Jackals, Chimera Crane and WIPs

Welcome back for another wee update, I've been building more than painting this week, and first up I've got some bases almost built ready for some Atalan Jackals. I'm making them neutral to use with my Hive Guard force either as rough riders or just using the Atalan Jackal rules. It doesn't help that I now want loads and to recreate the Rohan cresting the hill scene from Return of the King and have them crashing into Ork lines.... We shall see!

I picked up the Galvanic Servohauler a couple months ago wondering how I can adapt it to some Necromunda terrain but then saw a few people attach it to a Leman Russ chassis. 'Thats cool' I thought, but debated whether there was a better chassis. After wondering if the lower bases Chimera chassis would be better I got hold of one and made this. Still bits to finish off but I'm quite happy with how that looks!I've flattened the top of the chimera off and then mounted the crane section onto some plasticard. Its not glued to the circular railing and I'm unsure whether to. It'll be sturdier but might be nice to be able to turn it... we shall see!

 I have paitned a little, firstly this guy I based from a leftover Genestealer Cultist from the Goliath kit mixed with some Orlock parts. Its what I'll be using predominently for the Atalan Bikers so had a little mess around with a colour scheme for them. I've retained the Thunderhawk blue main colour but used white on some of the armour and red casing for the gun. I'm unsure whether to stick with this for the bikers though, and may reverse it so the armour is thunderhawk blue.

 Little more done to the Exorcist too, having done some work to the Organists/rocket launcher firer. Theres a weird surface inside the Exorcist and I'm unsure how to paing this when I get to it, I can't make out if its stone or like a sheet covering something and the photo on the GW website isn't that clear either.

I also picked some other bits up with the Chimera, more Armoured Containers to go along with the three I already have, plus some Genestealer Cult characters to convert for the Hive Guard and Necromunda.

I grabbed these from The Outpost and they were quickly at my door to quench my hobby needs! The Alpus is such a cool model, and I love how theres very little to mark her as a Genestealer cult model. Easier for me to convert! She'll be getting an Escher head, as will the femala Atalan model in the main kit. The Nexos I'll probably use as a Master of Ordnance and the Clamavus either as a Voxcaster or even a standard bearer, I'm unsure yet but just liked the model enough to get! Also, both can be used for Necromunda too which is even better! 

So thats what I've been upto this week, what about you lot? Share any pictures below or maybe I've  sparked some ideas off for your own conversions? Either way keep safe and keep hobbying!

Death By Video

Welcome all! I've been a little quiet again, but its because I've been working on a few things..... 

Death By Die is going video! I'll still be posting here, espcially with the new Ork releases coming but expect videos once a week  maybe more when I get into the swing of it! All subscriptions are massively appreciated, if you have ideas for videos or questions for a Q&A then fire away!

Ongoing Heresy

Yup, you heard right. Heresy.

But what heresy you may ask? The heresy, and its a punishable offence at that, is that I've once again cast my thoughts away from Death By Die, allowing dust to gather in the corners, servitors to wander aimlessly around wondering why they haven't been programmed, and mutants are starting to gather outside. 

Well, it may feel like deja vu but lets try and get this going back at a steady rate shall we? News wise, theres been a few things. A few months were taken out of regular life as there was a family illness, yup... the 'C' word. My Primarch, Papa Rowland is well on his way to recovering though and things are getting back to normal. Whatever normal is! 

Also, I've I mentioned way back on my last post, I've started painting. A lot. I've slapped a few examples from some of the miniatures I've painted, theres some I did for a client I know that I need to pinch back to do some better images of. But here, is some Necromunda!

All the gangs so far have been fantastic to work with, the shield that comes with the Van Saar makes me want to do a few as Crusaders for my Astra Militarum force. Also, I painted this guy!

I gave this guy to my Blood Reavering friend Gav to add to his Khorne force, I even got to kill him!

Currently I'm working on a Chaos Chosen team which will be going up for sale in the next few days, I also picked up three Questoris Knights from the new Adetpus Titanicus which I'll also show some wip pics of soon. 

I've also been getting into Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Champions, a great card game by PlayFusion set in the AoS world. I've gone for Chaos and Death, favouring Death currently and Bam has opted for Order and Destruction, with a preference for Destruction. Cause Bams like that. Hes beaten me more so far but we had some close games, one of which felt like an epic battle of Warhammer which I absolutely loved. Bam kept damaging me in bursts while I slowly whittled him down, slowly regainging little bits of health where I could. He sent me to the grave but being Death, I got back out! It wasn't enough however and Bam managed to again send me packing but it was so much fun. I need more boosters! 

