Incursion...

The recent release of SNAFU, the expansion to Grindhouse Games' excellent Incursion, has been distracting me rather a lot recently so while I'm waiting for the postman to bring me my new toys I thought I'd get on with painting up some German Zombies. As the game can need quite a few Zombies I'm aiming to paint them up pretty fast. These four took around 2 hours to paint using a quick wash-and-layer paint scheme (a method I don't usually use) and I think they look ok (now I've got the scheme worked out the next lot will probably be quite a bit faster):



For anyone who doesn't know Incursion, it's a Weird WWII board game set in the same world of Secrets of the Third Reich, with a rule mechanic that's a little like Space Hulk in that models are moved around a gridded board using Action Points (which 'buy' similar actions such as movement, shooting etc). It also, in the first edition, has US soldiers in what look like steam-powered Terminator armour, and a horde enemy that isn't that disimilar to Tyranids. The similarity ends there though and the game has a number of unique aspects that make it, in my opinion, a much better game. The plus points are (in no real order):

• The board isn't a time-consuming jigsaw and fits on a coffee table.
• Forces (both sides) are selected using a points system which gives much more flexibility/longevity to the game.
• The random CP of Space Hulk is replaced by a set number which are used to bid to decide which player takes the first turn each round and then as CP (this does away with the one problem I have with SH in which games are often decided by good CP 'rolls')
• There's a deck of cards that add a whole level of fun to the game, sure, they're a random element but they can be 'killed' by using CP which adds another level to the use of CP.
• There's a massive machine-gun wielding Gorilla.
• Great support online from the designers.
• Oh, and it's available to buy!

I should admit to some bias here as I was lucky enough to be involved in the playtesting of the expansion (I did this because I like the game) Anyway, to end, here are some pics of the stuff I've already painted, the good guys for now (I'll take some pictures of the German SWD for next time):
The US Lucky 7th:


Slugger Murphy:


Sarge:

Valhallans get some paint...

It turns out that I can't stick with anything so my terrain painting pretty much fizzled out after I painted my craters. Here they are 'in action':



Rather than finishing off the Shrine of the Aquila, I've painted up a unit of my Valhallans. Here they are, unit one (of eight) done:



Since I took this picture yesterday, the snow flock has dried and looks rather more powdery. I think tonight I'll add some more and maybe it'll get a little dirtier via some Devlan mud wash...

Finished a unit...

Here they are, unit one (of eight) done:



Tomorrow I might dirty up the snow a little and will probably add some more to the heavy weapons team where it looks a little thin.

I'm all over the place..

It turns out that my painting is all over the place, I just don't seem to be able to settle down and finish anything. Things are worse than usual because my youngest (5 months) has decided to give up on sleeping which has all but destroyed my painting time, hence the lack of post recently. But, I have been doing bits here and there.

First up I repainted my craters to match my gaming table:

I've also painted up some

Terrain time...

Having just returned to 40K, after a long leave of absence, I'm in the process of getting some terrain ready for the games room. Tonight I've managed to finish the first of the two Bastions that I'm working on. Here's how it looks:



The paint scheme is straight from the box art and is largely based on advice from another blogger who gives a stage-by-stage here. I've added in a little more detail and tried out Forge World's weathering powders which are great fun to use (not overdoing it is the first challenge).

For my own reference, the metals are Vallejo Gunmetal with a Badab Black Wash, Whites are Fortress Grey then White, Reds are Mechrite, then Blood Red with a final highlight of Vallejo Orange Fire. The whole thing is sealed with Purity Seal to keep the powders on there.

I'm hoping to get the following done over the next few months:

• Realm of Battle (done)
• 2 Bastions (1 done)
• Fortress of Redemption
• 4 or 5 buildings
• Road
• Woods
• Barricades
• 2 Bunkers
• Craters

Next up it's the Shrine of Aquilla, which is glued together (it looks great but it's a stupid kit in that it doesn't have enough 'tabs' to keep things lined up). Tonight I'll begin basing it up on some 4mm plywood.

