Saxon Army Restoration Part 3

Just a quick update on my Saxon army restoration project. I completed these archers a couple of weeks ago but I had a little trouble with my Vista computer...and...well, I lost the before pictures. No worries, they looked pretty much like the other two units.

I have started on the first formed unit for this army, but I have been a little distracted with other projects lately. I am not sure when I will get back to this but I will.

Completed Beast Herds

Ha! I bet you thought the Tale of More than Four Gamers was dead...well it is actually, but I am still working on my Beasts of Chaos army. I have finally completed the first two Beast Herds. Each of these represents the contents of a single regiment box.

The first unit is hand weapon and sheilds. Why? Well...because I got the models already built and I didn't feel like tearing them apart...and I didn't have the bits to make them into a two hand weapon unit.

The second unit is more properly equipped as a two hand weapon unit. Having never played the game I was still able to figure out that a shield is a waste of time for these guys.

These two units put me at about 750 points painted and ready to go. The movement trays are actually borrowed from the Chaos Hounds units. I will be making new trays for the Beast Herds that will be 7 figures wide by 3 ranks deep. Each unit will then have a character attached to help with the poor leadership.

Saxon Army Restoration Part 2

Here we have the next installment of the Saxon Army restoration. This time we have 8 Dark Age Irish in need of some attention.


This unit has many of the same issues as the first one. One major problem, however, is the skin...its orange. I am not sure how that happened exactly but it must be fixed!


Here is the after image. Looking much better I think. Not award winning but very nice tabletop quality.

Saxon Army Restoration Part 1

After more than a year away from Warhammer Ancient Battles our local group is planning a couple of games days in a couple of weeks. This means it is time to pull out my Northumbrian Saxon army and take stock. I painted this army several years ago and it has been my main army since the release of the Sheildwall supplement for WAB. That makes it about 6 years old.

During that time the army has seen lots of playing time and transport time. In fact, this is the army I took to Historicon 2004 for the WAB tournament. Needless to say, it is starting to show some ware.

This is the first in what will be a series of posts tracking the restoration of this army. I know I will not have this done for our games later in the month but it is a great excuse to get started.

I have a lot of experience with army restorations. It seems that most of my projects involve large amounts of used figures and models. In fact, this army was built with about 50% used models. This project will be a little different, however. For this project I will be doing some touch-ups and highlights along with freshening the bases. The army is very large with about 160 figures. Back when i painted it I wanted to get it on the table quickly so it was speed painted and dipped.

In the Before picture above, you can see the heavy coat of dip as well as some of the damage to the figures. There is also a lack of detail in the painting. The flock is almost entirely worn off the bases. Frankly, they look like crap.

Here is how they look after my restoration work. I have painted highlights directly over the dip layer. This is possible because the figures had already been dull coated. I have also re-flocked the bases. This is about an hour of work and I think they look much better.

Eight down and only 150+ to go.

Another Batch of Space Marines

Here is the next installment of my Knights Of Eden Space Marine chapter. These are the Space Marine figures from the new Assault on Black Reach box set. These are very nice figures even if they are not multi-pose figures.

The sargent is slightly modified. I did not like how the right arm fit. There was too much of a gap between the arm and the body. I replaced it with an arm from the regular Space Marine models and the fit is much better.

These are nice figures and the new box set is a great value if you are interested in one or both of the armies.

This project still has a long way to go before it is done. I have command elements, veterans, scouts and vehicles left. And those are just items I already have. There are a bunch of new models I would like to add to the collection.

More WW2 Germans

Time to take a short break from the Space Marines. Today I have some new additions to my WW2 Germans. First up are a couple of PaK 40 AT guns.



Next we have some German tank Hunters.


Anti-tank rifles are not much good but a must have for early war Germans.


Finally we have a couple of 5cm mortar teams.


I still have quite a few items left to paint for this project. Next up might be the motorcycle scouts or perhaps the cavalry.

Space Marine Casualty Markers

Today's project is a little How-to for creating cool Space Marine casualty markers for 40K. These can be used as objective markers for the new 40K 5th edition missions or as Sacred Ground markers for Cities of Death games.

For parts I dug through my bits box and found the following items:

1 Space Marine head
1 Space Marine right arm
1 Space Marine left arm
1 Space Marine backpack
1 set of Space Marine legs
1 set of Space Marine Biker legs
2 shoulder pads
1 Space Marine torso
1 Boltgun

The exact parts that are needed depends on your plan for creating the model. Most likely you will have to design your model based on the parts that you have available. For my first marine I wanted leg positions that are a little more relaxed than the standard standing marine legs. This is were the Space Marine Biker legs come in. These legs have a more relaxed foot position relative to the lower leg.