So thats how things are currently, as well as other things such as a 40k escalation league in which I've taken Orks, re-doing my Space Marine chapter cause, well we all like a bit of pain and getting ready to start a D&D campaign in which I'm Dungeon Mastering, and providing a lot of miniatures for. More on all these things soon! I'm hopeful about remembering my intention to do Saturday Salvo again, shall see!

Theres that deja vu again......

Progress: Terrain And Tanks!

So with Xmas and the New Yearhaving passed, I hope everyones had a good time and are cracking on with hobby projects! I've been pretty busy so taken some better photos of what I've been upto so here they are.

The armoured containers were nice and easy to build, and painting was similarly fun too. I undercoated them all with Rhinox Hide, then based with chosen colours on top. Red took two coats, orange took 3 with a bit of touching up, but green went on easily in one with some touch ups. Now I find weathering and bare metal work to add a great contrast to colours and it also helps unify models over different colours. Its also a great way alternative to highlighting so I went nuts on these!

I used some watered down Gorthor Brown to add rust drips, and some more Rhinox Hide to add as a backdrop to put the Leadbelcher on top to created the worn edges and patches were things were knocked against or perhaps gunfire ricocheted off. 

As you can see I also added a couple of transfers just to add some depth and make them stand out a little. 

I've also been cracking on with the Necromunda terrain and the smaller aspects of the containers box, getting some rust out on these has been fun as its been ages since I've used it. I've got loads more of these to do and these need finishing off also. I've got 6 barrels in orange with numbers on too for objective tokens that I'm adding drips too.

Also over Xmas I wanted to rework my Imperial Guard army. Having previously been painted (but never finished) in grey, they just looked unfinished as it was a similar tone to plastic. Thats no good! Some thinking soon provided me with an answer....

THUNDERHAWK BLUE!

While basing my tanks with Thunderhawk Blue I wondered what to do in terms of highlighting and/or camo. Lighter tones, darker tones, I just wasn't sure. Going back to my earlier terrain painting though I enjoyed playing with rust. That was it! 

I added plenty of rust to the tanks, not so much in a camo pattern but it certainly gives a similar effect. I've still got some last few bits to do to these but I also have another Chimera, a Vendetta and a mighty Stormlord to finish off too!

 

In terms of background with my intention to use some of the Necromunda gangs as infantry the idea is that with some sort of invasion to a hive world the old tanks were found then repurposed by the gangs and some of the Astra Militarum trying to get a defence in order to repel the enemies attacking. With the defence a success the rust was kept as a blessing to the Omnissah and now chemicals are added to the vehicles by Tech-Adepts to rust up in the name of the machine god. It works for me anyways!

So what have you guys been upto? Post photos or get in touch if you'd like your work showcased!

SCUM COMETH!

So I went and got me a Mist Hunter. And painted it in a day. Its not like me to finish things so quick so thought I'd take a few snaps and post!

So there we go, I'm unsure as to how much more I'll add as I do have a few Headhunters too but I'm not a fan of the ship so we'll see if I use them. Another IG would be tempting and perhaps a Jump Master when they're available again. Influence is Cyclonus and the Sweeps from Transformers, and I'll be doing all the canopies red like the Mist Hunters red cockpit which I used Citadels Blood for the Bloog God technical paint and got a nice shine to it.

Ghost and X-Wing Batrep

 So its been a quiet due to many reasons, but here we are with an X-Wing Battle Report. 100 pts, Rebels versus Rebels! Gav hadn't played for a while and wanted to give a K-Wing a go, and having painted up a B-Wing I just had to use it in a batrep. Heres my list!

Keyan Farlander, no upgrades.

2x Blue Squadron B-Wings with Fire Control Systems

Gemma Sojan with Chaardon Refit, and Lone Wold (I'd also taken the card that allows me to take an elite pilot talent)

Gav had taken Wedge in his X-Wing, Dutch Vander in a Y-Wing, and Esege Tuketu in the K-Wing. I forget the upgrades he chose, but there was a blaster turret and recon on the K, wedge had decoy, and I think the Ywing had a droid that gave him a free target lock when he did red moves and some photon torpedoes.

First turn we were both pretty cautious, but soon we were locked in action. 

Wedge got into range one of Keyan, and took four shields off with a torrent of fire. The K-Wing took another shield off and gave me a crit, a direct hit. Gav however rolled two blanks with Dutch and thankfully Keyan lived on for a round... but not for long. I stripped the shields of the K-Wing but no other damage. 

The next turn was just about getting out of the way ready to make another pass, although Wedge did a K-turn and finished Farlander off. Boo!