Getting underway...

One of the aims of this blog is my attempt to get to grips with my ever-expanding collection of half-finished painting projects. The plan is simple, I'll set out each of my 'live' projects (I'm going to have to ignore those that have been hidden in the cellar for now) and will keep a check of where each is up to as the weeks go on. Hopefully I'll be able to rotate between them in an attempt to keep myself interested but the main aim is to move them from unfinished to finished before starting any fresh projects.

Here's what I'm aiming to complete, all in varying stages of completion:

1. Warhammer 40,000 Valhallan Army (1500 pts)
2. Warhammer 40,000 Terrain set
3. Warhammer Fantasy Orc Army (2500 pts)
4. Warmaster Undead Army (2000 pts)
5. Warmaster Chaos Army (2000 pts)
6. Warmaster Empire Army (2000 pts)
7. Epic Armageddon Imperial Guard Army (3000+ pts)
8. Epic Armageddon Space Marine Army (3000+ points)
9. Battlefleet Gothic Imperial Fleet (1500 pts)
10. Blood Bowl Skaven team
11. Incursion British and Zombies
12. Warhammer 40,000 Grey Knight Army (2000 pts)
13. Man O War Dwarf fleet
14. Man O War Imperial fleet
15. Battlefleet Gothic Orc fleet (1500 pts)

These projects are all started, some are nearly done (Blood Bowl and Epic stuff for example) and some are barely started (Valhallans, 40K terrain). As I start work on each project I'll give some detail of where things stand.

In an attempt to encourage myself, I'll be setting some rewards in place for completed stuff. At present these probably include:

Epic terrain (I'd like to overhaul my set, probably with some stuff from Section 6 Engineering)
Epic Eldar Army, or Tyranids if I succumb to my urge to collect oop toys (which I will).
New models for Grindhouse's superb game Incursion. Lots of stuff is coming out soon.

Dull stuff - Math-hammer... Base weights....

Wobbly Nid fixing base weights here

And, for the armchair general who wants to geek out, here's math-hammer taken to the extreme. Now you can calculate all of those odds at the press of a few buttons!

Back in the real world, I've just converted another two plasma gunners and ordered the bits I need from wargamersworld to convert the rest along with a chainsword for the Commissar. I'll also be slapping down a challenge to Paul Bailey tonight to see if he's up for a game next week.

See you in London for Battle2: The Revenge of the Nids...

First contact.... (with a power-gaming filth-meister)

'First contact' is clearly something that applied to one side only last night, with the Tyranids mashed up to the point that the Guard felt like they must have cheated. And cheat they did, claiming 'first contact' when 'fifth contact' would have been closer to the truth. Sorry about that, the combination of a good list and the (now obviously) massive advantage of having had the chance to roll the Guard out a few times was far more potent than I'd have imagined possible. I'm going to try to get a game in with the list against Paul B. to see what happens, I'll let you know how it goes.

progress update

Hello there mate, Rosie was asleep early tonight (by 9.15) so I've managed to do a little gluing of the plastics! Tonight I put together 8 more gaunts. They are tossed into a box lid with around a dozen other gaunts and a big old trygon (with a hairy old arse). I have to say that the box looks like the basis for a horde... there are loads of things in there which are coming to get you... of course the good news is that most of them are poop. The next stage is to finish spraying the gene stealers red, then base and undercoat all these gaunts and the zoanthropes. Then it's back to building the second trygon, my tervigon (which looks like a hive tyrant) and the 3 metal tyrant guards. When this is done, I will have built my horde. All I have to do then is paint the blighters. Not sure how I will transport them either... Ah well, one thing at a time. Will take a photo of what I have done so far soon! Promise...

Commissar Golovkin

Meet the newly-recruited Commissar Golovkin...



That's right, he's got an axe with which to smite your bugs!

Some inspiring stuff...

Hi Paul, not much work done recently beyond a little converting. The cards I ordered arrived and are pretty disappointing in that they offer no background at all. I'll give the game a go at some point though. Still waiting for everything else.

