New Year’s Day Game: Warhammer 40k 5th Ed - Sisters of Battle vs Red Star Orks

So in accordance with ancient tradition, I hosted a game on New Year's Day. We've had some really fun ones in the (fifteen or more?) years I've hosted them, but the best ones were those that my late wife Pam helped organize. While I'd plan the game, she would plan a menu appropriate to the setting. Operation Sea Lion? British pub food and the best pork-and-apple pie I've ever tasted. Winter War? Finnish cuisine, but delicious meatballs and such, not disgusting herrings kept in a jar under the stairs for a year. Chicago gangster skirmish? Why deep-dish pizza of course. And there were many more. The meals were always awesome and it was so much fun to have the boys' spouses come by after the game to visit and enjoy the food. Now it's typically pizza, which is great, but working together with Pam on planning the game and food is just another one of the innumerable things I miss.

Anyway... this year I wanted to have a 5th Ed Warhammer 40K game. I've written here before that for me, 5th Ed is the best edition of 40K. We played a lot of it back in the day and the rules come back to mind pretty quickly. Also there's no mind-numbing Command Points, Strategems, or other mind-bending complications apparently lifted from competitive card gaming. Just pretty straightforward miniatures gaming. Yes there's some special rules, and we always forget some in the course of the afternoon, but nothing too taxing on the noggin. Plus it lets me get out the old metal models from my favourite period of 40K history.

I also wanted to inaugurate the Cathedral shown in the picture above... so it made the most sense to have a game where a couple units of Sisters were holding out against an Ork horde while both sides' reinforcements came on from Reserve. The scenario was based on one in the Bolt Action 3rd Ed rulebook that we've played before. It was a pretty big game too - just about 10 points shy of 2,000 points a side.

Half of the Orks came on in the first turn and the rest were in Reserve. Conscripts Mike and Hugh ran the Ork side while Dave and Chris played the Sisters. They chose a squad of Battle Sisters and a Retributor (heavy weapons) squad to start in the Cathedral while the rest would come on later. The Orks sent two Battlewagons (one carrying the Mega-Nobz, Warboss Ugrod Neksnappa and Big Mek Tarik Gutsmirk, and the other with a mob of 15 Boyz), another mob of Boyz, the Stormboyz, and a Deff Dread straight towards the Cathedral. You can see them in the first picture at the top of the post.

 

The Orks got to deploy their Kommando squad as Infiltrators and Scouts which was fun. They started on the far side of the Cathedral.

Eventually more Sisters arrived, followed by an Ork Deff Dread that appeared uncomfortably close to the Exorcist. Unfortunately for the Orks it was only able to immobilize the vehicle.

A buggy squadron also came on from Reserve on the same short table edge!

Meanwhile the Seraphim dropped in from Deep Strike to take on the Ork Stormboyz.

Back on the south side of the table the Penitent Engines charged the Deff Dread... while we all expected the Dread to be annihilated it actually took out one of the Engines!

The Seraphim were overwhelmed by the Mega-nobz with some help from the Kommandos.

 

Meanwhile north of the Cathedral things were going little better for the Sisters as a squad was charged and wiped out by a 15-strong mob of Boyz...

On the second-last turn of the game, though, Uriah Jacobus and nine Arco-Flagellants arrived and they were looking to get stuck in...

On the last turn the ideal opportunity presented itself with a mob of 15 'Ard Boyz just on the other side of the Blasted Terrace. The Arcos just needed a decent charge roll to get into close combat.

Back up north the Tankbusta Mob disembarked from their looted Rhino and started blasting away, while the Sisters who'd come in behind them set up a gunline.

You can see the charge roll for difficult terrain at the top of the photo... four inches was enough to get the Arco-Flagellants stuck in.

It wasn't even a contest. With Uriah Jacobus' Banner of Sanctity and the charge the nine Arcos added two more attacks to the four already on their profile... so that's 54 WS5 S4 attacks, plus four more from Uriah himself. Even with 'eavy armour giving them a 4+ save, the 'Ard Boyz were never gonna stand up to that.

Here's some more pictures of the battlefield at the end of the game:

Each side scored one VP for each enemy unit completely destroyed. As always happens in that kind of game there's always a couple units that are just barely hanging on with a couple of models left alive... but those don't count for any VPs. The final score was Orks 5VP, Sisters 3VP.

