Great Crusade

Great Crusade

Monday 30 March 2015

Weekly Update 3/30/2015

Hey Everyone,
So with another week down lets take a look at the 30k world. Forgeworld has released another sneak peak as well as showing off some great pictures from the studios armies. In addition to this my luna wolves are making some great progress. Lastly the winner will be announced soon for the Forgeworld Titan.

Forgeworld
Just want to take the time to remind everyone if you haven’t already to make sure you sign up for the forgeworld newsletter. The contest winner will be announced April 1st and the last day to sign up is tomorrow the 31st. So again make sure to sign up and good luck !
The Lord Marshall Cometh!
(insert Lord Marshall Image)

So going out on a limb here and saying this might be the Lord Marshall Ireton Masade from book 4. I think that's the case from the look of his weapons being a master crafted Power weapon as well as the Archaetech Pistol. I hope this is the case since it would be the second none astartes character to be done and would be  another great commander for Solar Auxilla.

Forgeworld Studio Pictures


So here are two units from the studios army done up in Emperors Children as well as the DeathGuard colours. Both looking stunning with the back drop of Battle-Automata and this makes me really want to get this model.

14th Company Progress
So the Luna wolves got some progress which am really excited about since we are seeing some paint on the units and some are almost done.
First Contemptor



So the contemptor I showed last week has got some paint on it and is making some great progress. We are seeing some Metallic parts being done and is on its way to being Finished.
Second Contemptor
The second Contemptor is also one the way and Rob really took his time trying to get the pose right since this is going to be magnetized. This one is probably going to be the most fun to play with since right now its going to have enough gear to run with dual autocannons, dual assault cannons, or a combo with a fist.

Taratos Terminators




Taratos are also on the way and should be done this week. This is going to my anti tank close combat unit so hopefully they do pretty well.
Praetors

So my Praetors are almost done and this is very exciting since my Company Captain is going to be done. I really like how the gold turned out on these. The other feature is just how the faces and heads turned out and really bring out the character. I can’t wait to run him on the table and to start building up his legend.
Justaerins

The Justaerins are pretty much done now with Rob saying a few touch-up need to be done. Once these guys are fully painted up I won't be able to wait to run them with Horus in the next game I have..  I know a lot of 30k and Sons of Horus/Lunawolves players will say not to run them but I love the look and just want to get them into the thick of it!

So another exciting week down hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for more !
General Soban 
Signing off till next time

Friday 27 March 2015

Alpha Legion Vipers and justerains !

Hey Everyone,
So forgeworld put two more items up on there site and these are something I’ve been looking forward to since the heresy weekender.


Armillus Dynat
Alpha Legion rejoice Alpharius is with us errrr I mean Armillus Dynat. The Alpha Legion special character that was released with the rest of the alpha legion in book 3. A beautiful model and the forgeworld studio painted it up amazingly, it really shows off one of the top commanders in the legion. With great rules that make this serpent tough in combat as well as bonus to the army this is going to be a must pick for Alpha Legion Players.
Xiphon Pattern Interceptor
This Interceptor was probably one of my favorite models shown off on the weekender. This is battle star galactica meets 40k and I was not disappointed with it. A High end anti-tank and anti-flyer this unit appears to be geared to that one approach and give the legion army another unique flyer to its rank. As per most pre-releases you can find the experimental rules herehttp://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/X/Xiphon_Heresy.pdf check it out and hope to see a few of these going around !
Justerain Progress
So Rob from Bearbox studio sent me an early photo of the justerains and man am  I loving them! Can’t wait for them to be done soon.  Also be sure to check out his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/BearBox-Studios/1577491645831824
Anyhow this ends a quick update be sure to check out my blog for more upcoming 30k stuff and more army progress.
General Soban 
Signing off till next time

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Forgeworld and Army Progress

Hey Everyone,
So with life being a little hectic I missed out on some very cool stuff in the 30k universe. Forgeworld alone released a lot of new content for both loyalist and Traitor alike that really caught my attention. Also, new units where shown which will give some new toys for a few armies. Lastly, Rob from bearbox studio made some army progress for my luna wolves!
Forgeworld new releases!
In the last two weeks forgeworld has unleashed a torrent of new stuff. Looks like they are gearing up for the new book that ,hopefully, will be coming out in the next few months. With Solar Axillary, Ultramarines, IronWarriors, Mechanicum all getting a release this is an exciting time!
First we have up the Solar Auxillary Rapier Laser Destroyer and Quad Motar . Both weapon platforms are some of the strongest weapons in the meta and this release gives solar auxiliary two more weapons to add to their platform.