Anyway, if you're in need of inspiration check out the pictures on this chap's photo album clicky here. Some fantastic Tyranid stuff going on!

everybody's building

Hi mate, I ought to be up to my nuts in plastic minis at this time of the evening, but I thought I'd up date my blog instead. I've been busy building and buying of late. I have just received my order of 15 termigaunts from Wayland (ordered on 14th March). However, they were not able to supply the hive guard unit that I asked for. I have also contacted Maelstrom about these models and they are also unable to supply them. As a final role of the money saving dice I have contacted my mate who works in a gaming store (the chap who used to manage a GW) and asked if his store can supply. If not, then I am afraid it will have to a trip down to the local GW to blow £36.60 on 3 blister packs - containing models which will be a pig to put together ... Like you, I currently have a bee in my bonnet about GW metals. I now have built: a trygon (undercoated and based_ 20 hormagaunts (undercoated and based) 20 termigaunts (undercoated) 3 warriors (undercoated) 10 gene stealers Still to go: Tervigon 3 zoanthropes one more trygon the 3 hive guard that I do not possess as yet. I want to get the zoanthropes built and based this weekend. I am wondering if I can get away with just usind super glue and not pinning them. I would also like to get the second trygon in to some sort of shape - you have to build these big blighters in stages to give the glue time to set in the various sections. If I can get these things done this weekend, then I am course to have a built, undercoated, possibly based and partly painted army to face you with. Needless to say, these trhings must happen! P.S. don't make your army too competative, as I have yet to use mine!

Bases, eyes, and more toys...

Did I mention that I'm painting? I've got 16 Valhallans here in Germany, now all basecoated and ready for some highlights. I've made a couple of decisions today that I thought I'd share. The first is that I won't be painting eyes on them (I share this because I feel ashamed and need validation/forgiveness). The second is that I'm going to paint the edges of the bases in black rather than my usual Graveyard Earth. I think it sets of the paint-job nicely and it's suitably old-school for my nice metal miniatures (they're from 1994 I think). Try it on the Nids, there's no need for them to match but it might be cool if they did.

For reference (and if you want to try it yourself), my bases are painted with Adeptus Battlegrey, washed with neat Badab Black, and lightly drybrushed with Astronomican Grey. I'll be adding patches of snow when they're done. I reckon Tyranids would look cool striding over blood-spattered snow (and I can give you some snow flock if you want to try it, I bought a huge tub of stuff that I think might be better than the GW 'white grass').

I've also continued the shopping and have just bought another squad of men for £15 from Natalie on TWF. It's on old version of the squad pack which is cool because it means it comes with a heavy weapons team, this time a mortar which is a model I don't have yet. This should mean I've got all I need for the 1500 point army and probably enough extra heavy weapons teams to bulk it out a bit if needed.

And another thing, if you visit to play at my Gaming Room, I'll spend whatever your train costs on 40K terrain! If I can ebay enough stuff I'm thinking about getting this:

The shopping continues...

I've been entertaining myself with some very geeky retail therapy and have just bought this:


Coronis Campaign Collectable Card Game. It's a now oop game that pits the Guard against the 'Nids on Coronis IV, I thought it might help with generating some mini-campaign ideas...

And this:


White Dwarf 183. It's got a section on the Valhallans in it (and Epic scale Nids).

And... (no picture here, it'd be too dull), some more paints (5 at 3 Euros a pot) and more plastic plasma guns and plasma pistols (stupidly I didn't buy the chainsword and bolt pistol I need). Why do I need them? To convert my next ebay purchase which is going to be the dude on the left in the picture below (he'll be my Commissar):

List version three

And on we go again...

