A question for my readers.

Hi to all and a big thank you for following my blog! If it wasn't for you, this blog haven't have been half as fun as it is updating it. When i first started this blog, it was meant as a journal, a way to keep track on my progress both painting but also playing wise. To be honest i did not expect people to actually follow my blog and the progresses i made since it was born.

While writing in my blog is more rewarding that ever, i want to give something back to my readers for spending time reading and commenting on my silly ideas and models. So what i want from you(if you are willing), is to comment  on this post what YOU would like to see here in the new year. Be it a certain unit(s), more tutorials(on something you might having problems with), more battle reports(maybe even improvements suggestions), maybe more Dark angels etc. As long as it have something to do with Imperial guard or Dark angels, the sky is the limit.

When i say something for the new year it is because i just started up on a little project which will fill out December. I recently trade my ogryns away for the old ogryn models(you know i am a sucker for the old stuff) and i want to paint a squad up along with Nork(and finally finishing all 4 special catachan characters!).

Here is a little picture of my newly acquired thugs!

I already dipped the 3 chosen ogryns in Chrystal soup and started pinning them together. Nork got primed and are ready for paints.

I hope you will take the time to help me give something back.

Best wishes Ras

Catachan Heavy weapon missile launcher team and squad done!

Finally my my last HWT missile launcher team is done(one of the old school models to boot!). I am really pleased by how it came out, the detailing on the old models are just so much a pleasure to paint. 

The finished HWT also means that i can finally wield a fully painted squad of missile launchers!

The next project will be ogryns. I am gonna trade my old ogryns(the new models) away for the old ones(old school for the win!). So for December my painting goal will be to paint up a small squad of ogryns and as a bonus goal if i manage, will be to paint up Nork and hereby finishing all of the 4 catachan special characters!! I hope i manage.

Best wishes Ras

WIP: Old OOP catachan Missile launcher team

This is what i got painted this Sunday evening. I just need to make the base, pin the missile launcher to the gunner and my painting goals for this month will be reached!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend
Best wishes Ras

Battlereport - Catachans vs The black Legion

Yesterday i finally had the pleasure of playing against Kristoffers Black legion. We agreed on a 1000 points and played a mission Kristoffer had made. He also brought one of the most awesome terrain pieces i ever seen, painted up by himself! "The skyshield landing pad"!

MISSION

“Beachhead”



MISSION OVERVIEW
The enemy has made planet fall and seek to hold a vital landing platform to bring in further reinforcement to continue the invasion. The defender must hold its positions against these aggressors and if possible push them back off the planet.

DEPLOYMENT

Pitched battle with the following additions: The attacker may place one landing platform up to 24” away from the long table edge. He must then place one troop choice in base contact with the platform. The defender then places any two pieces of terrain in his deployment zone, no closer than 15” to the short table edge. After he deploys his army.

OBJECTIVES


The landing platform and the two terrain pieces counts as objectives. The attacker controls an objective as long as one model is in base contact with it. The defender only controls an objective if it has at least one model in base contact with it and there are no contesting units. 

VICTORY CONDITIONS


The player holding most objectives in the end of the game wins. If both players control equal objectives kill points will decide the winner. If they have equal kill points the game is a draw.

FIRST TURN


The attacker always gets first turn

SPECIAL RULES

Reserves, Deep Strike. Safe Landing (the player controlling the landing platform may deep strike directly onto it without rolling for scatter). The landing platform otherwise follows the rules as described per rulebook: Planetstrike. Any non-vehicle andnon-beast unit in reserve may chose to deep strike via the landing platform by the controlling player. 


Deployment

Kristoffer won the roll, chose attacker and put the skyshield in the left part of the table. I put 1 objective opposite the skyshield and another one on the other table side hoping to split his forces. Lets look at our deployment

CSM turn 1:
Kristoffer moved everything but his 5 CSMs on the shyshield forward, keeping his berserker rhino in cover. The Dreadnaught gets blood rage, so no shotting with him this turn. He does however fleet towards my infantry squad.

 He then shoots down my vendetta(which fails it 4+ coversave from scout turbobosting).

He also starts thinning my infantry squads killing a few guardsmen and the cc vet in my CCS.

IG turn 1:
I spread my combined squad more and same with the CCS while moving then a little close(The berserkers worries me and i dont want to get to close to them so they can charge me next turn. I also moves the chimera with the vets towards the skyshield.


In my shotting phase i pretty much fluffed all my shotting. I managed to shacke the empty rhino under the skyshield.


CSM turn 2:
Kristoffer moves his berserker rhino to just infront of my combined squad, spreads out his CSM on the shyshield for more firepower, moves his prince, dreadnought, 1 rhinos and obliterator forward.


In his shooting phase he wrecks my basilisk, thins out even more in my combined squad, shakes my chimera and blows smoke on the berserker rhino!


IG turn 2:
I move my chimera close to the berserker rhino and disembarks the vets. My combined squad moves towards the berserkers aswell and forms a firing line. I move my PCS in the opposite direction of the prince.


I then manages to explode the berserker rhino (which in turn explodes 5 inces and killed 4 more guardsmen!) with the autocannons. Luckely i pass a leadership test and then the berserkers dies in a torrent of plasma and lasgun shots. I pop smoke on my chimera.

CSM turn 3:
Kristoffers terminators comes in and deep strikes right in the berserker crater! He moves his dreadnaught in cover behind a wall, his prince moves towards the PCS(mwhah puny humans!), he moves 1 rhino behind one of the objectives near the wreck.