 

After a couple more K-turns and my B-Wings taking some damage the A-wing and a B-Wing took out the K-wing, then the B's swept in and took out Wedge. Needless to say with the Y-Wing out of position and three ships looking to gun him down, Gav conceded. 

So what did I think of the list? Keyan didn't get much use and its the first time I used him, my preferred B-Wing elite pilot is Ten Numb, Mangler cannon and a couple other upgrades so it maximises his ability to get those crits through. I do love Blue Squadron B-Wings though, even at pilot skill 2 they survive fire and then dish it back out, and Gemma with Lone Wolf also works well. Being in range one rerolling one blank with an extra evade dice is useful and helps her attack get some reliability too. I'm not sure what to make of the K-Wing and I'm unsure as to whether I'd get one, but they do get raved abotu so perhaps one day. 

Also, Gav being the darling that he is, picked this up for me from Firestorm Games who are based in Cardiff. I'm hoping to do an unboxing post soon, possibly in video! The cards look great though and I can't wait to use this, not only is it massive but with a native 4 firepower its gonna do some damage!

Epic Play - X-Wing Thoughts

Xwing at club has been a little underloved, so to bring the new year in our first club night of 2016 consisted of our first game of Epic. Josh and Bam both had big ships, the Raider and the Assault Carrier, and were eager to use them in a game so myself and Scott, of the Crow Valley Crusaders, took 200 points of small ships to counter this Empire threat. Scott went for quite a competitive list, 3 Bwings and lots of Headhunters,whereas I went for ships I wanted to use because I love using them. 3 prototype pilots, Han with engine upgrade, a couple of B's and an Xwing. Josh took his Raider with one of the Slave one pilots and a ti fighter, and Bam took the Assault Carrier, several tie fighters and a decimator.

First things first, I don't remember many details on the game but I want to talk more about 'Epic Play'. As we got more and more through the game it became more apparent that Bam and Josh were a little underwhlemed with the larger ships. Its possibly because myself and Scott didnt take any, although if I had one I'd have been tempted. Bam also didn't realise one of the rules which may have changed a few things but it was still an odd yet interesting game. Josh's Raider didn't seem to do much, and I think he needed to fly it more aggresively towards my ships and just try to take them out by ramming them. His weapons didn't seem to do that much either, so it would be interesting to try again and see if it was down to the dice or if Epic ships just aren't that great against a lot of smaller ships.

Playing with Scott was an eye opener too, seeing how his mind works when taking a list was intriguing as I'm not the most competitive when it comes to playing. I'm hoping a few of us will be looking towards playing a tourney or two this year so will be speaking to scott about what lists are in and doing something very different while trying to win a game or two!

The game itself went pretty much mine and Scotts way, with Scott hammer away at the ties, decimator and assault carrier where I took on the raider and its attention. Han flew up the middle, got shot at by the raider then swept back in towards the bounty hunter, giving Han the engine upgrade is just an absolute joy, especially with push the limit and the millenium falcon tile so he can get an evade every turn too. Tie fighters are jerks, the swarm still works incredibly well and I think if Bam had taken 200 points worth of them we'd have had a lot of trouble! I also still think the Slave One is a great alround ship. Throws out some good firepower, moves well too and is quite resilient.

We ended the game with the Imperials not having much left, both big ships out while we still had a decent amount of ships, but not without our own losses. Epic play is something I want to try again, and myself and my nephew Josh are going to switch sides so I can try a big ship in the near future while he gets to try rebels for the first time. 

Future releases are exciting too, I cannot wait to get the Ghost expansion, being a fan of the Rebels series. If you've not seen, THEN GO! The Inquisitors Advanced Prototype looks deadly too, Bam has mentioned his excitement for getting his grubby mitts on the ship. 

So a Question to the Xwing players out there, how competitive are you guys and how does this affect your ship choice? What are you guys looking forwarf too and anything on your wishlist of things for new expansions? I was surprised a couple more new ships weren't featured in The Force Awakens, so if we'll see many new ships is unlikely. Fingers are crossed!

Incoming updates will depend whats played over the next few weeks, but I'm pretty sure Spartacus will be featured (we had an amazing game last week of this as Morgan picked it up) and also the start of our look at Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. We have a group of between 6-8 players and we're having our first regular night on Saturday. Exciting times!

APOCALYPSE!!! 11K Batrep and Timelapse!

I say its a battle report, its more a whinge about how I got the shit blown out of me in the first turn. Yikes! So the game... we aimed for 10k each, and ended up with 11k each. As you can see, Aluns artillery was scary!

So yeah I had that to face, was not impressed! What did I have? 

This. Battle company and some bits! 