• Company CS (Plasma Pistol, 4 Plasma guns, Chimera – ML, HF)
• Platoon CS (4 Flamers)
• 3 Infantry Squads (Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher) 1 Commissar (Plasma Pistol, Power Sword)
• 2 Veteran Squads (3 Meltaguns, Chimera – ML, HF)
• 1 Vet Squad (3 Meltaguns, plasma pistol) (Will ride in a Vendetta)
• 1 Vendetta
• 1 Leman Russ Executioner (lascanon, Plasma Cannon sponsons)
• 1 Leman Russ Demolisher (Hull mounted HF)
• Griffon (HF)

I've posted the list to an Imperial Guard forum to see if anyone can help me out. That's here.

Tervigon

Hi Paul, browsing the internet brought me to a conversion kit that makes up a Tervigon, it might be worth a look?

Tervigon kit here...

Looks like it'd cost about £15-20 posted.

Just spotted that they sell them on ebay here.

happy birthday!

Hello birthday boy,
I hope that you got to Germany ok and that you travel was event free.
I'm just going to glue a couple of genies together now (it's the first time in days that Rosie has been asleep before 10 - I'm knackered).
Remind me, are you back in a week?

P.

Spanked!

Another outing for the vailant guard last night, this time at 1500 points. Same tragic outcome! The scenario wasn't in our favour (we had to set up in the centre of the board and went second) and I made a few mistakes. My first mistake was that I didn't design a list with the scenario in mind, the second was that a couple of my units were in charge range from turn one (not that I had much choice), the third was that I didn't know the rules about disembarking from destroyed vehicles and one of my units had to miss a turn as a result (and then died). As a result I was on the back foot from turn one. I did manage to kill a fair bit of stuff and had a couple of vehicles left at the end but it was never going to go my way.

Highlight of the match: Sly Marbo appears from reserve and throws a demolition charge (Large blast, S8, AP2) at a unit of tyranid warriors. The odds say that three should die. Instead it moves onto him (quite unlikely as he has BS5 and can shift the scatter by that much) and kills him instead (he had a 3-up save). Then, the Vendetta that was poised to finish off the remains of the unit fails to score a single would with three twin-linked lascannons. That same Vendetta would then fail two 4 up saves in a later turn and be taken down! All I can say is that while I probably deserved to lose moments like this really sealed my fate.

Lessons learned (the hard way):

1) Sometimes it's better to be wiped out in combat than to survive the initial assault (in order to be able shoot at the attacker).
2) Learn the rules (of the armies and the book in general).
3) Remember that lots of Tyranid stuff can assault 18".
4) I think I need a better army list.

Chimeras are go....

After an evening of sniffing glue and watching Death Race on tv I now have three built Chimeras. Got a game on Tueday (1500 point game of a mission called First Contact from the Battle Missions book). Should be a good one, my motto for the game: 'don't get out of the tanks...'

Naming names...

With your story request in mind, I've found a list of Russian (Valhallan) names, I'll allocate them as and when...

FORENAMES
SURNAMES

For now we have:

• Colonel Resnikov
• Commissar Golovkin
• Lieutenant Veis
• Sen. Sergeant Zukov (Vet squad leader)
• Sen. Sergeant Tomilin (Vet squad leader)
• Sergeant Pravdin
• Sergeant Mahkno
• Sergeant Kenin
• Major Levkova (Tank Company Commander and sole survivor of the last battle)
• Captain Loffe (Vendetta Pilot)

To arms!

Last night the Valhallans got their first crack at the Tyranids in a 1000 point game of Annihilation (kill points for units destroyed). The Guard had a Vendetta, a chimera full of Veterans with 3 meltas, a merged squad of 20 men with a commissar and a couple of lascannons, a platoon command squad with 4 flamers, an Executioner tank and a company command squad in a chimera with 3 plasma guns. The Tyranids had: a Tyranid Prime, 3 Tyranid Warriors, 3 Tyranid Warriors, 3 Hive Guard (split into two units), 15 Hormagaunts, 15 Hormagaunts, a Biovore, and a Trygon.

On set up the battle looked like this:


The guard had the first turn and managed to shoot about nothing (3 little dudes died). In return, the Nids killed the Vendetta and half of the big troops squad and most of them advanced to the middle of the table.