Although Conscript John visited before the game and Conscript Hugh had to leave near the end, we had a good visit and a fun game. Above (L to R) you can see me, Chris, Dave and Mike.

I love hosting the New Year's Day game and it was unfortunate that some of the guys were sick and couldn't make it. But I have resolved to try and host more games this year so we'll see how that goes.

Happy New Year and all the best in 2026!

Victoria Miniatures Human Bomb and 40K Ork Heavy Weapons

Here's a model that's been hanging around primed for some time, that I finally buckled down and painted today. It's Victoria Miniatures' "Penal Guard Human Bomb" sculpted by the talented and prolific Bobby Jackson.

I think I got it as a free add-on to an order made years ago. It's a resin casting of course, and very reminiscent of the old GW Human Bombs that were part of the Imperial Guard. Decals are from the excellent Death Korps of Krieg decal sheet that was in my folder for some reason!

Of course back in the dim distant past of 40K there was a part of the Imperial Guard Astra Militarum called the "Penal Legion". These were composed of chaps whose crimes (desertion, murder, overdue library data-slates etc.) were so heinous that they merited assignment to the Penal Legions... essentially food for powder. Penal Legion troopers were equipped with explosive collars that could be triggered by a commissar to thwart a desertion attempt or "pour encourager les autres" in the event of a lapse of squad morale. But the worst of these offenders were equipped with explosive harnesses and became human bombs. 

Believe it or not, there were actually rules for deployment and use of human bombs, although mercifully these have been absent from 40K for some time now... as I was writing this post I've been looking for those rules (I could have SWORN that there was an example of template/blast weapons in a rulebook that used an exploding human bomb) but have come up empty... nothing in the Compendium, Compilation, Codex Imperialis, Codex Army List... Penal Legions yes, but human bombs nada. If any readers remember where those rules were (other than in the Citadel Journal list linked above) I'd be grateful if you'd post in the comments.

 

Anyway that's it for this guy. Pretty fun to paint if you don't think too hard about what his fate is likely to be. I seem to remember that part of the fluff was that there was a chance that the explosive harness wouldn't detonate, and if it didn't, the penitent was forgiven!

EDIT: Here are the original rules and background for human bombs, from WD 109. Thank you to reader Scott A. for the reference, much appreciated!

The other thing I've been doing the last few days is painting some old metal Orks for the Red Star Boyz army. My plan is to pit the boyz against my Sisters of Battle in the New Year's Day 2026 game.

Here we have a heavily armoured Nob and a plasma gunner. 

Heavy plasma and heavy bolter. The heavy weapons in this lot are separate castings, except for the heavy bolter boyz that are one-piece models. 

I've painted the pants in the universal camo pattern that all the Red Star Boyz wear.

Heavy (I don't know) flamer? Another heavy bolter, and "rokkit launcha".

These old metal Orks were pretty cool weren't they?

I still have a bunch of metal Orks left should I ever get the urge to paint more, but I think now we'll be good for the game. Sadly the 5th Ed Ork codex doesn't really have a "heavy weapons squad" entry so I'll have to figure out how to fit these new models in - maybe as a Tankbusta squad??

Ork Dakka Jets for Aeronautica Imperialis

Bad Moons in the sky! Ork "Dakka Jets" for Aeronautica Imperialis.

Another fun bit of random painting - a pair of random "Dakka Jets" from GW's "Aeronautica Imperialis" rules for air combat in the Warhammer 40k setting. These are multi-part plastic kits from GW. 

Love that crazy "V"-shaped twin tail...

"Aeronautica Imperialis" was cancelled last year just as "Legions Imperialis" was released. While the game was available, it had great models, and these Ork fighter craft are a lot of fun to work with. They are kind of a genius model design, essentially a very interchangeable set of components you can organize in a variety of ways to create aircraft that look broadly similar without all looking the same - this is a perfect solution for the Orks, where each larger craft or vehicle is an individual work, and not something assembled off of any kind of specific plan. 

Seems like a totally safe craft to me...