The Laser Destroyer is a must have weapon being a strength 9 ap 1 ordinance weapon. Add in the fact it's twin linked which makes it a natural tank killer that gets the benefits of being able to be placed in better positions than tanks. Personally I’ve field tested the marine version and if you need some serious anti tank take this a good bang for your points in an army list

Now this portable artillery piece has been a major weapon piece since it was first released for the death korp of krieg. A nice weapon platform, it's cheap and gains the shell shock rule or sunder depending on the ammunition you use makeing it a deadly indirect weapon. Being also relative cheap in the terms of points will make this Auxiliary weapon a nice cheaper alternative to the bigger medusa.



The Iron Warriors got some love with the release of the torso upgrade and the helmet upgrade pack. This goes wonderfully with the shoulder packs release and I think it works with the army who believed in practicality over visuals and with the helmets you can see either the uparmoured protection, or pretty view. I think this will become a high end purchase and makes me wish I picked up some of Ironwarriors for myself!

So the Ultramarines got their first unique legion icons released with the shoulder pad upgrades. Coming in mark 2,mark 3,and lastly mark 4 this is a preview of what is to come. Being a old time ultramarines fan this will be a bonus since the raised icon will add more modeling imagery and will look good on the table. Can’t wait to see more releases for this legion.




Lastly the Mechanicum got a new unit with experimental rules released, the deadly Scyllax Guardian. Another Automata this 5 squad Covenant shows another combat monster that is both cheap and readily available for the Mechanicum. One of the coolest rules I saw was the new dismemberment rule which give it a single ap 2 hit at strength 6 something nice to kill some of those hard to kill terminators. You can as always check out the rules for this at http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/S/scyllax.pdf  which forgeworld provided for us so for those that pre-order it can enjoy a new close combat unit!

14th Company update
Not only was there new releases but I also lucked out and got a lot of units in or got some great deals. Rob was happy to send over some work inprogress shots


So this unit though not early crusade was a hard unit not to get. Sharing many of the design characteristics of the contemptor dreadnought I felt like this would be a great match to run beside them. Adding in the fact that I have them equipped with some power fists gives my army extra anti tank gear which am find my army is lacking. For a last added bonus there is a single auto cannon in the unit to give them some long range fire power.
I play tested this unit a bit before giving them over to Rob’s Studio and though standard terminators, they play differently from what I was used to. Being able to move more then normal terminators it gave this unit a edge I was surprised terminators could have on squad maneuvers. The other bonus was in the age of darkness these units count as a scoring unit which makes them a much better heavy line infantry. I can’t wait till these get painted up and they're back on the table.


So one of two Contemptors on the production line. This one I bought of a guy locally. Armed with the muiltmelta and a power fist melta means this is a upclose and personal dread. Though not the preferred weapon type for Contemptors in legion lists I feel this version is either going to take a lot of damage due to the fear of its guns or be able to do some damage as other more threatening targets are engaged. I can’t wait to get this out in the field with its brother Contemptor and unleash some mayhem!

So one unit I was personally really excited for  was the Elite Justerins. Seeing them assembled and even unpainted you can feel the aggressive nature of the unit. Though overpriced in the Army list I found them to be a nice unit in close combat and with the amount of anti tank this unit can bring with combi meltas and the muilta melta it gives that unit a lot of oomph. I can’t wait for these to be painted up and running alongside Horus on the battle field.
(Praetors)
So last but not least the Company Captain and two versions of him are being worked on. The Forgeworld Praetor model is probably one of my favorite models other than the Primarchs and Justerain and will be a great center piece of the army. I am also having this done as two versions since I want to change up the play style of the unit and also the fact the face model is alike which will make it great in a narrative.
Though am missing images for them I also have a storm eagle and another contemptor on the way. This will round out some long range firepower for the army that it needs and give the army some more 30k units to play with. The added bonus is both these units will also give my army some much needed anti air which at presently it's lacking. So far this army is coming along pretty good and is going by a lot faster then I thought it would be.
In closing
So we had a lot of releases come out from forgeworld and my lunawolves are getting another boost. This has really been a exciting few weeks and am glad I was able to share this with you. I can’t wait to show off more progress shots of the lunawolves and my plans of what is going to happen with them. As always make sure you check out forgeworlds site and also my friend robs painting studio for more fun and amazing projects.

