lord both went to circle round the large bunker in the middle of the board from the opposite side to the pred and vindi pairing. This group I felt much happier taking on. I had 2 attack bikes and the fire power of 2 TLACbacks along with the support of the Librarian and Corbulo Rhino AND the Death Company. I played a range game and made sure that it was he who left himself exposed coming round the corner of the bunker first, and although my Meltabikes BOTH failed to pop the Land Raider in one turn, I got it in the next after his Lord and CSM squad as well as Huron got out to engage the Death Company Razorback with Meltaguns. Thanks to Smoke I got to dual charge both units with the DC and caused 7 wounds, winning the combat and causing Huron and his unit to run off the table! After that the Death Company were cut down by the Lord who was horribly exposed, and indeed died to massed gunfire. The one remaining bike shot his Rhino up and I was able to make a last ditch surge for his base with my Rhino and contest after blowing up the Rhino housing the CSM squad on it. Game ended with me holding one objective and contesting his. God bless fast vehicles! Boo hiss to not using Vindicators properly.

Second game was against a peculiar Codex Marine army and I was quite thrown off by some of the choices....

Korsarro Khan on Bike with 8 Bikers with Fist and Meltagun and Multimelta Attack Bike
10 Sniper Scouts with Telion
2 Thunderfire Cannons (which I can say I have never seen in use in my life)
Kantor and 10 Sternguard in a Drop Pod with 4 combi melta and 4 combi plasma

The game was multiple obectives and table edges deployment

I *should* have torn this list to pieces*

However I am so used to playing with my Daemonhunters and their Mystics I didn't give enough respect to the Sternguard and lost one of my Vindicators in turn 1 because I deployed them together so to give him 2 targets for his combat squads. I should have been dropping 2 pie plates directly onto those Bikers and removing them as a threat, instead I tried to 'vindicate' the loss of one of my tanks due to poor planning. I wasted a Vindicator shell on the Sternguard. This meant his Bikers were able to race forward and surround my DC Razorback and cut them down with ease. The Thunderfire Cannons were pretty ineffective against my transports even with their 4 St6 shots each. I spent my time securing one objective in my right corner of the board, he sneaklily left his one remaining Sternguard model on an objective in a place I couldn't see it. Out of sight out of mind and I forgot to snipe him with an attack bike. The game ended on turn 5 as a draw with 1 objective held each. I was lucky not to lose. It was a comedy of errors and bad judgement on my part, but all part of the learning process.

Last game was against Salamanders

Vulkan & 5 Terminators (4TH/SS 1 LC) in a Redeemer
10 Tacticals with Fist/CombiMelta & Multimelta in a Land Raider
10 Tacticals with Fist/CombiMelta & MultiMelta in a Rhino
2 Attackbikes in a squadron

Table edges and KillPoints

Again, I felt comfortable taking this list on. I should have been able to easily take it down, with my abundance of melta and his lack of units. Pop the Raiders with Bikes and Vindicators then use my fast gun platforms to whittle down the units within to nice chewable morsels for my small but elite assault units to finish off. As it happened he dangled bait in front of me by dismounting Vulkan and the Terminators right in front of my Death Company Razorback. Foolishly I disembarked within charge range and then shot at the Terminators with both Vindicators. One scattered wildly and the other succeeded in kill one. The one who was in charge range.... Uh oh! His turn and blew the guns off both my vindicators with his Land Raider and Thunder Hammers despite them moving 12" in my turn. Throw enough dice and you can kill anything! I should have focused on taking out the Land Raiders, ignored the Terminators until they were more managable. I ended up losing 4-5 on KP. I immobilised his other Raider but couldn't kill it even with a St9 Thunder Hammer and 3 Meltaguns. Woeful.

I am not one to blame bad dice, as I believe they even out. I think my main issues were getting distracted by nice meaty targets and wanting to drop the pie plates on them, rather than sticking to my pre-determined target priority hit-list. We must be flexible, but don't get distracted like a Magpie after shiny things!

It is all a learning process with this new army, and I will continue to get as many game sin as possible. Should be more tomorrow!

Chief Librarian Agur: Construction completed!

