Monday 26 December 2011

Battle Report Part 2

Apologies for the delay in posting part 2!

Turn 1
The Imperial Fists won the first turn after I failed to steal the initiative and began by landing a drop pod right on the objective in my deployment zone, the doors opened and the plasma cannon wielding dreadnought lumbered out. The speeder went all out and took shelter behind the ruin in the top right hand corner of the map. The last movement came from the Vindicator which advanced up to the first crater in an attempt to get into range, as it was entering difficult terrain it had to take the difficult terrain test and managed to imobilize itself! The only shooting came from the snipers who killed a 2 Highland Veterans, and the dreadnought which targeted the now exposed Command HQ. The plasma cannon hit and managed to catch every single member within the blast radius, facing certain death and instant kill from the weapon, the Colonel ordered his men to ground. The first killed was the zulu bodyguard who bravely pushed the Colonel out of the way, two more died and the standard bearer, Officer of the Fleet and one more squad member managed to survive.

My deployment zone had been well and truely compromised but I was confident we had enough fire power to see the mechanical behemoth off. There was very little movement, just a slit shuffling of the Leman Russ and Squad 2 Chimera edging away from the dreadnought. The shooting phase began with orders, and as the Colonel was taking cover it fell to the Command squad in the Chimera. They issued and order to the Command HQ telling them to take further cover and increase their cover save by 2. Veteran Sergeant Bastone finally issued his Veterans the order to bring the dreadnought down and commenced the shooting. The missile team within the squad fired a krak missile at the exposed rear of the dreadnought but succeeded in only preventing it from shooting in the following turn. Next up the grenade launcher fired a krak grenade which fared better and destroyed the power fist. What happened next was rather less than spectacular, autocannon, lascannon, meltagun, multi laser and heavy bolter opened fire in an almighty salvo but managed to do nothing more than scratch the bright yellow paintwork, oh dear... The only shoiting was from a chimera which managed to stop the landspeeder from shooting or moving next turn.

Turn 2
Once again the turn started with the arrival of reserves, luckily the terminators and Lysander failed to arrive but the shotgun scouts in the landspeeder storm outflanked and arrived in the bottom right hand corner with the scouts disembarking and heading straight for the beleaguered command squad. With little else to move the shooting face began with the scout snipers eliminating another 2 members of the Veteran squad. The newly arrived scouts opened up on the command HQ, everyone took a hit with one squad member taking two hits. When the dust had settled the Colonel had taken a wound and the standard bearer had been elminated, all other saves had been made! The assault phase began with dreadnought slamming into the command squad chimera but luckily caused no damage while the scouts engaged the Command HQ. The Officer of the fleet was the first to fall but from 4 other wounds caused, only one save was failed on the Colonel who took another wound. In reply and with a few swished of his ceremonial sabre the Colonel dispatched to of the upstart scouts in quick measure, drawing the combat.

Feeling a real need to finally kill some Imperial Fists I was heartened by the arrival of the Lancers near the stranded Vindicator. The command squad chimera which had been engaged by the dreadnought edged away so he wouldnt have another free hit, the other two chimera edged further around the table edges creating some distance between my units before the inevitable arrival of the Terminators. All orders attempted failed in quick measure, which led to hopefully a more effective shooting phase. The dreadnought once again attracted a great deal of fire but once again survived. It seemed I was perfectly capable of getting through the armour but the number of 1s and 2s rolled after really was incredible. Thankfully the dreadnought was at least unable to move in the following turn and had the menacing plasma cannon removed. The Leman Russ turned its attention to snipers and managed to eliminate 2 of them despite the outrageous cover save. The only other targets were the landspeeders, which would both be unable to move or shoot in the next turn. The Colonel was killed in the assault while the last remaining squad member once again proved very adept at passing his saves, unfortunately he didn't stick around after as he failed his leadership test, he was caught by the scouts who consolidated towards the Veterans. The Rough Riders charged into the imobilized Vindicator, hitting automatically they would then have 13 attempts at penetrating the armour and destroying the tank, strength 5 with 2D6 I was pretty confident. What resulted was 8 penetrating hits and 8 1s, 2s and 3s... how it remained I have no idea, but remain it did.