We bid for deployment and Alun went for 4 minutes and I went for 8 minutes 20 seconds. I rolled a 6 to steal the initiative... then Alun informed me Coteaz was in his force and I had to reroll. Swine! This would not go well! And it didn't...

Yeah theres my first turn killed pile except for the marines to the right. Alun used a stratagem that allowed his manticores (all four I think) to fire several times each causing a lot of dead tanks. Among the dead were a couple of land raiders, a couple of predators, and my line breaker formation. Ouch! I did not have much confidence... I did aim to get points though as thats what gets you prizes!

I managed to kill Aluns Shadowsword, and capture 5 of the six objectives to give me a 6-1 lead at the first break, where a mixed grill happened! Thats teh way to get some confidence. Stratagem wise I'd used my first in the first turn to deep strike everything with 'Precise Coordinates'. I had an Orbital Strike from the Battle Company and had chosen reinforcements to bring back a formation which I kept in case those points were needed. Aluns second turn wasnt as brutal as the first.

Assassins fought each other, fliers fought flier, troops ran out of broken transports to capture objectives. I think the key fights were the Legion of the Damned and some thunder hammer termies ganging up on a unit consisting of Coteaz, another inquisitor, Stracken, Deddog and Yarrick, another thunder hammer unit fighting an eversor, my callidus and librarian in termie armour taking on Aluns warmaster Creed, my squads getting amongst aluns tanks to do some damage helped immensely too. But would it be enough?

We had to end at turn three, and it seemed I'd managed a 19-8 win. Had it gone on longer I'm unsure whether I could have held on, I still had some units to use out of my storm raven, my chapter master hadn't exited his land raider yet either, but alun still had a lot of tanks! I think he'd have definitely closed the gap but I may have just edged it.

So my favourite moments include seeing Aluns force on the table, hes built a lot of tanks over the last week and did well to get so much done. Scariest army I've ever seen! 

The Legion of the Damned were amazing again. Using the formation from the Armageddon section they with a couple of other units decimated Aluns infantry heavy weapons platoon. They're just so cinematic too! 

Killing the Shadowsword and only rolling a 'one' was disappointing, I wanted to see more destruction! Alun only improved it a little blowing the Stormlord up by rolling a 'two'. Next time!

Assassins battling each other was fun, Als Callidus cropped up in my Bastion so I put my Eversor in there to butcher her, and I placed my Callidus in Als Bastion next to his Vindicare who was about to charge him before the Stormlord unleashed a torrent of fire at him, chewing him up leaving her able to assault the command squad with the Librarian. 

Conversion Beamers. I have NO LUCK with them! I even borrowed Bams (who I'll have to show off when hes painted) and they didn't do an awful lot. 

Actually rolling for Terminator saves was fun, even though I rolled more ones than I should it wasnt rolling as many as I usually do... my power armour saves were atrocious though, consistently rolling half instead of two thirds. 

There were so many things I've probably forgotten about and Al will shout at me for forgetting too! Anyways, theres a timelapse below so enjoy the speeded up action!

Chaos Lives! Chaos Lord and Hellbrute updates

Its not very often the forces of Chaos get a dedicated post on Death By Die... but today they have found their way in. At our gaming club, the Gwent Reavers we chatted about the expense of the hobby and perhaps if we had a small collection of 40k things here people could at least try before they buy. Thinking further about it, I realised that I had a small Chaos force. Very small. But its something. With the Assassinorum boxed set giving me 15 cultists, a Chaos Lord and 3 Chaos Marines along with the the 6 beastly based Chaos Marines I modelled a while ago, it was a start. I'd also won a Hellbrute a couple of years ago in a little competition held by friend Adam, where he gave it away on his old Nurgles Command video. 

Out came the glue and paint! What you see below are what I've done so far, along with other things its not much but the Chaos Lord looks pretty good and I'm happy with the colour scheme. Its Thunderhawk Blue highlighted with Lothern blue, which I'd previously used on my Millenium Falcon(more of that soon).

 I'm especially happy with how his cloak came out, I think the green tones look nice and compliment the blue pretty well.

 And heres the Hellbrute! Same colour scheme, and I went with a very brown skin as it would work against the blue by being a little warmer in colour and the pipes, exhausts and bones would contrast the browns too. Note the added Imperial Fist helmet, which, somehow innocently, is Bams chosen army... coincidences heh?

Mikes also brought over his Tzeetch Thousand Sons army over for me to scavange from, a lot of work needs to be done on some of the models but the Chaos Terminators and Lord look very usable, as well as a few other bits. Its coming along slowly! Some of the models won't look that great but if it means the club has an army then its all good. 

