A Shokking Development

I fear I missed my calling.

When I eventually came round to building my first 40k army. I opted for Blood Angels as I had a handful of Space Marines and the 4th edition codex came free in White Dwarf.

However, I should have been an Ork player from the start as cobbling stuff together from scrap turns out to be right up my street.

This time I've built the dreaded Shokk Attack Gun.

A contraption that dates back to 1991 and require literal pages of rules in its first iteration, the Shokk Attack Gun punctures a hole in reality allowing Snotlings to be teleported to somewhere in the vicinity of their enemy (sometimes appearing inside them).

Needless to say, this is the sort of fiendish device I want in my Waaagh and given that I had some Snotlings to paint, the time seemed right.

My Shokk Attack Gun is built mainly from a spare weapon mount from my Land Raider Spartan and some lengths of wooden skewer. The stand is a Leviathan Dreadnought's foot.

The iconic three-pronged spinny thing is a conveniemtly shaped bit of sprue and some beads with a bit of Daemon fire added to give some sense of motion.

The front cone is a hanging basket from the Mars Attacks terrain.

I and really running out of Orks in my bits box, and so I've drafted in a Heroquest Orc to serve as my Mek. He got a shoulder pad, a hand swap from the spare arm of the Mek I painted last year and a metal Necromunda backpack which has appeared from somewhere.

I needed to reposition his left arm to get it to an appropriate angle, and I had to reattach his right leg when it shot off whilst I was removing his chunky base.

The Snotlings, including this on the base of the Shokk Attack Gun were easy and fun to do, although they were much more time consuming.

I'm the current game, as well as in 5th edition, the Snotlings don't actually serve a purpose, however in 2nd edition they were essentially ammo markers.

I have no problem just having these for the aesthetics.

I am now properly out of Orks or Grots to add to my army unless I was to tool up some more Heroquest models, something that is not totally out of the question given my relative lack of Boyz.

However, there's a new edition due out soon with Orks in the somewhat discounted starter box, so it's quite likely Armageddon that.

Acquired: 15

Painted: 105

Lead Mountain: 654

Cost Cutta

I said a couple of posts ago that I might have a go at cobbling together a second vehicle for my Rebel Grotz in Gorkamorka.

And I have.

This is my take on the Rebel Grot Cutta, a lightly armed and armoured, sail-powered vehicle used by Grots who don't have access to the same quality of scrap as the Orks.

It's a totally bodged together creation made from bits and pieces from my bits box combined with some coffee stirrers and a wooden skewer.

At a push, it can probably carry around five Rebel Grotz, which is more than enough to prevent me from overloading the Big Lugga and allows them to fart off from the main force in search of scrap.

The sail is nothing more complicated than a triangle of old dust sheet painted cream. The paint gives it a bit of thickness and shape.

The rest of the painting was done with my usually Orky blend of washes, drybrushing and sponging.

All in all I'm really pleased with how my kitbash has turned out and as you can see, it's pretty close to the original model, although I might see if I can add some sort of steering mechanism at the back.

I'm delighted with how this Gorkamorka gang has turned out. I now need to get my hands on a couple of the rulebooks, Da Roolz and the book from Digganob, as I currently only have Da Uvver Book.

I know I can use pdfs from legally grey sources, but I really like having the physical products when I'm playing.

Acquired: 15

Painted: 102

Lead Mountain: 670

Scrapheap Challenge

Whilst my mind was occupied with all things Rebel Grotz, I also explored my somewhat diminished pile of 40k bits and pieces to see what else I could cobble together.

The answer turned out to be...cannon!

This creation is my attempt at a Gretchin Lobba, essentially a mortar, designed to drop large templates of explosive death somewhere in the vicinity of the enemy.

The decision to make a Lobba rather than any other form of Gretchin cannon was informed by the fact that in 5th edition 40k, which is the version we play most often, units of Big Gunz are required to all be of the same type.

As I already have a catapult-style Lobba, a mortar it needed to be.

The Lobba itself is mainly made from spare parts from my Leviathan Dreadnought, which were stuck together to form the frame of the gun.

The wheels are spares from when Pete printed me some Soviet AA Guns for Bolt Action, with the tyres that I removed from the car I turned into Fallout scenery - fortunately they fit perfectly.

A few metal resin bits from 7TV kits and other areas of my bits box finished off what I think is a pretty good approximation of the real model.

The crew are the last three Gnoblars I still had hanging around. One of them had his hands swapped so he could be holding two flintlock pistols (that counts as an Auto pistol, right?)

After painting the metal Rebel Grotz, these were a bit of a chore as they lack the detail and character of their more venerable cousins. I kept things simple to get them done quicker.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this unit. I've managed to craft something unique which evoked the spirit of the official model and is totally recognisable as to what it is.