Turn two, with less shooting than before saw the guard do not much but the Company Command squad did move forward 6 inches! In response the Gaunts smacked up the Guard who were hiding in the wood. The Tyranid Warriors killed the CCS's chimera and they got out (handily running behind it out of combat range). The Trygon arrived in the middle of the battlefield and went RAAAAAAGH!
Turn three was my favourite as the Company Command squad, and the Leman Russ tank, managed to kill the Trygon (it took six re-rollable plasma gun shots and 5 plasma cannon shots to fell the beast). This involved me reading the rules for Monstrous Creatures who, thankfully, don't get cover saves unless they're 50% obscured. Paul wasn't too pleased! My Platoon Command squad ran through the woods and flamed all but one of the little bugs who'd just killed their friends. The survivor, because he was near a synapse creature, was able to rally and would then hide so I didn't get the kill point! In response to my good turn, the Nids massacred the Company command squad and killed the other Chimera with shooting.

The following turns involved the Nids killing everything and losing a little in return to shooting. On the last turn this was all that was left of the valiant Valhallans:

Believe it or not the tank survived!

In the end I had three kill points, Paul had five. Although I was almost wiped out, if I'd had a couple of luckier dice rolls it would have been a draw (he had a couple of units that were close to dead that could easily have died). Looking at the table, a victory for the Nids looked much more sensible, the only reason I could have drawn is that my army (by no intention of mine) had very few kill points to give up while Paul's had loads).

Good fun but scary for the Guard who found themselves out-gunned (a surprise) and out-fought!

Spraygun...

Tonight has been quite productive, I've based the men that were built, undercoated the tanks black and then basecoated them (and my hands) Adeptus Battle Grey using the GW spray gun. I'm not entirely convinced that it's a good thing and it's certainly no better than a can of grey spray paint would have been. The paint has gone on, it's not entirely smooth but as I'm going to apply whitewash with a sponge tomorrow that doesn't really matter. I'm a bit nervous about using it on the Vendetta though. I might practice a bit on the next bunch of tanks if they ever come (they're awaiting stock at Wayland).

Tomorrow you might just get a picture of the army as it stands.

tell me a story

My thought for the day is that I want to use our bettle to try to write a battrle story - I'm imagining a plucky group of Imps ready to defend an outpost (to the last man), knowing that a swarm of nids are heading their way. Wave after wave of gribblies pooping out yet more of the blighters.

Other than that, I'm shattered and heading to bed now.

Oh by the way, I have noted the hint about the lehmen russ tank. I'll have a look at how much they are and see if I can get one to wend its way to you.

Hybrid Bus Fleet

Imagine my horror as, with Tyrannids on the brain, I saw this message in my work emails:

Subject: Hybrid Bus Fleet Hits Oxford Road

Of course, it only took a second to realise that it wasn't actually a new Tyrannid spawning...

Vendetta

I got a little more done tonight with the completion of the Vendetta. I also made the happy discovery that the Forgeworld upgrade kit meant I could ditch one of the lascannons (the one on the side). Why good news? Because I'd lost the lascannon from my Leman Russ and a bit of scalpel work converted it into a fine replacement for the missing piece.

Tomorrow night, all being well, I hope to base the troops and also to try out the GW spray gun which I'm hoping to use to basecoat all of the tanks and maybe to lay down a base coat on the troops too. I've read such awful things about the spraygun on the internet that my hopes aren't high.

Finally, I've stuck the various unused weapons from the Valkyrie (door gunners, rocket pods and missiles) up on ebay to raise some more cash for the war chest!

Wayland 1 : Wallet 0

Hello there,
I've ordered more stuff from Wayland. It's the main thing that I am without, namely the hive guard unit. I have also ordered more wee gaunts for the big griblly to poop out. Now I can relax a bit on the buying front (thank goodness, as this has been as expensive few weeks) and just keep an eye out on the e bay for some gaunts and anything else that looks good (like a venomthrope).