That is all I have time for at the moment so I am going to have leave the rest for part 3!

Sunday 25 December 2011

A Christmas Update!

Merry Christmas everyone! I've taken advantage of the evening lull after eating and drinking far to much, to post (not just 1 post but several posts!) some overdue photos the army. In this post here are some photos of what stage the Command HQ and Highland Veterans are at.

I've made a few more changes to the blog and added a new page which is a gallery of the finished units in the army. I have posted pictures of lots more units so be sure to have look!

Any comments are very welcome!




Photos of Personnel of note

Here are a few photos of some old characters that featured in the original Praetorian army and how they fit in the new one!

Officer of the fleet/Master of Ordinance

 


Bodyguard


Master of Ordinance/Veteran Sergeant Bastone

 



Priest

 



Photos of Praetorian Lancers

Here are some photos of my original Rough Riders I made way back when. They were a mix of rough rider legs with the boots replaced with Praetorian ones and the torso of the standard bearer.


Photos of the 1st Platoon

I've finally had some time to take some photos. So here you go, photos of the 1st Platoon! Comments are of course always welcome!

Command Squad




Command Chimera







Squad 1



Squad 1 Chimera







Squad 2





Squad 2 Chimera




Thursday 22 December 2011

A battle report! Part 1

With work having finished for Christmas I was looking forward to lots of time to make some progress. Well that was the plan and unfortunately I've only really had today and part of yesterday to do anything. Nonetheless I have finished the 1st Infantry Platoon so that is 25 Guardsmen, and their 3 Chimera all fully decked out with battle damage and insignia. No photos today I'm afraid as I haven't had a chance but in the next post I promise lots of photos!
So this evening the Praetorian Mechanised 4th got their first taste of battle since their temporary retirement all those years ago. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos, but I will try to be as descriptive as possible to compensate!

The battle was 1000pts a side played on a martian red 4by4 table. There were a few ruined buildings, some of three stories, in each quarter, and a few craters towards the centre of the battledfield. My opponent commanded an Imperial Fists army and we played a simple game where there was one objective in each of our deployment zone, whoever held the most at the end would be the winner.

Here are the army lists

Imperial Fists -
Lysander
6 Assault Terminators 2 lightening claws 4 thunder hammer
Landspeeder storm
6 scouts with shotguns and a heavy bolter
6 scouts with sniper rifles and a missile launcher
Landspeeder with multi melta and heavy flamer
Vindicator
Drop pod dreadnought with plasma cannon and power fist

Preatorian Imperial Guard
Command HQ - bodyguard, officer of the fleet, reg standard
Infantry Platoon -
Command squad - melta gun, standard, bolt pistol
Squad 2 Heavy Bolter plasma gun
Squad 1 Autocannon flamer
x3 chimera
Veteran Squad Sgt Bastone, Grenade launcher, Missile Launcher
Leman Russ with Lascannon
5 Rough Riders with plasma gun and melta gun
6 Rough Riders
Priest with eviscerator

My army largely consisted of what I have been working on and what was finished. I do dislike fielding unpainted models but as it was my first game back I let it slide (only the Vets and HQ were unpainted so only 14 models). I had been expecting to face orks so a specialised marine army was a surprise particularly when it came to deployment and only a landspeeder, vindicator and sniper squad set up. The thought of the rest landing in the middle of my army wasn't comforting.

Lysander, due to his siege speciality had fortified a building. In this building in the heart of the his deployment zone next to his objective he deployed the snipers, behind it the land speeder and to one side the vindicator.

My objective was placed in a clearing in my deployment zone, a killing zone of sorts . The vet squad with the priest and Bastone took position in one building while the autocannon squad deployed in a neighbouring building. The Command HQ tried to take shelter in the shadow of the building, out of site of the snipers.






