I'm still in a kitbashing mood, so I'm keen to see what else I can come up with. Given that I have two more of those wheel/tyre combinations left, along with the original third wheel from the Big Lugga, I'm currently looking at how to construct a chassis for a Grot Cutta for Gorkamorka.

Acquired: 14

Painted: 99

Lead Mountain: 673

Wot A Revoltin' Development

For a variety of reasons, I've had a bit of an odd March, hence the lack of posts.

I needed something fun to break me out of a bit of a funk and there is very little in wargaming more fun than cramming a load of goblins into a cobbled together vehicle and launching it at the enemy in the vague hope that they might achieve something.

This is a Rebel Grot Big Luggage from Gorkamorka, crowded with as many Rebel Grotz as I could lay my hands on - which turned out to be eleven.

As it happens I could have done a couple more, but I ran out of Gorkamorka bases, so those little runts are destined for other projects.

The Rebel Grotz themselves are great little metal models from the mid-nineties, armed to the teeth and all wearing armbands that affirm their loyalty to the Red Gobbo.

I think these are either variations on the standard Gretchin models, or they provided the inspiration for the current plastic models as they are very similar.

Whichever is true, these sculpts give the lie to the idea that newer and plastic is always better.

The banner is a second edition banner I've had lying around for many years. Technically it's a speed freak banner, but it fit the colour scheme I was going for and saved me a lot of effort.

The rest of the gang are regular Gretchin without armbands and equipped with less stuff. I think the chap with the catapult might technically be a Snotling, but I'm not sure I care enough to find out.

Like the Ork gang I made for Gorkamorka, I can easily use these chaps in 40k if I ignore the base size issue, however, I think some of the Rebel Grotz have weapons that aren't available as options outside of Gorkamorka.

The Big Lugga itself actually began with me having only part of the model: the base, the catapult, the propeller and three wheels.

I've constructed the canopy out of spare bits I had lying around, including undead banner sections to use as ladders, an engine block that came with a 7TV vehicle and a couple of Meccano wheels.

One of the elements I was sad to be missing from the original vehicle were the Snotlings pumping the clockwork propeller into action.

Even though I had the engine, I wanted to pay an homage to this by adding a Snotling whose job it is to hit the engine to make it go.

I'm really pleased by the final outcome for a number of reasons: I think I've done a pretty good job on the Rebel Grotz, which are great miniatures; the rescued Big Lugga is pretty damn close to what it should look like; and the whole gang can cram on board, giving me a second Gorkamorka gang should Matt never get round to finishing his.

It should be noted, that the arrangement to get them all on board is more than a little precarious. Given that in Gorkamorka (as in 2nd edition 40k) the transport capacity is whatever you can fit on board and models that fall off, fall off in game too, I'm looking at kitbashing a Grot Cutta (a smaller vehicle) to ease the pressure on space.

However, that's for a later date, as I've currently got a few other Orky projects waiting in the Mekboy's workshop.

Acquired:15

Painted: 95

Lead Mountain: 681

Rough and Reddy

After focussing on Fallout and Carnevale for the past couple of months, I decided to turn my attention, for simplicity's sake, to some models I've had assembled and undercoated for a while.

Namely a squad of Cataphractii Terminators for my every expanding Blood Angels army.

I say 'army' but in reality this unit is probably the most significant step in them becoming 'armies' as it will now push my Indomitus pattern terminators (the normal ones) into being a purely 40k unit, leaving just my Dreadnoughts, Baal Predator and Rhinos straddling both armies.

I've wanted to add some Cataphractii Terminators for some time, for several reasons.

Firstly, they look cool. Secondly, one of my character models is similarly equipped and mismatched armour in a unit leads to experiencing the worst aspects of both choices.

The third reason is that in the second edition of Horus Heresy, Cataphractii Terminators can take a Land Raider Spartan as a designated transport, whereas the Indomitus Terminators couldn't.

This seems to be simply because Games Workshop insist on making the units in the pdf supplements just a bit rubbish.

Anyway, this frees up a slot in the overworked heavy support section of my army, and allows me to use more of my units.

Their equipment is a bit of a mishmash largely because I picked the unit up of eBay.

I bought them pre-painted because it looked like, from the photo, that they were already painted red and I could quickly and easily touch them up to add to my army.

Unfortunately, the paint job of the models seemed to have been done by a blind badger in the dark whilst drunk, with thick layers of badly applied paint.

What's more, there are several areas of some of the models where far too much glue had been applied or there had been carelessness cleaning up the model leaving them a bit battle damaged.

In short, I think I've finally learned my lesson about buying painted models off eBay unless the photograph is really clear.

However, despite this, I managed to clean them up and paint them in my usual (tediously slow) manner and the will fit right in.

Additionally, I took the opportunity to paint a regular Terminator that I picked up for 50p at a show to add to my 40k unit.

