A Blog Reborn!

After a busy few months at work and socially the blog has died again and my Astral Claws still need a lot of work. Last week was my birthday and I decided it was time that my Tyrant’s Legion list from Imperial Armour 9 started to take shape. To that end I have drawn up a 1750 point list which I’ll post below. The list is very fluffy, mainly models I fancy building and painting but I’m hoping to get it built and play tested in the next few months. After that I’ll start tweaking it to make it more effective.

HQ – Lugft Huron, 235pts
HQ – Legion Centurion, storm bolter, bolt pistol, 60pts

Elites – Terminator Assault Squad, thunder hammer and storm shield, Land Raider Redeemer with multimelta, 450pts

Troops – Legion Auxilia, 39 auxilia, 1 x flamer, 1 x grenade launcher, 2 x heavy stubber, 1 prefect with bolt pistol, 165pts
Troops – Legion Space Marine Cohort, 9 marines, 1 x flamer, 1 x multimelta, 1 veteran sergeant w bolt pistol + power fist, Rhino, 225pts
Troops – Legion Space Marine Cohort, 9 marines, 1 x flamer, 1 x multimelta, 1 veteran sergeant w bolt pistol + power fist, Rhino, 225pts
Troops – Auxilia Armsmen Cadre, 10 armsmen, 1 master at arms w close combat weapon, bolt pistol, melta bombs, Chimera with hull mounted heavy flamer, 145pts

Heavy – Vindicator w siege shield, 125pts
Heavy – Predator w lascannon sponsons, 120pts

As a birthday treat to myself I ordered a lot of plastic. I now have everything I need to complete the 1750 list except the Chimera which I’m hoping to pick up next week after I get paid. I’m using the Wargames Factory Shock Troops as Legion Auxilia (the IG forces under Huron’s control) as the models look great and are just different enough from standard IG minis to give the TL list a secessionist flavour. The models are currently quite hard to get hold of as WF has recently been bought by a Chinese company but I found 3 boxes on Upanatem Games (http://www.upanatemgames.co.uk/store/shocktroopsgreatcoattroopers-p-129.html). Delivery was quick and now I have more than enough Auxilia to make several different lists (I already have one box won as a raffle prize at the UK Freebootaz tournament in November).

My plan for the blog is to detail my Tyrant’s Legion as it grows. I am going to try and update at least once a week and include pics wherever I can. This weekend’s plan is to start the build phase, I currently have the predator sprues in detergent solution and the Auxilia sprues are already washed and dried. I have 5 individual marines to build: 2 veteran sergeants, 1 flamer marine, 1 meltagun marine and my Legion Centurion. I spent an evening kit bashing the other day and have all the bits I need for these 5, just need to get filing and gluing which I’m hoping to do tomorrow.

Some units, like the assault terminators, are already built and I’ll post pics as soon as I get some paint on them. I have a busy week next week, including 2 meetings with UK Freebootaz (one for beer and one for games.... and beer) and Black Library Live so I suspect little will get done, as such I’m focusing on getting a great start this weekend.

Watch this space!!!

Battleships Ahoy!

Just a quick update with some shots of my Dystopian Wars battleship.

Sniper Scouts

As promised 5 minutes ago here are some shots of my Astral Claws scouts with sniper rifles. Apologies for the photo quality.



I've used these scouts in several games now including the tournament in November. They're great for holding objectives in cover as the camo cloaks give them an extra +1 to cover saves and combined with going to ground can effectively give them a 2+ invul save.... until the enemy gets in range, flamers will wipe them out easily as will being assaulted but for 90 points they've tied up many an enemy unit for a long time and have even dropped a few wounds on Mephiston for fun. The only thing I have to keep reminding myself is they're scouts so, while sniper rifles can be very effective weapons, they only have BS 3 - my solution will be to add 4 more scouts and Telion at some point in the future.

A brief update

I have several Astral Claws units I've been wanting to upload but I'm struggling to get decent pics (need a new camera!).

In the mean time I thought I'd upload a mini I finished in about an hour today. It's a frigate for the new Spartan Games steampunk miniatures game Dystopian Wars. The resin minis are very detailed and I wanted to show some of that detail and add some bold colour contrast. The result is slightly cartoony but I like it. I think the fleet will look great when complete.

Claws to follow soon I promise. I'll try and get my scouts uploaded in the next 48 hours.

Watch this space....

Just a quick apology that this blog has been untouched for several months. There has been progress with my Astral Claws and this evening I will post up my minis so far.

Keep watching the skies...errr...blog!

Shhhhh!

So my new army and current time sink is an Astral Claws force. I went to my first UK Games Day this year and instantly fell in love with the Lugft Huron model. So deep was my affection for this lifeless hunk of resin that I picked up Imperial Armour 9 and decided that I had to build my new leader an army.

I've been hesitant to show any pics of my army as it's developing as I know that several of the people who read this will be entering the tournament but I've just finished painting my HQ unit and I just had to show it off.

The Librarian in terminator armour is a great metal model which is so detailed that I've been a bit intimidated and have put off painting it for some time. This weekend I decided to give it a shot and 6 hours later here are the results.



It's definitely tabletop quality but I can see an improvement in my painting from this time 12 months ago and I'm very happy with it.



I'll post the rest of my growing marine force as it nears completion.

The Challenge

So we're about to hit November and I'm playing in a doubles tournament in 28 days. I have my 750 points assembled but non of it is painted. I need to paint more than one mini a day to get my army finished in time - it will be a busy November. I'll keep you updated on my progress!