Warhammer 40k on a budget part 2

Progress on the heldrakes has come to a halt as my wife rather unhelpfully threw away her hair pins I had set aside for the 2nd & 3rd drakes arms.

If you read my last post the baby we were expecting was a girl.  I haven't had much free time to venture to the pound shops to get some replacements.  With heldrakes on the back burner and whilst my 19 month old slept my mind moved onto other shelved projects for something to do.





I bought these some time ago on good old flea bay for a steal, £6 including P&P.

For this I got 6 teams of 10 'rangers' including a squad leader & a variety of heavy weapon options.  I'm thinking autogun, plasma/melta & lascannon.

in addition to the basic bolter marine. (Apologies for the photo quality but they were taken quickly in case it was a long labour - it wasn't.  I suppose I could have just retaken them then -- but this has been put together whilst trying to get the toddler to sleep).

The poses are a little static for these guys but they make perfect models for thousand sons.       I didn't even need to buy the backpacks for these guys as I make use of my own or friends bitz boxes.  When it came to the aspiring sorcerers to lead each squad I wanted these models to be a bit more individual.  I bought 10 kromlech heads from ebay think they were £5 from flea bay, but a good deal I think for what you get.

A few chops here and a bit of green stuff later and I had my first 2 sorcerers:

Soon they will be ready to play alongside the big boys, which are currently sitting in my so far unused in 6th ed tzeentch daemons army box :

So, I have 2 squads of 10.  I plan to make another 2 squads & then decide what to do with the rest.  I was thinking of adding in 3 squads of 5 havocs and the last 5 for character/hq conversions and/or differently equipped sorcerers. 

What do you think--- not bad for £11 --- but would it be straying too far from the rubric ???

Warhammer 40,000 on a budget

Yes it can be done lol

Seeing as nothing has been posted on here in some time I thought I'd do a little post.

Warhammer 40k on a budget is not something I gave much thought to in the past.  If I wanted to add a new unit I'd just nip to my local GW on and pick it up - its dangerous having a store just round the corner but alas/thankfully it closed.  Most of my purchases were on a whim and a desire to build something there and then, usually at the weekend ready for a game on Monday.  With the closure of this shop I could think whether I really needed it and the whim of online purchasing wasn't the same.  Though I still got the occasional box or 2.  Its left me with a massive collection, too much,  but I just can't muster the strength to part with any :)

The crux of this post was with an unexpected arrival of my 3rd child (the others being 15 & 12) & consequently my wife leaving work there just isn't the money to purchase plastic krak anymore.  The speed at which codexes have been churned out hasn't helped either as its a must to keep your army current.  Then we decided baby 3 needed a playmate - baby 4 is due in 2 weeks yikes.

Anyway enough background to this post.With the release of the new chaos space marine codex I got a good deal on some cultists from eBay & was content with just adding these into my existing army, after a few conversions.  My friends bitz box came in handy for guard & empire stuff so thst was free.  It was only when my wife was clearing out the house that she came across some old kids toys.

 Mega blok dragons x2.  What a find !!!

I knew immediately what I wanted to do with these and a further route through the toy bin pile provided a few extra bits an pieces I would need.

Then it was time to stick the A-team music on loop.  With much blood, sweat and greenstuff along with many profanities when something went wrong, or I stuck my fingers together again for the seventh time.

Designers note:  you may get grief from your other half if you take bottle lids, all the drinking staws & other household items before they are finished with.

Eventually resulting in:

Maulerfiend - made this guy first purely for scary hitting power.

Forgefiend - After many an immobilised result on the mauler i finally got around to making Mr Big Guns.















After these were made but before they were painted I bought another 1 of these dragons with 3 slightly different ones,  more suited to another daemon engine.  Have a look on ebay they go for next to nothing.  I saved money as they were a job lot on ebay :)

I've only just got around to making a start on the next project, which has proved to be a lot faster.

 Helldrake - just the left hand claw to finish on this monstrosity then I'll probably get the other 2 done before painting.

Hopefully it will look as good as the mauler & forge fiends once painted - they looked a mess to before painting.

There's still much work to do but what do you guys think ?
Should I make another mauler or forge fiend ?
Would it make a huge difference to your decision if I told you that once finished I'll have 3 helldrakes & say 2 maulerfiens & 1 forgefiend for a total cost of £12?