General Soban 
Signing off till next time

Friday 13 March 2015

1st Battle Report

Hey Everyone,
So today we have the blogs first battle report of just over 2000 points with Luna wolves vs over 2000 points of Imperial Fists. Now this was mostly shot with an iPad mini 2 with retina display that I just recently got and I am still getting use to the camera and how I want to shot the photos. This was played at a local store called Brimstone Games and we were able to use the load of terrain to our advantage. This was a fun game and we both got to use most of oour30k minis but ramblings aside lets get to the battle report shall we ?
 
Battle Report
Mission Type: Onslaught
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
Lunawolves Warlord: Horus
Imperial Fists Warlord: Imperial Fist Praetor
 

So the Imperial Fists won the roll off and picked to go first. Now the neat thing about the Mission type onslaught is its like old 3rd and 4th edition 40k in that each you both take turns deploying first going from lord of war all the way down. The Imperial Fist player ended up hunkering down in the corer to control his objective since he knew that the long way he would have a hard time crossing being an all infantry force.
 

My Deployment being a mechanized army was as aggressive as possible. The Imperial Fist player despite not having a very large anti weapons had a lot of re-rolls with all his vets taking tank hunter. I use the bulk of the armour to try and go down the narrow path on the right flank while my whirlwinds setup support fire on the left flank to try and pin down the Imperial Fists.


 
I failed to seize the initiative and the Imperial Fists went first. My opponent for the most part decided to not be overly aggressive since he knew I had 2 orbital bombardments from Horus and also a Master of Signal. Instead he moved one small vet squad in the north to move through the ruins towards my whirlwinds. The rest of the army though stayed back and let loose some rockets!
(insert Image 40)
One vet squad took off a hull point off my whirlwind with the quad gun putting another wound on it. The rest of the army took fire at the landraider and had no effect. Some terminators did minor run moves in order to shuffle abit and spread out. With their firing done the Imperial Fists waited for the Bombardment.
My Turn was up next and it started with a thunder ! Instead of moving in close and allowing the Imperial Fist forward to get into melta range I picked to stay back and open fire with my army. With the Orbital bombardments taking out a command squad and pinning down one of his elite squads working the Quad gun. Following this up my predators engaged his vet melta gun squad hiding in a build and was able to kill it off ! Lucky for me so next turn I could move up.
 

With the Orbital Bombardment done the Imperial Fists decided to remain steadfast. Dashing his one squad of Veteran tactical squads further down the top of the board while keeping in cover. While they moved down the flanks the support missile launcher vet squad let loose a missile that took out one of the Whirldwinds.  The rest of the army tried to fire away doing some minor damage to the predator squadron that was soon going to bear down on his army.
 

 
The wolves picked this turn to move and started moving up the army as Horus jumped in the landraider. Some bad luck fell on the predators as one of their number got stuck on some rubble forcing the squadron to move forward. The whirlwind despite losing it squad mate stayed put in the hoping of letting off at least one volley on the approaching veteran squad that was sprinting towards it. With the movement in place on to the shooting phase.
The predators unleashed a torrent of hell knocking out one of the closer vet squads rocket launchers. This was followed up by the landraider removing the rest of the unit. The whirlwind scored some hits on the approaching infantry but failed to do any lasting damage. This was a great phase for the wolves as they made their advance.
 

 
The Imperial Fists picked to hold back with the terrain about to funnel in the armour they need so they could wait at this time. There was some minor movements with one terminator squad advancing trying to get ready for a next turn charge. The shooting was the same as previous turns with the army unable to further damage any of the vehicles. The Imperial Fists waited for another turn of fire.
The Luna wolves picked this time to fully advance with the land raider moving full out with its fellow up rhino. The Predators made a slow advance removing the last of the vets in the building. The Whirlwind worrying about the approaching vets picked to fall back instead of being killed by the tank hunters. The Luna wolves where finally in position this turn to get ready for a 4 turn assault.


The Imperial Fists picked this as the time to get revenge and decided to move up the entire terminator force to try and engage the land raider. The grey Terminator though with a bad roll could not get over the barricade in their movement. The veteran tactical that where left in the deployment took off a hull point on the land raider. The turn ended on a sour note as the terminators both failed by just rolling 1” less then what was needed they would await the new storm that was going to come forth.