Apologies for the poor quality maps but I think it shows what was going on pretty well. The black lines represent the ruined building. The circles in the middle craters and the grey in the bottom left is a landing pad. Finally the purple stars are the objectives.
My roughriders were busy outflanking and the rest of the Imperial Fists were in reserve or outflanking. The first turn was to be my opponents as I failed to sieze the initiative...

Now that the scene is set I will have to leave it there for the time being. I will post again in the next two days with the outcome of the battle and also some photos of the newly painted troops.

Friday 16 December 2011

An army list and a nightmare

I had a nightmare last night, not a very bad one but I'll class it as such nonetheless. I had just painted my highland vets and spray varnished them, only the spray varnish ruined the models turning them all cloudy and grey.
Whether this is an omen or not I'm not sure but I'm certainly wary of purity seal now...

Anyway, on to the more serious subject of the Praetorian mechanised 4th. Since I came back to the hobby a few months ago I have been converting and painting as I fancied with no real method to the green stuff and painted fuels madness. I have not yet played any games since my return but that is of course on the list of things to do. Ideally I'd like to take the army to tournaments and gaming weekend etc to meet some fellow hobbyist and of course show the praetorians off (victory is somewhat secondary to vanity at the moment!!)!  As such it's about time I had a plan.


The army list.

This 1500pts (there is a lot more infantry waiting in the wings to easily make another 750pts worth) list has come about with no real tactical thinking, rather it is what I'm enjoying painting etc and like the look of. Any suggestions are very welcome!


Command HQ, reg.std, medic, vox, master of ordinance, body guard carapace armour, chimera, extra armour.

Priest, eviscerator

Highland vet squad, missile launcher, grenade launcher, chimera
Infantry platoon

Command squad, standard, vox, bolt pistol, meltagun, chimera

Squad 1, plasma gun, heavy bolter, chimera

Squad 2, autocannon, flamer, chimera

5 rough riders, meltagun, plasma gun,

6 rough riders

Hellhound

Medusa

Leman Russ with lascannon

Leman Russ exterminator with sponson heavy bolters


Painting wise it is about 70% done.

The tanks are all painted, but I'm reworking all the markings and insignia on them, free hand painting everything, also adding damage and chips to the paint.

The infantry platoon has half of the 25 finished (squad 1 and 3 from command squad) while the others range from undercoat to almost done.
Rough riders are all done.

Highland vets are all based and undercoated with one finished.
Command HQ are undercoated and based with the bodyguard (Zulu) and MO finished.



Now that work has finished for Xmas I should have some time to make some real progress and get all of this finished! First step is to finish the platoon and tanks. I'm going to try and add some pages in the next few days to the blog to create a gallery where the finished models can be displayed.

Sorry no pictures today as I'm on a train, but there will be some in the next few days. Imperial tacticians let me know your thought on the army list!

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Highland Guard ready to paint

Squinty eyed and too tired I've finished the sculpting work on the second 5 Highland Guard. I'll give them a couple of days to cure properly then base and spray them before tackling the unit of 10 all together.


Now off to sleep...

Sunday 11 December 2011

Highland Guard update

Only a quick post, just a little update on how the highland veterans are doing. Not quite got as much done as hoped today but have got the cuffs, collars and plumes on the helmets done. Next step is the epaulettes.

Also a a photo of some work in progress freehand insignia for my chimeras. Its painted in grey at the moment and will be done again in white.

Saturday 10 December 2011

Praetorian storm troopers and Highland Guard update

A few pictures of the work in progress storm troopers and highland guard. I'm waiting for some of the new Victoria Lamb arms for the storm troopers and there is a load of green stuff that needs to be added for epaulettes and a few other things.

 The storm troopers are all wearing their forage caps and have pith helmets attached to their belts and I'm considering adding epaulettes to them when I get the arms, though I'm still not decided!
This is the second 5 men of my highland guard veterans (the other 5 all kneeling appear in previous posts). They all need cuffs, epaulettes, plumes and the odd thing here and there.

Thursday 8 December 2011

New Victoria Lamb guard bits!

I think my search for hotshot lasguns has been solved...


Amazing.

I dont think I need to say much more. Here are some links facebook and the store. Check it all out, fantastic work!