X-Wing

Hi All,

Angryman here.  Last night I played X-Wing for the first time. 

For those of you who know nothing about the game (or have never heard of Star Wars................) its a space combat game between 2 factions, the rebels and the imperials.  you have a certain amount of points to spend on ships and upgrades, you can pick 'named' pilots or standard fighters etc.  You set the board up, you move, shoot and hopefully blast your enemy into space dust.  The game flows very well, its easy to pick up (I think the basics took me 30 mins) and you can usually get a game done in an hour or so.  Larger point games mean more 'named' pilots and upgrades etc so it can get a little bit more involved but its a lot of fun.
The best part is all the star wars quotes that you hear people saying, then you find yourself doing it.  The game is worth it just for that!!!

I'm looking to see what others think of the game, all comments welcome

MAWSCON and updates

Hi All,

Angryman here - 2 posts in 2 months, this almost a roll for me posting!!!

MAWSCON has moved to August 11th.  The medals have been ordered and will be ready for collection tomorrow.  The rules pack has been play tested and I've had some good feedback for the rules, all that's left to do is have the tournament!!

The club has received a free starter set for Empire Of The Dead, we'll hopefully start to play a few games once the rules have been digested.

The Blood Bowl league should be kicking off soon, people have been playing games in preparation, more news to follow once the league kicks off.

X-Wing will be getting its first run out at MAWS on Monday, I'm looking forward to this, I've heard nothing but good things about this game.

I don't think anything has been missed out but as usual, all comments welcome

What I Like Today - Azrael

Welcome to another WILT article for today, I've not had much chance over the last couple of days to get one done because I've been too busy. However, last night I was having a skim of the Dark Angels codex to check up some special rules I was unsure of and read Azrael's rules properly. I'd been using him in my last few lists in prep for a tournament soon but didn't realise he had a few of the extra rules.

Deathwing / Ravenwing
The original reason I chose to take Azrael was as a quick way of getting Deathwing and Ravenwing as scoring units, without me having to take both Belial and Sammael, as I don't own Sammael.

Azrael lets me take both for just over 200pts in one handy package.

The Protector
This is a suit of Artificer armour which also bestows a 6+ feel no pain, which means Azrael can happily tank wounds and deal with AP3 weaponry. The only downside is that it doesnt give the "Grand Master of the Dark Angels" the Eternal Warrior special rule.

Lion Helm
The Lion Helm is a cracking bit of wargear that gives Azrael's unit a 4+ Invulnerable save. Decent enough with a Tactical Marine squad, even better when you combine it with a big Imperial Guard platoon squad.

Warlord Traits
Azrael can choose any of the traits from the Dark Angels Warlord table, which is pretty handy too, as you can then tailor to what you need from the game. Personally I like the Feel No Pain within range of objective (although only on works on Dark Angels units) and also the modifiers to reserve rolls is quite handy too, so I can try and get Flyers on when I need to.

Rites of Battle
Something I didn't realise when I picked him is that he has the Rites of Battle special rule, meaning all units from the DA Codex use his leadership while he's on the table. Which means I don't have to be spending points on Veteran Sergeants in my units in order to get the LD boost on the unit.

Inner Circle
Azrael also has the Inner Circle special rule which makes him Fearless and also gives him benefits against Chaos Space Marine units.

Sword of Silence
Being a S6 AP3 weapon means that Azrael doesn't have to drop to 1 attack and use Krak Grenades against vehicles, which is pretty decent.

So that's it for now, so far I'm really enjoying my games using him, another WILT installment some time soon!

SB

(Song - "If You Love These People" from Man of Steel Soundtrack)

W.I.L.T - Ravenwing Bikers

Morning and welcome to another WILT installment! Yesterday in the post I got another 3 Ravenwing Bikers to get my Dark Angels w/ Guard allies list up to 1750 looking towards a tournament at the end of July.

It got me a bit excited to write about Ravenwing bikes and why I like them... So here's a few reasons.

1. Scoring
If I choose to take Azrael, it allows me not only some benefits to his unit, but also lets me take my precious Deathwing AND Ravenwing as scoring. It's great having a group of scoring bike units that are fast to get to places.

2. Fast
As I said above, Ravenwing are fast elements in my mostly static Dark Angels and Guard army. They can also Scout move allowing them to get further up the field meaning in a standard deployment, they can be 24" across the board in Turn 1.