2010-06-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

After some small and fiddly green stuff work to make sure the seams are invisible and the armour is suitably ornate, Agur is now ready to lead the search for long lost texts and artefacts which could hold the answer to the salvation of the Flesh Tearers!

Now the painting begins as I put some finishing touches on the conversions of my Assault Marines to include some older marks of armour using a mix of plastic, resin and olllllld metal pieces. I have 5 Tactical Marines constructed ready to test out techniques. Pictures should start appearing throughout the week.

EVERY GAME IS ANNIHILATION!

2010-06-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

I always sort of laughed at them before.... "But... YOU CAN'T EVEN WIN GAMES WITH THEM!!!!1" ...but it's been eating away at my subconscious for a while. And I have decided I want to build a 1500pt Alpha Strike force as a foil for my super serious mechanized list.

In my mind I am going to justify this as Captain Ebrah's entire company succumbing to the the Black Rage during the recent history of the Flesh Tearer's chapter. An event which was one of the most devastating of it's history. I'll put it at around 250 years before Gabriel Seth became Chapter Master. Kind of like a fun historical re-enactment in my mind.

So... seeing as it is for fun, I am just going to fill the list up with things I love! After writing everything I wanted to actually use I was roughly 400pts over! I had to remove an entire unit and take out a couple of upgrades but we got it down to 1500pts in the end, so I am gonna try this.... Forget playing sensibly, forget controlling the DC and taking vehicles. That's all for people who want to win sensibly. I'm just strapping them into jump packs and drop pods and pointing them in the general direction I want death to occur.

Now, you NEED to take Astorath to unlock more Death Company, however I am unsure as it stands whether I want to actually take Astorath himself or use a Counts As and put that Carnarvon model on the table instead. I am sure in his service history he has lead more than 20 Death Company into battle at some point!

So with Astorath the first obligatory selection.... the rest was pretty easy to work out. Only 3 other unit types to juggle!

Astorath 220

220pts

Reclusiarch 130

Infernus Pistol 15

145pts

5 Death Company w/ Jump Packs 185

Thunder Hammer 30

2 Power Weapons 30

Infernus Pistol 15

260pts

7 Death Company 140

Power Fist 25

Power Weapon 15

1 Infernus Pistol 15

Drop Pod 35

230pts

8 Death Company 160

Thunder Hammer 30

2 Power Weapons 30

2 Infernus Pistols 30

Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon 45

295

Death Company Dreadnought 125

Blood Talons

Heavy Flamer 10

Drop Pod 35

170pts

Death Company Dreadnought 125

Blood Talons

Heavy Flamer 10

Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon 45

180pts

Total: 1500pts

One dread and the 8 man squad come down in turn one, and hopefully take out 2 chunky armoured targets. Then I bring down the other 3 units via Deep Strike with the Reclusiarch joining the 7 man squad, and Astorath joins the Jump Pack squad.

And then we just chase everything down for the rest of the game, screaming a lot.

I REEEAAAALLLLYYYY want to build a Chaplain that looks like this guy...

So more stuff to build.... it's almost as if I do it to put off painting anything!

Masters of the chapter.....

2010-06-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

Whilst we have a model for Chapter Master Seth (who I will be carving up and converting into something which looks less like angry Elmer Fudd in power armour) I have been going through trying to built suitable models for other high ranking senior members of the Flesh Tearers.

My first project was Carnarvon, as artwork exists of him and was a good basis for conversion. Using stylised Mk4 armour and a lot of small green stuff detail I came up with something I am happy with. He has currently been put on hold as I have no place for a Jump Pack Chaplain in my current list, an error on my part having constructed him with the Mk4 Jump Pack torso! I wanted to evoke the importance of his rank and also the fact that while currently the Chapter is in disrepair, their most senior members would still be carrying and wearing beautifully crafted relics. So while the Mk4 armour is covered in detailing, it is also adorned with torn loincloths, tattered purity seals and of course the rough and ready bionics which appear in his illustration in the FT Index Astartes article.