The time had finally come and the land raider unleashed its deadly cargo, the Warmaster and a Veteran Squad of Marines! They moved forth closing the gap as much as possible with the terminator squad out in the open. The Luna wolves shooting went well with bolt pistols felling one of the veteran terminators. The Whirwind in the back let loose a barrage as well but was off target.
Next was the combat what both me and my opponent where looking forward to as the Warmaster charged into the terminator squad. The Imperial Fist sergeant issued a challenged and was answered by Horus himself. The Sergeant though a veteran of many campaigns was struck low with several brothers as worldbreaker was unleashed. Despite the causalities though to both sides the Terminators with there praetor stayed locked in combat.  

The Imperial Fist now had there primary target in site and the Warlord Praetor and Terminators strode forth. The Imperial Fist shooting continued to bounce off the land raider the armour 14 was truly keeping the beast alive. The other veterans tried to open fire with the quad gun scoring some hits and damaging another of the predator squadron despite the cover save they had. Then the moment of truth was to happen as the second terminator squad prepared to charge.
Rolling a impressive a full 12 they made it into close combat to aid their brothers against the primarch. Horus was to be up against another Terminator sergeant and quickly removed him and a few of his brothers before they could strike. The Veteran Tactical Squad around Horus though where struck low as the terminator swung back. They also were able to wound the primarch bring him to half his health!.
 

The Luna wolves rallied after seeing their father wounded and another veteran tactical squad moved up to support him. The rest of the army re-positioned it self to try and get the rest of the imperial fists that where still hiding in there trenches. Whirlwind and land raider fire was able to bring a few low and even silencing the quad gun. The Veterans where then in a position to assist their father and made the charge.
This Combat was going to be a blood affair as supporting veteran charged reckless into combat. This was all back ground as warlord faced warlord finally in a challenge. Horus using his talon struck doing one wound while the wounded Praetor struck back for one wound to Horus. The Veterans that made it killed terminator and then where cut down by the other Praetor. The battle was in the balance as Horus who was slowly regaining wounds stood alone next to the Imperial Fists Army.
The Imperial Fists player then picked to throw what was left of his army at the warmaster reinforcing his praetors with a few veterans. The Veterans though brave failed their fear check despite the praetors moving faster then the warmaster. Despite his previous wounds he parried the attacks back holding his ground but not wounding the praetor.

This turn was going to be the end, one rhino creeped along the one flank. The rest of the army gunned down a veteran squad that had tried to charge the landraider and where unable to bring it down.  The battle field was now pretty open to the luna wolves and right now it was going to come down to a match up. We both waited to see what might happen in this combat.
The combat started out nicely for the Imperial fists as they were able to wound the warmaster . The Praetors though where striking at the same time as the warmaster and were able to cause a wound. Horus though was able to max out his attacks and hit back killing everyone with world breaker. With that the game was done.
 
Alright everyone so there we have it the first battle report on the blog. It was a interesting game that was played for fun since we both wanted to bring as much as we had for heresy. Despite being played for fun we both learned a lot about are armies and we both came up with some army thoughts we might come up with.
Imperial Fist
So in this game we both agreed rockets despite being tank hunter where not going to cut it and he is looking to pick up two items we both agree would help him out. First would be to pick up a lasscannon heavy weapons squad since he is going to focus on being a defensive siege army this would work great since they could hide in defensive walls and also gain tank hunter due to being Imperial Fist. The second is going to be a pretty big purchase which will be the Aquilla Strong Point since it will give him a destroyer weapon that can pretty much target any where on the battle field. Another thing we agreed on was he had to be abit more aggressive with his terminators since if they were able to move up sooner he might have had my armour and it would have been a different game.
Luna Wolves
One of the things I took from this game was I also found out Is I needed to figure out a better body guard unit for Horus and a way to transport them. Throughout the game while I was in a challenge I was rushing troops in so that Horus wouldn't be ganged up by the terminators. This is going to be very important since they would have to be able to take some damage while also dealing out damage. I may pick up more terminators and may pick up a Spartan to give the army extra oomph as well as something that would match a primarch body guard.
 

In conclusion
So we both learned a lot from this game I think we will change it up next time. Since my mate is going defensive we are going to look at a few mission that would favour his play style and we would love to hear some suggestions for some fun narratives. We also hope we both will have a lot more stuff of ours painted up so we can gain more variance in our games. In the end the last thing we both  ended up having was fun and we both hope you enjoy this battle report and more things to come !
 
General Soban 
Signing off till next time

Monday 9 March 2015

Titans, Releases and much More !