I now need to get on with undercoating the things that I have built lately (probably a job for the weekend) and finish building the rest of the army. Then its time to get the paint pots out. So much left for us to do and yet there's so little time...

Left to paint:
Around 40 gaunts
2 Trygons
1 tyranid prime
1 gaunt pooper
10 gene stealers
3 hive guard

Probably some other stuff too that I've forgotten.
Chances of getting it all painted.... not much. Will have it all built and undercoated though, AND some stuff painted.

How are you doing? Will set a date soon,

P.

Hello there Top Gun,
I too have started buying stuff - my order from Mayland has been taken to the Post Office collection point, there by giving me a Saturday job. It's another Trygon and a zoanthrope.

At the moment my shopping list consists of:
More termagaunts
More Hormagaunts
3 Hive guards

The number of termagaunts needed is especially hard to judge as I have one of those aliens which breeds more of them ever turn... dirty!

I am also tempted to buy a couple of venomthropes, but I'm not really sure I have room for them in my army. Something else would have to go. On the plus side, I do think they look cool in a squid like octopus way (they're the things with the big tentacles incase you're not sure).

I have spent the last couple of nights starting to buiild my first trygon. It's one of those finely balanced models which need the glue to have dried on the previous part before you can glue the next part on - a bit annoying. Still, by Sunday it will be built. based and undercoated, along with 16 terms, 16 horms and 3 zoanthropes. Next week I start putting red paint on things! Bring it on!!!

Buying stuff...

After some decent ebay sales I've begun my shopping. So far I've bought:

Forgeworld Vendetta conversion kit
3 Chimeras
6 laspistols
2 plasmaguns
Meltagun dude
greenstuff
2 tyrannid skulls

I need:

1 plasma gun
1 mortar firer
3 60mm round bases
Leman Russ tank
Paintbrushes
Figure cases (that's too dull to think about)

If you fancy buying me a Leman Russ tank (or part of one), it'd make my birthday!

All quiet on the Eastern front...

Not a lot to report, I've been basing stuff (the good news is that the troops for a metal army don't need building, the bad news is that lots of mine haven't got base tabs and need pinning, oh and I'm drilling out gun barrels...) They'll all be based by the end of the week. I've also just failed to order from Wayland, I'll retry tomorrow but the good news there is (a) they have free shipping (code: FREESHIP), and (b) I have enough from my ebay sales to buy all three Chimeras!

Oh, and expect a text about the IG codex.

Your army list2 still looks like a whole bunch of heavy shooting is going to be levelled against the swarm... I hope you are going to need it!I intend to swarm all over you!

One of my things to buy is going to be the Imp Gaurd book so I can find out what all thise nasty things do.

I also went in to a GW store today (bought a pot of paint) and happened to mention this blog / match up we have organised. The manager was frothing at the proverbial. He said things like: "Classic match up! Gaurds against 'nids, classic!"

I think he approves.

Sleep well... dream of your beautiful world before the nids come and suck the precious life out of it...

Army list version two...

A new list is born….

Company Command 190
4 plasma guns, officer of the fleet, chimera (H Flamer)

Infantry Platoon 435
Platoon Command + 4 flamers, Chimera (HF)
3 squads G Launcher, Las Cannons (1 x Commissar)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 x Hvy Bolter)
Vet Squad (3 meltas, Chimera) 155
Vet Squad (3 meltas) (Vendetta riders) 100
Vendetta Gunship 130
Griffon Hvy Flamer 75
LR Executioner (Plasma Sponsons, Lascannon) 245
Leman Russ (lascannon) 165
TOTAL: 1495

And why these changes? First up, I don't have the models to provide the Special weapons squad (hence the Hvy Bolter squad). Second, I wanted at least one commissar in there (the infantry unit he's with may be joined to another one to make his abilities better). Third, I didn't like the idea of ratlings, they're a bit too daft (an I don't own any)...