Carnarvon, High Chaplain of the Death Company, Watcher of the Lost

Next came the 'Sanguinary High Priest'. A model which would be entirely of my own design and imagining. My thoughts on this were two fold.... his position within the chapter would be twofold, firstly as keeper of the sacred chalice into which Sanguinius' very own life blood was placed and bestowed to Chapter Master Amit when he was tasked with bringing the righteous retribution of the Emperor to the stars aboard the Victus, and secondly and rather more forebodingly to try and save the Chapter's rapidly degenerating gene-seed. As the position of office would have been one of the greatest in the Chapter I wanted him to resemble the wonderful piece of artwork in the BA Index Astartes article of the Sanguinary Priest in full pure white Artificer Armour. I would convert him using not only Brother Corbulo, but also Dante and the Sanguinary Guard kit. Originally I modelled him with the Blood Angel plastic head with hair and rebreather, but he looked far too....pretty. There was no rough alongside the smooth of the beautifully sculpted muscled armour. So upon receiving the fantastic resin model of Raven Guard Captain Korvydae, I swapped the head over for something much more vicious and....ugly. A ferocious rictus stare accompanied by a wealth of bionic upgrades served as a wonderful contrast to the ornate and delicate armour which must date back millennia.

So here is the finished model. He is magnetised at the wrist so he can carry not only a grand Chain Axe, but also a Power Axe. His backback is also interchangable so he can fulfil 3 roles on the battlefield. Corbulo, with normal back pack and chain axe, Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack and Power Weapon, and finally Sanguinary Novitiate with Jump Pack and Chain Axe in an Honour Guard.

Sanguinary High Priest of the Flesh Tearers, Keeper of the Sacred Chalice, Brother Amasai:

And finally I set to work on the Chief Librarian. The Flesh Tearers Index Astartes describes their Librarians as not only tasked with the compiling of the history, but also traveling the galaxy looking for long lost pieces of ancient knowledge and prophecy that could lead to a cure for their degenerative affliction and save the chapter. My Chief Librarian would have to look like he has been to the ends of the universe and back again. Worn, weary, angry and haggard yet noble, wisened and incredibly powerful. I was originally going to use Juan Diaz' sculpt of the metal Librarian carrying the Force Staff and book, but that looked far too fresh faced. I then saw a frater post on Bolter&Chainsword using the model of Silas Hand as his Librarian. Instantly I was drawn to the severely disfigured face and knew that would be the basis of my Chief Librarian! Whilst the proportions of the sculpt were old and far too slim when compared to newer miniatures, I cut him at the waist and used just the torso whilst retaining the cool looking greaves. Using parts from the aforementioned Librarian with staff and a hand from the Sanguinary Guard (one I can see being a mainstay in Librarian conversions for years to come!) I pieced together something which conveys the restrained side of the Flesh Tearers nature. Striding forward as a man of purpose, bringing death to the enemies of Mankind. He fits in perfectly with the imagery of the other 2 conversions, contrasting the savage and disturbing visage with the ornate and beautifully crafted relics he carries of a bygone age of the dying Chapter.

Chief Librarian Agur of the Flesh Tearers:

So there are the current 'big 3'. I intend to build a Terminator Librarian, a Jump Pack Librarian and I also have a generic Reclusiarch on foot built already along with a simple Librarian and 2 Sanguinary Priest models for use in games.

So that's my HQ for you. Hopefully I will have some rank and file sprayed and ready to paint over this week!

1st battle report!

2010-06-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

So I went into my local store and challenged the manager to my inaugural game with this list....

I was running:

Libby - Fear, Shield
Corbulo
5 DC in Flamzorback with Fist & PW
6 RAS in TLAC Razor with 1 LC and Meltagun
6 RAS in TLAC Razor with 1 LC and Meltagun
6 RAS in Rhino with Thunder Hammer and Meltagun
2 Vindicators
Predator with AC/Las

He...for some reason only known to himself, was running:

Kantor
Librarian with Teleport and Shield
3 units of 10 Sternguard with 4 combi meltas and a fist in Pods
2 units of 5 Scouts.

The mission was Annihilation. The deployment was table edges. I won the roll off and of course went second. He deployed nothing. I deployed everything in reserve. He then deployed his 2 units of Scouts in the Dark Angel complex thingy which was in the centre of the table.