Monday 2 March 2015

Sons of Horus

Hey everyone,
So I just wanted to share something kool I saw on the forgeworld blog that has been shown off the last two weeks. They have finally showed off some of the winners and some of the best primarch pictures I’ve seen. Now I just wanted to show a particular painter and his take on the Sons of Horus the 16th Legion something very dear to me.
 
To show of first is a contemptor with a legion banner.  Really captured the banner shown off in book 1 from forge world.

 
Next up is Captain Loken, Last of the Luna Wolves and eventual Knight Errant. I love the detail on this and love the cap showing of the Son’s of Horus iconology.



 
Last but not least the Primarch him self. A different take not in the White of the Luna Wolves or the Black of the Serpent Scales this is done in the Sons of Horus Scheme and man I love it !
 

 
So this was done by a wonderful painter Andy Wardle first want to congratulate him for winning at the weekender and also want to thank him for showing this off to the rest of the 30k group. You can find more that showed up at the forgeworld blog at http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/News/FORGE_WORLD_BULLETIN_49.html
 
General Soban 
Signing off till next time

Sunday 1 March 2015

Mhara Gal


Hey Everyone,
So this weekend we had a really cool release by Forgeworld showing off the new Mhara Gal Model. Shown off originally during the Weekender that passed last month this is going to be a really cool model for those who are word bearers.


So lets talk about this beast of a model and its stats. At 235 this model doesn’t come cheap for points but don’t let that put you off cause these rules are really going to shock you! This is also a Word Bearers Exclusive and really fits their whole fallen angels feel with the Gal Vorbak being released before it. This Daemon also has a nice range of rules that is going to really shine and also be a bit different for those already running daemons with their word bearers.
First rule up is Shroud of Dark Fire. First thing is any heat, fire, plasma base which includes Volkite and Fusion is reduced by one strength. Next is any models with toughness of 7 or less or has an armour value less then 13, gets -1 one to hit in close combat. Lastly, if it gets an explode result it’s a massive blast 7” strength 6 AP 5 hit with soulblaze that counts as a barrage. So this thing just truly a daemon shrouded in hell fire and will burn you all the way down.
Next up is the Accursed rule. Now this one is both a boon for and against your army if your running it. First up all fear tests taken against the Mhara Gal are -2 leadership roll. In a format where fearless is not cheap and the marines know fear. Another part is it can never count as scoring regardless of rules in a detachment or force organization that would allow it but it counts as a denial unit, not bad. Now the most interesting is all Daemons, Daemon Special rule or psychic powers of any kind who are with in 6'' radius take a str 5 AP 2,hit that ignores cover. This will make the thousand sons cry and any daemon nearby. This is a beast that doesn't care if friend or foe gets hit so positioning this is going to be key.

Coming up next is the Earth Recoils and it has me jumping at what this can do in game. First up it completely ignores the effects of difficult terrain and/or dangerous terrain. This part though is the terrifying part, The Mhara Gal can pass through obstacles up to 1” across with out penalty or need for an aperture to move through. Now it can’t end its turn inside an obstacle and there must be sufficient space for this model to be placed one its done moving . So here we have a monster of a contemptor that just passes through solid walls and appears like a reaper from the darkness.

Last we have the weapon systems. All of which are made from the hell fires of the empyreal. Now each range weapon the Mhara Gal can take gains a very cool rule called the Howling death. Now if it kills a single model from a unit it forces a morale check, really nice against those giant marine blobs in 30k. Next is with the close combat weapon which causes success full invulnerable saves to be re-rolled. So not only does it have rules to scare you but the weapons to back it up.
So this is the Mhara Gal a daemon that is a pure nightmare. With rules that shroud it in almost pure darkness that would make a night lord even cry, to weapons that will cut even your storm shield equipped terminators to shreds, this is a unit I think will be must have for word bearers. As always you can find this rules thankfully provided by Forge world at http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/fwDownloads  

Coming up in the next week

So in the next week you’re going to see some more army photos finally done up. Right now I have by my good buddy at Bearbox Studios who is doing up some tanks for the army. So for the luna wolves 14th company we will see 4 rhinos and 2 whirlwinds to give my army some mobility as well as extra fire power. This is a great step and moving towards getting the army built up fluffy enough for a small 30k campaign game.

Once these get done is going to be some really cool stuff following it that I’ll show off at a later date.

So this is what has been going on in the 30k world as well as some of my project progress. As always, hope you enjoy and stay posted for more 30k news as well as some great crusade stuff.

General Soban 
Signing off till next time