After some visualization I decided to make a hybrid between the biker legs and the standard legs. I first cut the right biker leg off at the hip joint and threw the rest back in the bits box.

Next I did the same thing with the standard marine legs. This time I kept the left leg and the lower torso.

Next, I glued the two legs pieces together. I think this gives the desired relaxed look.

While the legs dry I assembled the torso and the backpack.

After everything has dried it is time to attach the torso to the legs. Because of the awkward shape of these pieces I needed to support the legs while the glue set.

The left arm that I selected is an old school marine arm with the flat hand. This one look very strange and just will not work as is. The answer is to take a sharp knife and carefully separate the fingers.

I also needed to needed to modify the shoulder in order to get the correct angle.

The right arm also needed some work. The normal firing position of the arm was all wrong so I cut the arm from the shoulder mount. I then glued the arm back together in the 'correct' position.

Then I glued on the boltgun.

With the arms complete it is time for the final assembly. I added a grenade to the 'relaxed' left hand as I was not completely happy with how the fingers looked.

For basing I used a spare 40mm square base and covered it in FIMO modeling clay.

Then if mashed the marine into the still soft clay. This will leave an impression that will be used to mount the marine to the base once the clay is hardened. To harden the clay just leave it under a lamp for a while. No need to bake in an oven...in fact this would be a bad idea as the plastic base would likely melt.

After you glue the marine to the base it is time to paint and flock.

Here is another one I built at the same time with the extra leg bits. I have plans for three more of these.

40K Battle Report

Tim and got together on Sunday in my unusually cool garage for a game of 40K. My friend Lonnie, who is working in Iraq, requested a battle report to help pass the time. This battle report is my second game of the new 5th edition of 40K.

I have been working on several projects related to 40K and this seemed like a good time to get the stuff out. A coupe of years ago Tim and I started a very large city ruins project that had kind of fallen by the wayside. I have been putting in a bunch of time to get this stuff based and painted and I almost have enough to cover a 4x6.

The new Space Marine codex has me adding lots of new stuff to my Knights of Eden Space Marines. These guys started life as a part of my Daemonhunters and I 'almost' have a proper 1500 army ready.

For our battle I took the following, mostly painted, 1500 point Space Marine army:

HQ
Chaplain with Jump pack and a Plasma pistol

Elite
9 man Terminator squad

Troops
10 man tactical squad with missile launcher, flamer and a Rhino
10 man tactical squad with heavy bolter and flamer
10 man scout squad with sniper rifles
10 man scout squad with 5 close combat and 5 bolters

Fast Attack
Landspeeder with Multi-Melta
10 man assault squad with 3 plasma pistols and a power fist

Tim decided to dust off his Sisters of Battle army. Here is what I can remember about his army. I am sure I will get some of the unit names wrong but hey, no one really cares!

HQ
Flying saint chick with a flaming sword of some type

Troops
3x 20 Sisters squads with heavy flamers and meltaguns. Oh, and a crap load of bolters

Fast Attack
A unit of 10 flying nuns

Heavy Support
2 Exorcist tanks

In the picture above you can see an overview of the battlefield and some of the initial starting points for the units. The scenario we rolled was the Capture and Control with the Pitched Battle deployment. The table was basically symmetrical with 9 building ruins evenly placed across the table. We each place our home objective markers in the building in the center of our lines. The difference being Tim's building was a single level ruin and mine was a 3 level ruin.

Tim massed the majority of his forces in the center of his line as you can see from the picture above.

On his right he placed a 20 man sisters unit in a three level building.

On his left he deployed his HQ and flying nuns.

For my deployment if chose to place the sniper scouts in the building guarding the home objective. In the same center zone I places the Rhino mounted tac squad. I split the other tac squad into combat squads, placing the heavy bolter and 4 men in a building to my right and the remaining troops in the center. Also on the right were the Terminators.

On my right I deployed the Assault Marines and the Chaplain. I also placed the Landspeeder on this side. My general plan would be a rapid attack from my Assault Marines on my left with the idea of tying up and perhaps destroying one of the large troop units. While this quick, deep attack was raging my troops in the center would advance, safely, through the center. The Terminators on my right would push through and draw as much fire as possible. The combat squad with the heavy bolter would pore fire on the sisters holding their objective. Since I deployed first my plan would have to be flexible.