The "Dakka Jet" is the basic fighter for the Orks, and as you might imagine, in the Aeronautica game they fly very fast and don't last too long damage-wise. They can also be upgraded with an assortment of bombs, rockets or even MORE blastas and other assorted whacky Orky weapons. While the "Dakka Jet" would generally be dog fighting and trying to shoot down opposing aircraft (most of the time), you can also equip it with weapons for ground attacks, so they can be used in the various scenarios the game offers.

Nice view of the engine work - surely a low-emission thing?

The wing-man...

These two models had been built, primed, and sat in a box for over a year, and they turned up here in Toronto while I was unpacking a box of hobby bits. I thought it would be a fun little palette-cleanser of a project to finish these two craft. I decided to make these primarily yellow/"Bad Moonz" type craft, to add to the color variety of the Ork ships I have painted so far.

Bombs and/or rockets away!

Love the little landing skid on the bottom...these things are so whacky...

In terms of weapons, I added a mix of bombs and rockets under the wings just to offer some further variety to the look these crazy ships. I find Ork craft don't paint too quickly, as the Orks are not the sort to go with uniform paint schemes any more than they are the sort to with uniform designs or blueprints.

So the Ork air fleet is now increased to six of these "Dakka Jets", to go along with two "Fighta Bommerz". Plenty for a game sometime. Might be time to work my way up to some of the larger "Bommas" in the Ork air arsenal...perhaps another palette-cleansing project for later in the summer? We'll see! That's all for now - thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great weekend!

Ork Dakka Jet and Ground Assets

Ork Dakka Jet and ground assets - plastic models from GW.

Hi again everyone - my furhter efforts on my WW1 painting have been delayed by a sudden lurch back into GW territory. This is an Ork "Dakka Jet" and set of Ork "ground assets" for GW's 40k-themed air-combat game Aeronautica Imperialis. These have been sitting on my painting desk for months, and when I finished those 10mm Roman Auxilia, I thought I might as well finish these bits too. 

The dakka jet is the basic fighter for the Orks - can be upgraded with extra rockits for air-to-air combat, or given bombs for ground attack missions.

Aeronautica is a fun game - obviously the setting won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed the original version of these rules that Forge World released many years ago. The re-booted version, with nice plastic models, is a lot of fun too. The rules are not complicated, and it is fun to have these little combat aircraft from the grim and dark future zipping around, blowing up stuff, and each other. 

A bunch of random colours and patterns...fun little models to paint, although it can be slow going.

The initial model range focused on the Imperial Navy and the Orks, but it has since expanded to include Imperial Army (Valkyries) and the Tau (really cool!). I started painting my initial sets last summer, with the expectation that I would finish all of the models in short order...but hobby squirrels run around in my brain and I get distracted. This is a particular issue when trying to paint Ork subjects...they don't really have a uniform look to their gear and kit, and so each model is something of an individual effort for me, which makes painting Ork stuff a slog. I've always been impressed at how Dallas could paint whole groups of Orks...I can never manage more than one or two at a time.

And so this poor Dakka Jet has been sitting even longer than the Roman Auxilia from my last post. Probably since last November, when I had been last working on Aeronautica stuff...this one Dakka Jet was sitting there at the corner of my painting table, falling on to the ground occasionally, with a couple of base colours already on, waiting for me to finish it. But for months I just could not find the inspiration - I didn't feel like painting check patterns at the time, and besides, I had momentum with some other projects - but I finally just picked up the brush last week, and now it is ready.

Ork ground assets...a bunker of some kind, and assorted flak batteries to protect it.

In the Aeronautica game many missions involve bombing runs - that makes sense, it is a common sort of mission for combat aircraft. You need something to bomb - that is where these "ground assets" come in, both as targets and as additional defences. The bunker-looking thing serves as a target for the incoming bombers, while the assortment of Ork flak emplacements which would protect this and add to the fun in the game. These were all sold in very nice sprue packs - each with a bunker and group of ground defence pieces. Sadly, these packs no longer seem to be available.

Another view of the ground assets...these are in the same "scale" as the models for "Adeptus Titanicus"....

So there we are...my first GW and first sci-fi models painted in many months! Now that I am looking once more at GW stuff under my brushes, my hobby orbit is likely to spend a little more time in that world, meaning the WW1 project may have to take a back seat for a time. We'll see...goodness knows there is still lots of time for painting thanks to f*cking COVID. Thanks for reading, hope you are all doing OK out there. Cheers.