Jobs to do:

Buy:

3 Chimeras, 1 Leman Russ, 1 plasma gun, 1 melta gun, 3 Hvy Wpns bases, Officer of the fleet, mortar firer, 6 plastic laspistols.

Build/base infantry.

Build 4 tanks

Convert 1 x plasma gunner, 2 x melta gunners, 6 officers to carry laspistols.

Paint it all..... Mwahahahahahah.....

I've written a list of jobs that I need to do week by week as we lead up to the show down. it's quite an ambitious plan and includes:
By 12th March: have all hormagaunts & termagaunts built and undercoated.
19th March: All gene steallers and trygon built and undercoated - start painting trygon
26th March: Finalise army list and ensure that everything is built and undercoated - continue painting trygon
2nd April: Trygon completed. Base colours on all gaunts
9th April: Base colours on all beasties.

Obvously I'm not sure of the date that we are going to play on, but I'm guessing I'm getting close to D day at htis point. Hopefully you will face a tyranid force with a nicely painted centre piece model and lots of table top standard models which I can trhen complete at a more liesurely pace (I may well be sick of the sight of the blighters by the time we start throwing any dice). Anyway, let me know your plan of action!

Departmento Munitorum

'The Departmento Munitorum is a department of the Administratum devoted to the general administration, supply and command of the Imperial Guard, however despite its neccesity it is often viewed by Imperial Guard as ineffective. The Munitorum has ultimate responsibility for the raising of new regiments, training of troops, provision of equipment and supplies, and transportation of troops and equipment to and from theatres of war. It is primarily a logistical organisation, like the Administratum, but while the Administratum deals with civilian logistics, the Munitorum deals with the logistics of war.' (Lexicanium)

With reports of the inbound Hivefleet mounting, the Departmento Munitorum is gearing up for war, finally relenting to Chenkov’s desperate calls for men and materiel… Requisition orders are drafted and ready:

The Wayland Forgeworld:

3 x Chimeras - £49.20

1 x Leman Russ Battle Tank - £24.60

The Forgeworld Forgeworld:

1 x Vendetta upgrade kit - £14.30

BitzBox Forgeworld:

4 x Catachan command laspistols - £1.20

2 x plasma guns - £2.00

2 x Cadian Command chainsword - £0.80

1 x Leman Russ lascannon - £1.50

Forgeworld Ebay:

More Valhallans… £??

Forgeworld GW Mail Order:

Imperial Guard Lord Commissar - £8.20

Imperial Guard Commissar with Powersword - £8.20

6 x 60mm round bases - £5.10

Wow, that's a lot of artillary that the nids are going to come up against. I will need to think of something clever to avoid having the poop shot out of my devouring swarm... Not setting up a room length apart will of course help.

I have been toying with buying some venomthropes. They're the ones that look a bit like an octopus and I quite like them. The only problem is that I am starting to want most things in my army now and need to stay a little more focussed.

Tonight I have glued together 4 little gaunts. Every little helps!

Mustering the Valhallans

In preparation for the inevitable shopping trip, here's a list of what I've got so far.

TROOPS:
Commander Chenkov
Platoon Leader
4 sergeants
29 lasgun dudes
3 meltagunners
3 grenade launchers
9 flamers
3 radio men
4 lascannons
3 hvy bolters
3 missile launchers

VEHICLES:
Griffon
Leman Russ Executioner

MISC:
1 tank driver
4 tank riders
5 spare radios
3 plastic plasma guns
1 plastic meltagun

Tank Markings

For my own reference, here's some information about tank markings from WD353.

Valhallan Commissar

Here's a Valhallan Commissar by Mika. Really an experiment to see how you insert pics from the web without downloading them.

It's easy...

1. CTRL + click the pic you want.
2. Select 'Copy image location'
3. Paste that into the URL box in the insert pictures section on here.
4. Upload and you're done.

