Kharn the Betrayer

Last week I did a Kharn the Betrayer commission for a friend of mine. Really a great kit to build and paint. My only complaint with it is the design of the legs. There is all this great detail, particularly the skulls on the knees, that look amazing and I spent alot of time on... for almost no reason. Because of the pose, they are pointed basically directly down, and he is on such a large base and at such an extreme angle, that even when you hold him upside down, you can't really see then.

Overall though, it is really well done kit. They have perfected dividing up sprues. Nearly every mold line is hidden along some glue point or by some detail. I still cleaned them all, but even if you miss one or it is imperfect, the chances of seeing it on the final product are extremely slim.

I also played with Focus Stacking photography last night (the black back ground picture). Probably what I am going to do from now on for EVERYTHING. That is once my new camera gets here Thursday!

Confession's of a 40k addict 2016/17 Hobby Season Challenge: September Update

An update on my Hobby Season Challenge, 1 month in. 

So the list has grown. Yeah I know, kinda not the point, but Angel's Blade dropped and kinda reoriented my Army Priorities. However I am not removing items unless finished, sold, or a critical deadline passed and there is no need to do it anymore.

Separate from this, my 1 Hour a Night Year challenge has me at

-107 Painted

-110 purchased (I had been at a positive balance, but then Angels Blade... I will be back in the positive soon)

-197 sold (this helps justify going into the red for painted to purchased)

-27 games played

Quick Guide to the List

-BOLD is for what I consider a MAJOR project.

-Normal typeface is a minor project.

-RED is a removal//deletion

-BLUE is a completion

-GREEN is a new addition

-HIGHLIGHTED is a current WIP

-Cult Mech for Adepticon (12 models)

               -6 Kataphron

               -5 Electro Priest

               -Techpriest Dominus

-Armies on Parade Display Board

-Adepticon Display Board

-Kato Kiyomasa & Banners for Crystal Brush (4 models)

-Finish Arbites (2 Models)

-1 Blood Bowl Team (16 models)

-Steel Fist Samurai (9 Models)

-Thunderbolt Fighter (1 Model)

-Spare Contemptor Arm x 2 (Melta and Frag)

-Baal Turret & Weapons

-Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer (1 model)

-Vindicator (1 Model)

-Lucius Drop Pod (1 Model)

-Xiphon Interceptor (1 Model)

-Jetbikes (5 Models)

-Chaplain (1 Model)

-Lizardmen Saurus (20 models)

-Drop Pods (2 models)

-Baal Predator (2 models)

-Rhinos (2 Models)

-Samurai Cavalry (12 models)

-Fury Road Cars (4 cars)

-Land Raider (1 model)

-Death Company (4 models)

-Assault Marines (2 models)

-Tactical Squad (10 models)

-Devastator Squad (10 models)

-Sternguard Squad (10 models)

-Objective Markers (6 models)

-Relic (1 model)

-Vanguard (5 models)

-Knight Paladin (1 model)

-Battlefleet Gothic Gothicomp Entry (at least 1 model)

-Battlefleet Gothic (at least 6 models)
-French Line Battalion (30 models) (SOLD)

-Red Hunters for Adepticon (at least 14 models)

               -5 Vanguard Marines

               -5 Tactical Marines

               -Thunderfire Cannon and Tech Marine

               -5 Bikes

               -Rhino

               -Mortis Dread

               -Librarian on Bike

-34 Terminators

               - Chaplain

               -Librarian

               -Tyberos

               -TH&SS Squad (5)

               -LC Squad (6)

               -Heavy Flamer Squad (5)

               -Assault Cannon Squad (5)

               -Mixed Assault Squad (5)

               -Cataphractii Squad (5)

-Kharn The Betrayer Commission

-16 Sanguinary Guard

-New Commander Dante

-Frag Cannon Furioso

And the completions since starting. 11 Models isn't bad, but I need to get cranking.

Humor: Hitler React's to the Angel's Blade Supplement

I won't do a full review of the book until I get my physical copy in. But in the mean time I did this up in jest for everyone out there. Had to try and season it with just enough salt to really deliver the punches without coming across as just bitter. As well, this is work safe, no cursing or anything, but you may want to use headphones or turn down the volume. Hitler ranting is generally something that catches most people off guard.

Red Hunters Vanguard Squad

My last post was about a Red Hunters Tactical Squad. For more on how these guys were painted, go check it out! The rest of the Death Masque Box was Vanguard Marines! These guys may or may not be for Adepticon as well. We shall see. However, they still look great IMO.

Also, quick side note, I will cover Angel's Blade soon. But I want my copy physically in my hands first. Just know I am already painting a bunch of Terminators!

Without further ado, I give you Red Hunters Vanguard.