I've realised I've run out of suitable transfers for his shoulder pauldron and so I need to source some more.

I will continue to add to this unit, taking them to a maximum 10 models as other come available.

Acquired: 15

Painted: 72

Lead Mountain: 705

The Fight Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring apart from the twisted mutant spawn of Chaos intent on corrupting and entire planet if not stopped by the noble Astartes of the Astral Claws who would never have any truck with that Chaos nonsense, no sir!

So, Matt and I arranged to play a game of 5th edition 40k, giving him a chance to use the small Chaos force he has assembled from his Combat Patrol magazine subscription.

For my part I chose to give my Astral Claws a run out as it would allow me to field some units that I hadn't used yet.

The scenario we rolled up would be 'Capture & Control' which meant we'd be fighting over two objectives, one in each deployment zone.

The objectives in question were the building in the lower left and the ruins in the top right. Only troop choices would be able to hold objectives which presented me with an advantage as Matt's army was limited by the models he had available.

Having said that, we picked out armies before rolling up the scenario and Matt had to bend the rules a touch to include 3 HQ units due to a lack of alternatives.

Matt's Chaos Space Marines

Matt hasn't yet named his Chaos Legion, although he has specifically chosen to avoid being obviously linked to one of the well known Chapters or have colours particularly associated with a specific Chaos power.

HQ

Daemon Prince with Wings

Chaos Lord (Daemon Weapon & Jump Pack)

Chaos Sorcerer

Elite

Chaos Dreadnought (Multi-melta, Power Fist)

Troops

5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters)

5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters, Meltagun, Plasma Pistol)

Heavy

5 Havocs (Plasma Pistol, 2 Autocannon, 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher)

Matt positioned one squad of Legionnaires to hold his objective, whilst the Chaos Sorcerer led the others on the attack. The Havocs, Chaos Lord and Daemon Prince were positioned in the centre. The Dreadnought was out on the flank just in case it started attacking its allies.

My Astral Claws

I opted to go for my Astral Claws as even though I had more to choose from that Matt, the disparity was not so great as with my Blood Angels.

HQ

Captain in Terminator Armour (Lightning Claw, Combi-Flamer)

Elites

5 Terminators (Storm Bolter, Power Fist)

Troops

10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Flamer, Heavy Bolter)

10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Meltagun, Missile Launcher)

Rhino (Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack 

3 Space Marine Bikers (Power Sword, Meltagun)

Heavy

Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons)

I split one of my Tactical squads into combat squads to give me more flexibility in defending the objective. The Predator and Bikes were placed centrally as a firebase and mobile reserve.

On the other flank, the second Tactical squad was deployed in it's Rhino to launch an attack on the enemy objective, with the Captain and Terminators lumbering up in support.

Turn 1

After I inevitably failed to steal the initiative, Matt took the first turn and with a lack of viable targets to shoot at, much of the Chaos army surged forwards.

On my right flank, the Rhino and Terminators followed suit, whilst on the left one of the combat squads moved to be able to shoot when the Chaos troops got into range.

There was sporadic shooting from Havocs and the Predator, but in an ominous portent of what was to unfold, no damage was caused, implying that this battle would be fought up close.

Turn 2

In a move that actually surprised me, the Daemon Prince and Chaos Lord slammed into the Terminators, who, in a display of impressive saving throws, withstood the impact and won the combat. 

Meanwhile, the Havocs repositioned to be able to pour fire on the Tactical Squad which was bearing down in the temple in their Rhino, dismounting into cover.

On the other flank, the Chaos Dreadnought was slowed by stopping to fire in its own troops, but the Chaos Sorcerer push his squad forward into the teeth of the Astral Claws line, but somehow only took a single casualty from the hail of fire that rained down on them.

Turn 3

After weathering the storm, the Sorcerer's squad charged into the combat squad in front of them, cutting down all but one, who fell back.

However,the second combat squad and Bikers were lying in waiting and after pouring in Bolter an Melta fire, charged in to finish off the threat of Matt's army capturing my objectives.

Meanwhile, after the Havocs somehow failed to do anything other than destroy the Storm Bolter on the Rhino, the Tactical Squad continued to use it as cover for their advance on the temple, where the second squad of Chaos Marines lurked in hiding.

The fight between the Terminators and the Chaos heavy hitters had lasted for four rounds and seen the destruction of the Daemon Prince, Space Marine Captain and most of the Terminators.

Somehow, a single Terminator remained standing, his inevitable sacrifice enough to keep the Chaos Lord out of the main fight for another turn 

Turn 4

Late to the party, the Chaos Dreadnought lumbered into view of the objective. If it could get just a little closer, it could deny me the objective, even though it couldn't capture it.

Determined to do what they could to slow it down, the Biker drove forwards to firm a screen that would hopefully serve as a speed bump.