His turn 1 and his Drop Pod with Librarian and the other with Kantor came down in the midlle of the board and then ran forwards towards my table edge, with Kantor's unit doing towards the DA complex.

My turn 1 and I got 1 Razorback unit and the Rhino unit come on. The Rhino with Librarian and Corbulo inside flew forwards 18 inches down the right flank to circle round the back of the DA complex and hopefully pin the sternguard units in from behind. The TLAC Razorback came on, drove towards the Librarian's unit and opened fire with his Assault Cannon at max range in an attempt to bait him into Teleporting. The Assault Cannon killed 2 marines.

His turn 2 and his 3rd unit came down in its pod down my left flank. He opted to run and spread them out a bit. Kantor's unit ran up into the battlements of the DA building. And as I thought he couldn't resist teleporting his Sternguard next to the TLAC Razorback and popping it with combi meltas. He destroyed it and 2 of the marines inside died in the explosiion. 1-0 Codex Marines

My turn 2 and... as if by magic 2 Vindicators turned up! Needless to say they dropped a pie plate each on the Librarian and chums and reduced them to a squad of 6 as one scattered off. My RAS ran away to stand next to the Vindicators and my Rhino with Librarian and Corbs rolled next to the Vindicator to Shield them in his turn if necessary, but they were all pretty much out of range of anything. I tried to cast Fear of the Darkness on Kantor's unit and failed on an 11. 1-0 Codex Marines

His turn 3 and he teleported away with his Librarian to the far side of the DA complex building. He consolidated his Kantor unit into better firing positions in the complex and he took pot shots at my Rhino with his Scout Snipers. No joy.

My turn and my Death Company arrived. They flew forwards 18 inches towards his 3rd Sternguard unit and popped smoke. Meanwhile my 2 Vindicators took turns to drop Pie Plates on Kantor's unit killing 3 this time and again I tried to Fear of Darkness the scouts... this time I rolled a 12. Well done!

His turn 4 and he moved his 3rd Sternguard unit towards the DC Razorback and unloaded Meltaguns on it. He killed it and 5 angry Death Company marines got out just outside of his assault range. I cast Shield with my Libby. He tried to shoot at one of my Vindis with 2 of his Meltaguns from Kantor's squad at max range and failed to penetrate. Again he took 10 comedy pot shots at my rhino with his snipers. My Librarian asked if it was raining outside? 2-0 Codex Marines

My turn 4 and the 2nd TLAC Razorback arrived. The Assault Cannon blew up a Drop Pod. My Rhino drove forwards towards the Librarian and his 3 remaining buddies and popped smoke. The Vindicators again dropped pies onto Kantor and his men, this time killing another 2. And then the Death Company charged the Sternguard. They swung first and killed 6, the marine with Power Axe accounting for 3 of them. He swung back with his 3 remaining marines but the Death Company felt no pain and ignored their blows. Then the 2 Power Fists attacked. I killed 2 and he killed 1. He failed his break test rolling a 10 and so fled but was caught and remained in combat with only the sergeant remaining. 2-1 Codex Marines

His turn 5 Kantor decided to get out of his perch and attempt to get at the Marines in the Razorback nearby. He rolled a 2 to get down the building so sat tight. He fired his 1 remaining Meltagun from the Librarian unit at the Rhino but I passed my cover save. He took another 10 pot shots at the Rhino with the Snipers but they all bounced off. The Death Company butchered his last remaining Sternguard model in the 3rd unit and consolidated forwards towards their Drop Pod. His librarian cast Shield. 2-2

My turn 5 and FINALLY the Predator comes on. Another bonus of being fast is that it rolled on 6 inches and fired all of its guns decimating another drop pod. The 1st Vindicator dropped a pie plate on the Scout unit in the top of the tower but as they went to ground they gained a 2++ save. Only 1 died.The second fired at Kantor's unit but scattered off wildly hitting nothing. My TLAC Razorback also took some pot shots at Kantor's unit killing 1 marine leaving 2 and Kantor. The RAS in the Rhino disembarked with Corbulo and charged the Librarian and 1 remaining friend after taking a Meltagun shot in the face. Corbulo killed the last Sternguard and then the Librarian took a Thunder Hammer to the skull. The Death Company charged the last remaining Drop Pod and ripped it to shreds. A monstrous turn for me! 2-6 Flesh Tearers

