Thursday 25 September 2014

The Next Chapter

Well Toronto Astronom-con 2014 has come and gone (been almost 2 months to the day).  I ended up placing 3rd overall, which is a pretty huge accomplishment for me.  I had 6 absolutely amazing games, against 6 absolutely amazing players (which is honestly the way any tournament should be)
In the end I walked away with some hardware, Best Sportsman! And I new group of friends from Stratford.  Thanks Ridvan for being you.....and letting your old mates, and new ones take pokes at your heritage and dirty habits! (all in good fun)


So.....With Astro out of the way it brings me to a new year (my hobby calendar revolves around Astro so the Monday after is day one of the new hobby year for me)....or new Chapter.


You see the word "chapter" is a play.....It's a new chapter in my hobby book....and possibly a new space marine chapter as well.


I have plans for yet another space marine army.  Big problem is that I'm undecided as to how to paint them.  I have thought of continuing my Alpha Legion, however, I want to change my colour scheme.  So if I plan on changing my colour scheme, my thought process is that I should change Chapters as well.


My choices are as follows:


Soul Drinkers (Purple with Black trim)
Crimson Sabres (Red with White shoulder pads and back packs)
Lamenters (Yellow with black trim with black/white checkered patterns)


Possible Choices are:
Pre-heresy World Eaters
Mantis Warriors


I will probably have the chapter nailed down within a few weeks, the goal is to have an army that can swing either way (I really seem to like doing that).  It gives me the option of either using the Loyalist Space Marine Codex, or the Chaos Space Marine Codex.  Really it depends on what units I want in the army (or transports)


As it stands right now, I have 10 terminators (loaded up as CSM) with a "counts as" Abaddon model, a couple of 10 man troop squads (either tactical or normal CSM/Chosen), a couple of 5 man troop squads, 2 heavy weapon squads (either devastators or havocs).  Somewhere in the mix I can add a Storm Eagle (which I would LOVE to) and a couple of Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Helbrutes (they are Contemptor Dreadnoughts with double close combat weapons)




I will have pics with my next update (for some reason I cannot upload right now).....hopefully with a decision made as well......chime in and let me know where your vote lies!


Alpharius


Tuesday 22 July 2014

4 days.....and 7 models (give or take a few)

Yeop....feeling the pressure....4 days to go. I have my Autarch, and 6 Wild Riders left to paint.  Little things like a second coat of white on the helmets of the Warp Spyders.....and if time permits some detail work on the Wild Rider's banners.

I have put some time into the display board. I have some dry brushing to do on the grassy areas, and then a coat of varnish (I like to varnish the display board because of the activity that happens with the magnets......I have magnetized the bases to prevent mishaps from bumps).

I have Friday off, and my mom is taking care of Deacon for a little bit.....so the possibility of being finished friday afternoon is very likely......fingers crossed!



 
 
I probably won't post again until Friday.....with my finished army, and display board.  I will make an effort to batrep each of my games at Astro.
 
Until next time....
 
Alpharius

Saturday 19 July 2014

I'm doing this backwards!!!

So in an effort to get ahead this morning, I started my display board.  I was only able to put a little bit of paint on models.  I was also able to clip the bitz that I need for my last squad of Wild Riders.....

I decided to go where my creative juices were flowing, and continued with the display board....I got flocking done, model placement mapped out, and supports for the second tier in place....quick prime coat, and about an hour worth of painting and this bad boy will be finished!

However, my models will not paint themselves.....and i'm only a week away....I just have to remind myself that I can do this!!!!



 
 
More tomorrow for sure.....I need to keep pushing.
 
Alpharius

Friday 18 July 2014

Down the home stretch

9 days to go.....argggg.....9 days to go.

I barely had any productive hobby time this week. 6am start times have really put a damper on my painting schedule.  That being said I have completed my bases and been able to get 90% of my bike riders completed.....which brings me to next problem....I have realized that I only have 3 squads of riders converted and painted.....not sure what caused that mental lapse, but now I need to deal with it.




So the plan is as follows: Assemble the last squad of riders tonight (I am penciled in for a game against Ridvan). By Sunday finish painting the riders, Autarch, and Warp Spyders.....this may be a stretch but I REALLY need to achieve this.  Next week will be dedicated to building my display board, and getting my fluff finished.