Now a little chat about the new Chaos Terrain for Age of Sigmar. To make up the whole thing its £600+. Wowsers, thats a lot of pennies! It does look spectacular though, and I think some of the smaller packages are pretty good too in terms of visuality. I did wonder how it would look for other Chaos forces though....

And I'm really digging it in blue! I've changed the saturation in photoshop to what Tzeentch and Nurgle fortresses may look and I think the blue one stands out really well. I think perhaps some Tomb Kings accessories would help give it a more Tzeentch flavour, and for nurgle lots of ooze, lots of browns on there too. Be interesting to see how people paint theirs when its released.

Theres also rumours of a september release for a new Chaos Codex for 40k, along with a new Daemon Engine. What could it be? Who knows, a Chaos sized Knight titan would be good thats not Forge World, but I'm expecting something a little different. Who knows! What do you think will be new in the Chaos Codex?

Assassins and GW/Warhammer Branding

So as promised, yet another post of models I've worked on over the last month, but also some news regarding Games Workshop. It would appear that Games Workshop stores across the world will become 'Warhammer' stores. Theres talk of pricing, and while it doesn't include the prices coming down, Rountree mentioned “be looking to offer a broader range of price points.” Thats certainly something a lot of hobbyists will welcome. 

I think its worth mentioned the rumours regarding the leaking images of the 30k plastic sprue. This has many people in excitement, as it could mean cheaper 30k armies and more plastics with which to get into the HH side of the game. The box set rumours itself sound really intriguing, a contemptor, tac squads, praetor, all being available int he box set. Apparently too it'll be a game in itself like Assassinorum and Space Hulk before it, boarding party was mentioned too so interesting side of 30k/40k could be shown. Perhaps the possibility to mix the space board with that of space hild and executionn force to create our own scenarios or even for 40k roleplaying? Anyways... onto the Assassins!

 First up is the Callidus, it took me a while to decide what colour to do her hair as its a big feature of the model and I'm happy with the choice. Her eyes I've left white, but these may get changed at some point... a model is rarely finished! Shes also great in game for doing some damage to a nearby infantry squad and taking a lot of attention off your main army.

 Next up the very strange Celexus. I've not used him in game yet but he seems a good prospect especially if your opponent is using a psyker. The model itself is quite a simple one until you get to the head, and I wonder if I should have done the head like the Eversors skull to make it stand out more. Perhaps I will in the future, its easier to paint bone than it is black!

 I'm quite proud with how the Eversor turned out, and its probably one of my better painted models! Another model I've yet to use in game, but I think if left unmolested he'd be an absolute beast in combat.

Finally is the most used Assassin for me, the Vindicare. Pretty versatile on the table, and perhaps one of the simple models of the execution force to paint too. Definitely recommend giving him a go in your games, he can sit out of the way and just take special weapons, characters and vehicles out leaving enemy squads easier for your own to take out. 

Next up I've got a couple of Chaos models intended for the clubs Chaos army (which will be a slow burner) and also my take on the Millenium Falcon.

Scum and Villainy Progress

'This blog post is a wretched hive for scum and villainy. We must be cautious'

 Ah the Scum and Villany, the third faction for Xwing came out a little while ago yet failed to post my progress so far. I hadn't intended to add any weathering to the models but they looked to flat and as my highlighting skills aren't great weathering is a great way to add some edging to models... so out came the silver!

Let it be known, I'd pay plenty of Galactic Credits for some Scyk Interceptors. I didn't fancy these when I first saw the stats, but playing them they're so much fun. You can make them heavy therefore adding cannons, they're quite survivable especially if you take Serissu, who is the opposite of Howlrunner in which nearby ships get to reroll an evade dice and I just love flying them around the board. I've gone for a purple and light grey scheme, but I'm undecided yet whether I like the yellow for the canopies. I'm kinda tempted to go for a cherryish red.....

Heres the Starviper, a ship I've only run once but it didn't seem too bad. The only grey I've added on here was for the weapons and engine, I quite like the panels/wings plain as the metal contrasts nicely with the purple. 

And finally the IG. This ship is also incredibly fun to fly, and whiles its a big ship, you can't fly it like one, its just not quite as durable as the Slave, Falcon or certainly the Decimator. But it can do so many good things. I'd love to get another to try out some of the awesome combos that A, B, C and D can do, plus they look awesome. Its a cross between Galactus and Cyclonus. Don't know em? Google!

So thats how Scum looks so far, little touch ups and whether to redo the canopies and they'll be finished. I don't plan on adding much more as I can use a lot of my rebel ships with them if I wanted to play a big game but another IG might be nice.