The game continued to turn 6 and he charged Kantor out of the building but failed to make it into charge range of my Razorback. His Scouts did nothing. 2-6 Flesh Tearers

My turn 6 and I charged Kantor with my RAS after killing his buddies with an Assault Cannon and Meltagun. I moved my RAS unit with Corbulo inbetween the Scouts in the lower level of the DA building and his table edge then attempted to cast Fear of Darkness. They passed their leadership test. Pesky Stubborn! I dropped pie plates, Autocannon shells and Lascannon bolts at the Scouts, but they were cowering for their lives and passed all but one of their 2++ saves. I managed to cause zero wounds on Kantor and he in turn Killed 2 of my chaps but they were Fearless from the Red Thirst and stood firm. 2-7 Flesh Tearers

The game ended there. And it was a pretty straight forward workmanlike victory for Seth's boys. I was very happy with the ability of the Razorbacks to pop light vehicles and cause damage to infantry alike. Meltaguns causing almost a guaranteed casualty before combat is great as well for my smaller units when facing MEQs. The fast vehicles are GREAT! It meant I could stay at a safe distance knowing that it was not a problem to redeploy at any given moment if a greater weight of arms was needed somewhere else on the board. I was a bit disappointed with the Librarian, but Stubborn Space Marines pretty much negates Fear of the Darkness on average. I am looking forward to testing the list out against a more serious opponent!

Landing on Cretacia

2010-06-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome! This is my new blog for the progress of my Flesh Tearers force.

I had already started 2 WIP posts on bolterandchainsword.com for my modelling and one for my army list and bat reps

In future I will be updating this blog first and then reposting the blog links to the B&C posts.

Currently I am running a heavily mechanized 1500pt list based around Razorbacks with support tanks and a Librarian & Corbulo.

:HQ:

Librarian

100pts

:Elite:

Corbulo

105pts

:Troops:

5 Death Company

Power Fist

Power Weapon

Razorback

Extra Armour

T/L Heavy Flamer

Dozer Blade

Searchlight

216pts

6 Assault Marines

Thunder Hammer

Meltagun

Rhino

Extra Armour

188pts

6 Assault Marines

Meltagun

Lightning Claw

Razorback

Extra Armour

T/L Assault Cannon

213pts

6 Assault Marines

Meltagun

Lightning Claw

Razorback

Extra Armour

T/L Assault Cannon

213pts

:HS:

Vindicator

Dozer Blade

Extra Armour

165pts

Vindicator

Dozer Blade

Extra Armour

165pts

Predator

Autocannon

Lascannon Sponsons

135pts

Here's the school photo:

After months of assembly and various conversion work I will hopefully be able to get some painted up in the near future. I will be going for a super realistic style based on subtle weathering and shading rather than sharp highlights. This is a new technique for me so I will be learning as I go.

Flesh Tearers

Assembling a Stormraven to magnetise for easy transport

"Prime directive"

Assault Marine sergeants and special weapons

Chain Axe tutorial

And so it begins

A 1750pt list for ToS that I can settle on...

IT IS TIME

Heroes of the Flesh Tearers

Sanguinary Guard

Humbrol hobby spray tests.... not good

Completed Ancient Shavur, Librarian Furioso Dreadnought

Venerable Librarian Furioso MK IV WIP

How to magnetize the doors/sponsons of a StormRaven: Attempt 1

*starts playing Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.....*

New spray find.....

Furioso...HO!

Baal Predator

Thanks to Brother-Captain Lucius

Honour Guard: Battle Standard Bearer

Every game is Annhilation: Pt 1

Honour Guard & Dante Counts as....

When you buy everything Forgeworld release, you can make some cool shit!

Death Co. Dread 2 WIP

Death Company Dread with Blood Talons

Man... I've really fallen off!

Daemons.....

Win, Lose or Draw...

Chief Librarian Agur: Construction completed!

EVERY GAME IS ANNIHILATION!

Masters of the chapter.....

1st battle report!

Landing on Cretacia

starts playing Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.....