The hive mind

Foolish mortals, you have fallen in to the trap devised by the hive mind of the Behemoth fleet. Guyan Valley was simply a 'warm up' to test the strengths and weaknesses of the Imperial Guards. Although the gaurds thought that they had anhialated all of the nids, they hadn't counted on genestaelers spaws hiding underground, dormant until the main fleet is within striking distance. Now that time is approaching and the gene stealers aer stirring...

An update on my list includes:
Leading with a tyranid prime,
3 hive gaurds (got to buy)
3 zoanthropes (need 1 more)
2 lots of 20 termagaunts (need more)
lots of gene stealers... i have plenty
A Tervigon (I'll use a HIve tyrant model)
2 Trygons (Need to buy one more).

If I bought everything that I need new from GW, I think Ii'd sspend around £100. I'll do it cheaper through e bay and Maelstrom.

Geek out!

vengence oh vengence

The nids are big on Shakespearian quotes - FACT!

There is also no way that they will allow a set back (loosing to the iron shod Imp Gaurd, and that's not an abbreviation). Anyhow, they're coming to get you!
The colour scheme will be red and black or as I am sure you know, the Hive Fleet Behemoth. As I mentioned, I have already put togther a fair number of the little gaunt models. Other things that I will have in my army include a Mawloc / Trygon - don't know which yet. I also fancu plenty of gene stealers, and a terviigon. This is a bizzare creature that spawns termigants each turn. Other critters in the army will include plenty of 'nid warriors some zoanthropes and possibly a unit of hive gaurd.

My feeling about the nids is that they blow bubbles at shooting, but look quite mean in hand to hand, so the majority of my army will be based arounf that - the exception being the hive gaurd (good at shooting) and the mawloc / Trygon which I want to use as a big 'hit and run' beastie.

I haven't done the maths on my army list yet - but will do so in the next 24 hours. Like you I am aware that I will change my mind a few times before we take to the battle field! Let the gluing commence!

Hive fleet Jormungandr

In case you're wondering, this is what Hive Fleet Jormungandr look like (these are from Phil Kelly's army).

What scheme are you planning on using?

The Valhallan 18th - first thoughts...

Here’s my provisional army list, no doubt in need of some more thought:

Company Command 180
3 plasma guns, officer of the fleet, chimera (H Flamer)

5 Ratling Snipers 50

Infantry Platoon 365
Platoon Command + 4 flamers, Chimera (HF)
3 squads G Launcher, Missile Launcher
1 Special Wpns Squad 3 flamers

Vet Squad (3 meltas, Chimera) 155

Vet Squad (3 meltas) (Vendetta riders) 100

Vendetta Gunship 130

Griffon Hvy Flamer 75

LR Executioner (Plasma Sponsons, Lascannon) 245

Leman Russ (lascannon) 165

TOTAL: 1465

This would mean painting up 66 Guardsmen, 5 tanks and the Vendetta. It’ll also involve converting 5 snipers, 3 plasma guns (there aren’t Valhallan versions of these) and getting hold of quite a few more toys (including 3 Chimeras, Leman Russ, FW Vendetta conversion kit) but I’ve certainly got the bulk of what’s here already to go.

No doubt the list will change a bit. I really want some commissars in there just to use the figures and I’m not sure that I can be bothered converting the snipers… it’ll do for now.

The chap at the top is my only painted Guardsman (painted back in March 2010) so I guess I've actually only got 65 to go. I'll be adding some snow to the base.

996.M41 Goyan Valley

Well, here's the blog and I bet you're wondering why it's called 'Goyan Valley'. The answer is pure fluff:

996.M41

Under the command of the stern taskmaster Kubrik Chenkov, the Valhallan 18th 'Tundra Wolves' wipe out the vanguard of Hive Fleet Jormungandr at Goyan Valley. The swards of Tyranids are crushed under the metal treads of Chenkov's armoured brigades and the thundering boots of over a million guardsmen, driven onto the xenos horde by ruthless Commissars.

That's from the IG Codex and it's the only point of contact I've found between the Valhallan's and the 'Nids. I figured it would do to set the scene of the distant conflict to come...