Tuesday 6 December 2011

A few works in progress...

I've not had any time for painting or modelling in the past few days but I thought I'd post a few photos of things some models that I have been working on recently...

Firstly I've been updating a few tanks, mainly new insignia and some weathering/battle damage. Also a new loading platform for the medusa.




Another model I've been playing around with is a new storm trooper, where I am going for a commando style more akin to the OAP plastic stormtroopers of the 90s but with a praetorian twist. Only problem is what to do for hotshot lasguns, any ideas???

So for this guy we have Victoria Lamb torso head and chem tank, a pith helmet and water bottle from Empress Miniatures, and knife and legs from the regular plastic guard kit. I might wait for the Victoria Lamb arms and guns, they might do nicely as hotshot lasguns. Im also considering not having epaulettes on these guys.
Hopefully next post I can show some more finished miniatures as the tanks above still arent finished, there are also a few guardsmen for another squad that are almost finished.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Banners, where to begin...

I think banners are pretty important for an Imperial Guard army, I'm not sure how useful they really are in a game of 40k but I certainly couldn't imagine my Praetorian's going to battle without waving at least a few of them.
Banners have been made pretty easy in recent years with great plastic banners that take a lot of the hard work out of painting them. When I first started my Praetorian army a year or two afte their release I had paper banners and it was Union flags all the way. However when I revisited the army a couple of years before my long absence I moved towards proper Imperial Guard banners, and also away from paper banners. This was before the plastic banners were released and so my first inspiration was from the metal cadian command squad.
I copied the size and shape of the banner in greenstuff and also added some detail with purity seals, rope, and a few other things. I also copied the general colour scheme of white black and red with some free hand details like the IV and the unicorn head (a motif which features on a lot of the vehicles in the army).

So now that I have returned to the hobby I wanted to pick up where I left of with regards to banners and try to make them a highlight of the army. The first one that I have now completed is the Rough Rider standard. The banner is taken from Empire Knights with the staff removed, holes drilled and a brass rod put in its place. The head of the standard is the Praetorian one (which all my banners will have) found on the metal standard bearer and the rope is green stuff around the top and the bits from the plastic Guard command sprue.

So this one was certainly a challenge to paint. Entirely flat surfaces with alot of folds and changes in angle, this required some planning, and so plan I did.
I think the key to good free hand painting is preparation. You need to have a very cleay idea of what you are painting and how you will paint it. So before I began paiting I spent a while drawing ideas and doodling to see what I liked the look of, also I wanted to understand the folds of the banner so I knew how it would work. I was already settled on having a IV in a laurel wreath at the top of the banner and Praetoria written towards the end, in the middle I wanted some kind of Lion. I decided to have a leaping Lion which would work well with the length of the banner and also tie in with the overall lion praetorian connection.

The next thing to consider was the reverse of the banner. Painting all of the things I mentioned above once was going to be tough enough, but twice and to get them the same! Too much work I reckon so I decided to have a simple striped reverse using more red to stay within the white, red, balck palette. A few more IVs and Aquilla thrown in and there you go! The whole thing was pencil drawn on first before being picked out in white (if in doubt paint over the lines or if you want to change it as it is easy to change with black again after). The white was given a few very thin coats to build up the colour before all the black was painted again, being careful to neaten all the edges ofthe white and get everything perfect. The black was then highlighted and other colours added over the white where needed. All in all it took about 4 hours from drawing on the banner to finishing painting.

As a sneak peak of what is to come the next banner I'm going to paint will be the Command HQ. The rectangle banners on the drawings above were for this banner and I was looking forward to having only one flat surface to contend with! Here is the model with an initial pencil banner drawn on...

Saturday 3 December 2011

Finished Rough Riders Photos!!

Finally I've managed to fix my computer enough to post these photos. As I mentioned in the previous post I only really managed to finish them so quickly due to Cavember! Col Gravis has a rough rider painting contest over on his blog for Cavember Roughrider Painting Contest so be sure to go and check it out! Enjoy! Any comments are always welcome!