However, a speculative Meltagun blast managed to bring the beast down and freeing up the Bikers to join the fight elsewhere.

The Havocs finally destroyed the Rhino, but the Tactical Squad had reached it's objective and it would be down to the outnumbered Chaos Marines to drive them off.

Turn 5

In the centre, the Predator and Havocs had been playing cat and mouse so much that they'd had very little impact on the whole game.

Throwing caution to the wind, the Havocs finally advanced to the top of the hill, risking the Predator in the hope of getting another turn to rain fire on my objective.

However, fate smiled on them when a lucky plasma shot stunned the crew, and then their leader swooped in to inflict more damage in the hope of using the additional move of a charge to get it withing strike range of the enemy.

In the shadow of the temple, the Chaos Marines did the only thing they could and charged, hoping that their greater number of attacks might break the Astral Claws and drive them off.

It disn't, and their fate was sealed when no further turns were rolled, leaving the Chaos Lord and Havocs stranded in the centre, unable to do any more.

Final Score: Astral Claws 1 - Chaos Marines 0

This was a fun game. Despite Matt's lack of troops, the game was very balanced and had the fight between the Terminators and Chaos characters been resolved quicker, one of my flanks might have had more on their plate than they could handle.

My Bikes proved to be really useful, especially as a mobile reserve, and swing the fight around my objective. Meanwhile, the Predator was totally inconsequential, cursed by an inability to hit or wound.

Similarly, the Chaos Dreadnought was a bit of a liability and its erratic behaviour meant Matt couldn't coordinate his attack and so his units were destroyed piecemeal.

Matt's Combat Patrol journey isn't over, and so the next time these armies face off against each other, I'll probably end up getting chopped to pieces by a screaming horde of Khorne Berserkers.

Which will be nice.

Happy Christmas!

Show & Tell

Due to.a range of differing circumstances, I haven't been able to attend any wargames shows this year, and so when Matt suggested going to Partizan in Newark this weekend, I jumped at the chance.

I didn't go with any particular intentions to buy anything, but I was more interested in seeing what I could grab for a bargain and look at some intimidatingly detailed demo games.

For example, this one...

This massive game was by Shrewsbury Wargamers (I think) and is themed around the battle of Rourke's Drift, but using Warhammer 40k Praetorians as the British and Orks in place of Zulus 

Interestingly, the chap I was talking to wasn't aware of the Bloodbath at Orc's Drift campaign from the very early days of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

One of the things I like about wargames shows is that they remind me that I'm also a historical gamer, something that is easy to forget in an online space that is dominated by the grim darkness of the far future.

For example, this eastern front game in a ruined city reminded me just how long it has been since I played a game of Bolt Action.

It's also a reminder that I should probably build more terrain as good looking boards make a massive difference, as is clear from this Vietnam game. However, I'm always stumped by the question about where I would store it all.

It's aldo good to see what else is out there. This really involved, multi-level board reminded me that Burrows & Badgers is the sort of silly thing that has the potential to garner my interest.

I've previously resisted due to other games demanding my attention, but I'm nearing the end of several projects and so since might open up for some anthropomorphic shenanigans.

Mind you, there are other projects I haven't looked at in some time that I could easily return to, such as VBCW, something for which I do have a few bits and pieces still to put together, and I still need to return to Vlad's Army for 7TV, which covers a lot of the same ground in terms of terrain and miniatures.

Speaking of 7TV, although this board was using homebrew rules, it definitely had the same vibe as 7TV as Martians attempted to stop the world's billionaires colonising their home planet.

In the centre of the picture you can see Jeff Bezos and his delivery drone, whilst Donald Trump is just visible on the platform behind the rocket discussing the most wonderful plans that anyone has ever seen (everyone has been telling him they love this big, beautiful plan) with an unseen Elon Musk, who is dressed as Homelander from The Boyz, naturally.

And so we get to the part where I reveal what I picked up:

1. The show miniature is a Polish paratrooper, which I'm not sure I gave a use for, which is a shame.

2. I bought a boat because I've decided that I do want to work towards a proper board for Carnevale, and making it a dock should reduce the amount of streets I'll need to build.

3. My Blood Angels will be getting reinforcements in the form of a single Terminator and a very old Vindicator, which needs some TLC.

4. I grabbed Pirates of Lunar City, a feature pack for 7TV that I don't already own. I want to get back to the game and I find the feature pack provide good motivation.

5. Finally, and providing the biggest hit to my running totals, I bought 33 Napoleonic British from a very persuasive member of the RAF on their charity stall. These will allow me to build a second Sharp Practice army for the War of 1812.

I genuinely enjoyed this show as I think I've been so focused on clearing my backlog for a while, that I haven't thought about other things I'd like to work on. After today, I think I have a few different and exciting projects to look forward to.

Acquired: -42

Painted: 447

Lead Mountain: 356