This next guy is probably my favourite of the 5.

Next up the Sergeant. He is the only one with DW parts, (head, shoulder, and shield). Powerfist is also pilfered from some other kit (it was in my bits box and I needed a left hand to go with the DW Storm Shield)

 And a group shot of all the Red Hunters together!

Red Hunters Tactical Squad

I used to always want to do a Deathwatch Army. The fluff is cool and the new models are gorgeous. But now everyone and their mom is doing one, I lost some interest. Maybe I'll do up a kill team someday here in the future, but for now I had to figure out something to do with my Deathwatch models, I had a brilliant idea that also fortunately fit PERFECTLY and coincided with a list that I am going to take to an event next year (I'll leave you guessing at which one for now). As well these guys were 1/2 of my September commitment for 1 Hour a Night on Facebook and the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge. So it is nice to be half done in the 1st week.

With all that said, I give you Red Hunters Space Marines.

It really is a natural fit. For those of you who don't know who the Red Hunters are click this link. And if you want to see their rules, click here. 

These guys aren't painted to my normal standards, but they still look pretty good IMO. The idea is for a tournament quality army that can pop in low light. My typical approach with BA is really nice I feel, but last year at Adepticon, so much of their detail was just lost due to the lighting of the room. We all noticed that we had to take a much more bold approach to painting. Here is my attempt.

They were done by multiple drybrushings of silver and then washes of Blood Letter glaze for the red and Seraphim Sepia for the gold. Simple and fast. Painted all the marines in an evening (after I did 1 test model the night before), did the bases in another.

 The Multi-melta is my favourite of the group. I converted it from a Sternguard heavy flamer and a FW Scimitar Jetbike MM, magnetized on. These guys are eventually suppossed to be super multi-purpose (able to use both Codex SM and DW) that I needed to be able to switch out options.

And as you can see I messed around with a bunch of different lighting angels. This was the concept behind the metallic base, so that in any lighting, they would look "hightlighted" and pop.

Traitor's Hate Rules Conundrums!

The formations for Traitor's Hate have leaked. What that does for Chaos is debatable and will surely unfold over the next few weeks, however there are two formations that begin to open a can of worms: The Heldrake Terror Pack and the Terminator Annihilation Force. First up, Helturkeys.

Now this isn't so much a conundrum as it is a clearly NOT thought out special rule. Read over the Merciless Pursuit rule. If you vector strike a unit that has gone to ground, is falling back or pinned, they get d6 hits instead of 1. The RAI make it GREAT but the RAW makes it really meh and extremely unlikely to ever occur. Why? Well Vector Strike is during your movement phase. Who is ever gone to ground during your movement? Who is ever pinned during your movement? And falling back is possible, but not always likely. It is most likely right after your shooting or assault phase, and they have a chance to regroup during your opponents turn.

The problem is that during YOUR shooting phase you may pin and force units to go to ground. They will remain that way until the END of your opponents turn, BEFORE you ever get another movement phase and have a chance to vector strike. Now technically I guess that these things can happen as a result of overwatch, but that is extremely unlikely. No one ever goes to ground from overwatch (because your charge auto fails, so why assault and subject yourself to the shooting) and the chances of charging a pinning weapon is slim, and then you still have to get pinned by it!

So really this is kinda a failure of a rule and needs an errata, which is sad because the rules technically have not even released. 

The second one is an actual conundrum and is with the Terminator Annihilation Force.

It is a pretty neat formation that allows you to get a free shooting right after "deploying by deep strike" so long as you target your "targeted unit", which you can continually update whenever the targeted unit is destroyed. Pretty straight forward since you can "deploy by deep strike" only once, right? Well, what about Gate of Infinity in Daemonology Sanctic? 

Gate allows you to remove your unit and then that unit "immediately arrives using the rules for deep strike". So that is not deployment, BUT when you go to deep strike (BRB 162) under "Arriving by Deep Strike" you "deploy them as follows". 

So the question is, can you deploy your unit multiple times? Does this just work any time you deep strike or only after the 1st time? To me this kinda a RAI opposite of the above, where it was meant to be okay and has a potential to abuse via RAW. Probably supposed to work only once, but I know this should be clarified when GW inevitably asks for/answers Traitor's hate FAQs.

Blood Angels Xiphon Interceptor Complete!

I have been working on this guy since Saturday. Really great model to work with and I am super happy with the results, even though I had a near disaster at one point when I accidentally used 'ard coat thinking it was lahmian medium!

I'll share some WIP photos later with one of these finished ones, but for now, I just want to display my showcase photos. This guy will likely end on on my Armies on Parade board too.

Now to go watch some Battlestar Galactica. Are Necrons 40k Cylons?