My initial attack with the Assault Marines went better than I expected. I cleared the dangerous terrain with minimal losses and struck a unit of sister in the clear on the second turn. The battle lasted for 2 player turns with the sisters eventually falling back.

While this fight rages the Rhino troops moved up to support the Assault Marine's attack.


Meanwhile the flying nuns and their Saint advanced on a unit of scouts that had infiltrated in front of the Terminators. Tim's plan was to strike the scouts quickly and then use the Hit and Run to skip over the Terminators and make s B-line for the objective. It was a good plan that suffered from poor execution. You see, Tim decided to shoot at the scouts before launching his assault. His shooting turned out to me massively successful and 7 scouts fell. The remaining scouts fell back out of assault range. The nuns were stuck and the Terminators were bearing down on them. When the smoke cleared the flying nun were gone and the Saint was all alone and moving deeper into my lines, but the Terminators were unharmed and continuing their advance.

With Tim deploying his Exorcists on his center left my best anti-tank unit, the landspeeder, would have to cross a large amount of terrain to engage the enemy tanks.


This turned out to be a bit of a waste as I missed with the only shot I would get from the landspeeder. The Exorcists would make short work of it.


With the victory over the first unit of sisters complete the surviving assault marines and the Chaplain pressed on and struck the sisters unit guarding the objective. The initial goal with this attack was to tie up the enemy long enough for additional help to arrive. It seemed like a long shot because the Terminators and the combat squad were a long way off and the Exorcists were still on the hunt. Amazingly the Chaplain and the assault marines won! Because of the close proximity neither of the sisters units could regroup and they fled off the table.


The Chaplain and the Assault Marines would continue their reign of terror and kill both the Exorcists in the turns to follow. While all of this drama was unfolding the Saint was locked in a life and death struggle with the scouts right next to my home objective. This battle would rage for several assault phases but in the end the Saint would fall.

By the time Tim figured out what was happening all he had left on the table was the sisters unit he has deployed on his right. This unit made a vain attempt to shift back to the center and retake his objective. Even the arrival of the resurrected Saint to contest his object could not prevent utter defeat.

In the end the Knights of Eden held their own objective and had contested the enemy objective. While many marines had fallen during the fight on the landspeeder had been eliminated. The sisters, on the other hand, had been decimated. At the end of the battle about a dozen sisters were left.

Some lessons from this battle. First, sniper rifles are not very useful any more. I don't think I can justify taking a full 10 man unit of these. Second, the landspeeder with the multi-melta is useless. I don't think I have ever done anything with this unit going back several years. Third, Terminators are scary! The unit I took had no heavy weapons - just stormbolters and powerfists (oh, and a powersword on the sgt). Finally, assault marines are the sh*t! Wow! What can I say. Combine the Chaplain with the assault marines and you have a real killer unit. In this battle the assault marines were responsible for the destruction of 4 of the 7 enemy units. I also found that you should not fear the dangerous terrain test. I had to make a couple of these with the assault marines and I lost three models. This was before any fighting.

Space Marine Terminators

Here are 9 terminator from the Assault on Black Reach box set. Only 5 come in the set the others are from the White Dwarf freebe and Games Day. These are surprisingly nice figures. They snap together so you don't need to be a modeling expert and they paint up very nicely.









I have painted these as my Knight of Eden space marines. I am slowly expanding this collection to allow me to play them as a Space Marine army and not just as inducted Space Marines for my Deamonhunters.

Old West

I recently acquired the entire set of Legends of the Old West rules and naturally, before I can play, I need to get some figures painted. I traded off all my Old West stuff several years ago, before LOTOW was released. A few months ago Old Glory had a 40% off sale for all the Old West figures they carry regardless of the manufacturer. Since I have access to the member discount the figures were actually available for 60%. Well, I don't have to tell you I bought a bunch!








These figures are all from Blue Moon and for those that are familiar some of these you cannot buy. This year's free figures for the Old Glory Army were Blue Moon old west. I have the full set of the limited addition figures. I am pleased with the figures. They are on the large side and I like the sculpts. Some of these had very pronounced mold lines and Tim will probably point out what a poor job I did in cleaning them up. Funny thing is they are not as noticeable in the flesh as they are in these pictures. Oh well.