My week produced 2 games. First was against Evan and his Astra Tempestus (???) allied with an Imperial Knight.  We played a non-Astro scenario.  Game ended top of turn 4 with the Saim Hann Warhost over running the Scions.....once again mobility and superior fire power have won the day.
Second game was against Justin and his Daemons.  Justin is going to Astro as well so this was a great primer game for both of us.  We played Field of Screams.  Mission objective was Victory Points....the catch is that everything (except for a 6inch border around the board) was both difficult AND dangerous terrain.  Justin had large blob style units that fell victim to movement.  The game was a blood bath, Justin had about 350 points left on the board and I had about 700 points left on the board.  In the end, I had a solid victory, and have assured my confidence level with the Warhost.

W6, L1, D0

 
 
Until next time (hopefully with a finished army)
 
Alpharius

Friday 11 July 2014

Blahhhh....

Well everything that I need has arrived in the mail....all of my extra bitz, all of my bases. Now comes the challenge of actually putting all of the final touches together.  Bases hit the priming station yesterday, riders have been converted, and primed (first paint should touch them later today, or tomorrow). Warp Spiders are primed and ready to go. Autarch is converted, and primed. So it looks like i'm in good shape......oh wait.....I still have a display board to build, and a fluffly story to submit with my army list.
I got 2 games in with the new list. One against Ridvan, and one against Tim (seems these two chaps are my main play testers).  Once again the Saim Hann Warhost has proved that mobility matched with fire power will win the day.  My game against Ridvan was filmed for a batrep, so you will have to wait until that comes out. My game against Tim and his dreaded Seer-Star was a nail biter. We played the Astronomi-con scenario "Damunation".  6 objectives that can be held by a model with a "hand".  Hold more objectives than your opponent and win the game. Highlights of the match for me were a first turn move and destruction of a wave serpent with the warp spiders, and a last turn kill of both the Baron and Warlord Farseer.....fusion guns for the win!

W4,L1,D0 (This does not include my game against Ridvan....You will have to wait for that one)

So with just 19 days to go it is really time to put my nose down and get the Warhost finished!

 
Until next time,
 
Alpharius

Saturday 5 July 2014

Battle update

Well I started to feel the pressure today.  Just under 3 weeks until Astro, and I still have quite a bit of work to do.  I did get a game in against Tim today.  Dawn of War deployment, Purge the Alien primary objective, and The Relic as secondary objective.  He played a Spawn rush army....basically 3 units of Plague Marines in rhinos, a Lord on bike with power fist and lightning claw, and 3 units of Nurgle Spawns.
The army is fast and hits hard.....but the Warhost is faster....and well in the end was 1 model away from tabling Tim (I also had VERY few models left on the table)


I feel good about the army, except for the Shining Spears.  I just don't know how to play them properly.....I know they are a supportive/counter attack unit, but I want to be so aggressive with them.  I just end up handing my opponent a free kill point.  After some discussion with a few players after the game, I have decided to remove them from the list and replace them with a unit of Warp Spiders.
So after 4 games, the Saim Hann Warhost is 3W-1L-0D.  I will probably be able to get 2 may be 3 more games in before Astro.....and I would really love to have some momentum and confidence going into the weekend.

Alpharius

Tuesday 1 July 2014

I'm seeing red.....and it makes me feel happy.

It has been a VERY busy week in the Hydra Factory and at work.  The heat has been pretty bad where I work and it tends to drain my energy levels (which is one of the reasons why I have not posted anything)

However, I am about to change all of that.  I was able to get A LOT of work done on the 4 squads of Windriders and the Fire Dragons Wave Serpent.

So without anymore rambling.....here are some pics.







As you can see, I have changed the weapon load out on the Serpent to Scatter lasers instead of the Bright lances....it just seemed to make more sense.

What is left to paint:
All of the riders still need to be converted, and painted.
Wave Serpent needs to be finished
Autarch needs to be converted and him and his bike need to be painted
Fire Dragons need to be finished (they are base coated)
War Walkers need to be finished (they are half done)
Vyper gunners STILL need to be finished
Shining Spears need to be converted and painted as well as their bikes.....here are some pics of what I am doing for the Spears.





I have been able to get 2 games in since my last post. I played against Ridvan and his Whych Cult again (love the changes he made to his list), and played a game against Tim and his Guard....er...I mean Astra Militarum last night.  Both games played used Astronomi-con missions.  My game against Ridvan will probably go up on his YouTube channel so I will not spoil the ending. My game against Tim was HEAVILY in my favor....in the end, the AM could not contend with the speed of the Warhost and I took home a 13-0 victory.

W-L-D = 2-0-0 (I left out my game against Ridvan for suspense)

Until next time
Alpharius