It also means later on in the game, thanks to turbo boost and whatnot, they can be reaching objectives quite a distance away.

3. Hit and Run
Something I always forget about, but can be massively helpful is the fact they all have Hit and Run special rule. Meaning they can bang into a combat, do some damage, stick in during the enemy turn and then leave for a re-charge in my own turn.

4. Homing Beacon
Great in tandem with my Deathwing elements, especially combined with a Scout move and Turbo boost and hoping they survive until Turn 2. Or even reliable deep strike on Turn 1 Deathwing assault.

5. Firepower
A group of twin-linked rapid firing bolters can do a fairly decent amount of damage to small units, combine that with the 2 plasma guns I run and we're putting out a decent few shots for the unit. On top of that, adding the Banner that gives Salvo 2/4 nearby works on Ravenwing bikes as they're Relentless.

6. "Free" Landspeeder
The last thing I like about Ravenwing bikes is the ability to attach a Land Speeder if the squad is a full 6. This frees up my Fast Attack slots for other things or even more Bikes. This is handy since I've got a new found love for the Land Speeder.

So that's all for now about Ravenwing Bikes, maybe next week I'll delve into Azrael and Land Speeder Typhoons.

SB
(Song: Do I Wanna Know - The Arctic Monkeys)

Tlaxtan Titans first game of the season

The Tlaxtan Titans had their first game on Monday, they were all feeling rusty after a long break from the world of Bloodbowl, but their ability wasn't diminished!!! In their first match their were pitted against the vile Zharr Earthquakes, the Titans were anxious about the game as the Hobgoblins can keep up with their Saurus linemen keeping them pinned in place slowing the running game to a grind, and each of the Dwarves was an expert tackler ready to grab any slippery skink trying to sneak past.

The Zharr Earthquakes  won the toss to receive in the first half and quickly went for the ball with their Centaur, however his hands and legs got muddled up and he failed to pick it up. The Titans capitalised on this, and while the Zharr Earthquakes  were caging around the ball, they began to pick on their faster players with the Saurus on the scrimmage line. TheZharr Earthquakes  attempted to make a break down the wing but were quickly cut off by the swifter Titans and after a full half of pushing back and forth at the halfway point went for a chance pass hoping to single out a lone hobgoblin. The pass wasn't accurate however and landed a few spaces away, The Titans attempted the same action but couldn't even pick the ball up.

The second half started much in the same way, the Titans got the ball deep into the opponents half, but were quickly beaten down, the ball changed hands several times until on the final break a lone Skink, No.10 Ekkeko, broke away from the Centaur, picked up the ball and launched it to his team-mate waiting down the pitch, who promptly scored a touchdown with just enough time for the ref to blow his whistle.

Titans 1 Zharr Earthquakes  0

It was a close match, and the Titans only won by the skin of their teeth with an extremely lucky last ditch run.

W.I.L.T - Colossus Siege Mortar

Good morning folks and welcome to another edition of "What I Like Today" (or W.I.L.T for short).

Today I'm going to talk about the Colossus Siege Mortar in the Imperial Guard codex. This has been a favourite unit of mine since 5th edition with the Guard codex, but only since getting to grips with 6th edition rules have I brought it back out onto the tabletop.

My logic for this has been 2 fold. 1 is to deal with infantry blobs in their own deployment zone and also to take the Colossus over something like the Griffon or Basilisk is the S6, AP3, Ignores Cover.

What this means is that I can 2+ out Tau Firewarriors, instakilling any HQs that it lands on and fail their L.O.Sir test. It can also then deal with backfield power armoured units, like Tactical marines in cover or pesky Devastator equivalents like Long Fangs or Dark Reapers.

In the games I've used it, it's always done pretty well. I'm not sure if it's made it's points back in every game, but it's killed a few HQs and troop units they're hiding in.

It's very reliant on getting a hit since otherwise it'll be scattering full 2D6", but it's got a decent chance of landing a hit, or even scattering onto other nearby units if you play something like Guard platoon blobs or Tau huddled together to benefit from support fire.

And that's time up. What do you guys think of the Colossus Siege Mortar? Both playing using it, and playing against it.

SB
(Song: Mr Brightside by The Killers)