And then it comes! My combined squad gets reduced to 2 power weapons sarges, 1 meltagun and 1 lasgun from combined fire of the terminators and CSM on the skyshield. His dreadnaught shakes my chimera. 

He runs with the price but rolls a 1.

IG turn 3:
I move the last remains of my combined squad and the CCS as close as possible to the terminators ready to charge the terminators(Get them lads!).

The vets open up fire on the skyshield and kills all but the icon bearer. The mortars fires at the CSM on the right objective, but scatters. The autocannons immobilizes and gets a weapon destroyed on the rhino underneath the skyshield. The combined squad opens fire along with the CCS on the terminators and kills 1. The chimers drives back and picks up the PCS just in time to escape the evil prince!

Get us the hell out of here!!!!!!

 The combined squad charges, but i roll a 1 and 2 and fails just 2 mm in front of the terminators! Strakens squad  manages to charges them tho and pummels them to the ground  without loosing any members! They then consolidates towards the dreadnought while spreading out("Heavy flamer, spread out!!!")

CSM turn 4:
Kristoffer looses his dreadnought to bloodrage so no heavy flamer on the CCS(PHEW!!!!) and moves towards the closest victim, the CCS. The price starts climbing the Vedetta wreck(the dice marks how far he got in his movement phase) and he moves his CCS and obliberator in better firing position. He moves his last remaining CSM on the skyshield to cover(dammit! still a claiming unit)


In his shooting phase he hits the chimera but i take my saves. The CSM puts a wound on the mortars.

The dreadnought charges the CCS and the prince tries to charge the chimera but he misses it by 2 mms! The dreadnought kills the flamer vet and a bodyguard that jumps in front of Straken(Arrrgghhh!). Straken stuns it in return twice! the CCS wins thanks to the banner, however the dreadnought dont cares..

IG turn 4:
The vets moves towards the skyshield along with the combined squad. The chimera backs away from the prince.


The mortars fires at the CSM again but he takes his saves. The chimera fires at the prince and puts a wound on hims. the Autocannons fire on the last CSM on the skyshield but misses(only 1 team could see him).


The fight continues against the dreadnought! The dread kills the last bodyguard and Straken flufs his rolls managing only a stunned!

CSM turn 5:
The prince finally passes the vendetta wreck! The last remaning CSM on the skyshield moves further back on the skyshield. The CSM camps with the obliterator on the objective while the second obliterator moves towards the skyshield.


The obliterator on the objectives immobalizes the chimera and the other one near the skyshield scatters his plasmacannon. The prince set into a run toward the chimera. 


The dreadnaught kills the standard bearer but finally dies to Straken who then consolidates 6 inces up on the Skyshield towards the last CSM there.

IG turn 5:
The vets moves in claiming range of the skyshield and the PCS and combined squad moves toward the prince.


The autocannons open fire on the prince and takes two wounds from him(1 wound left!). The combined and PCS runs towards my table edge. The vets open up on the obliterator but fails to do anything. Mortars  tries to take the last wound from the prince but fails to wound.

The CCS charges the CSM, kills him and consolidates towards the obliterator.

CSM turn 6:
The game goes on. Kristoffer moves his prince towards the chimera.


The obliterator at the objective with the last CSM squad then fires on my PCS with his plasmacannon but i make my save. THe last obliterator shoots at the vets getting 2 kills(not enough for a panic test).


The prince charges the chimera but fluffs his attacks and only manages a weapons destroyed...

IG turn 6:
I move the CCS toward the obliterator along with the vets. The PCS moves towards the skyshield and the combined moves towards the prince(its melta time!).

The combined squads melta open fire on the prince but i roll a 1 to wounds. The vets kills the obliterator.

Sweet ride!

 CSM turn 7:
The game goes on! The prince leaves the chimera and moves through the ruins. We realize that if he fails the charge then he have no chance of winning and roll to see if he do. He needs a 5 but rolls lower. IG wins.

Whats that sound behind the wall?!?

Kristoffer was a blast to play and i had a ton of fun. I must say it was a joy playing against such a nice guy and such a beautiful army! The game was really close all the way. Better games you cant find! I promised him that he have a rematch waiting for him next time he comes here. Favorite quote for the whole evening had to be:" I am loosing to IG, In close combat!!!!"


I hope you enjoyed the battle report as much as i did writing it.


Best wishes Ras

Catachan update

On the 12 july 2010 i started my catachan army. Much have happened since then. When i started it was meant to be a pure fluffy army following the old catachan deathworld codex. Painting and collecting was meant to be the main purpose of the army. However that changed a few months later when i went to the local gaming club and suddently playing the game started growing to almost rival the painting and collecting aspect.

 However one thing remained the same and that was the two guys i started painting with over the web. We are all 3 from Denmark however they both come from the eastern part of the country and going there by bus or train is a 5 hour trip. But belive it or not one of the guys is coming to Aalborg this week and i been working to get everything in my army to the highest standard for a game or two with him this thursday.

I where missing some guardsmen to fill up the infantry squads and veteran squad now that i didnt use Heavy weapon teams or Demolition charges. So i painted 4 more.

Now i wanted also the Vendetta to be finished and i used the one complete cockpit i had lying around, glued it on and did some weathering on it. I am still to Really catachanize it but i need to figure out how to do it properly. I want "Tropic thunder" spelled on the side of it with maybe a lightning going through it. Kill markings etc aswell.

I did manage to add the guardsmen in the door way and i am really happy how that cam out. I think it adds alot of feel to it. Speaking of the cockpit. I called GWs customerservice and i have to say that i am impressed. The guy was so nice and understanding and he quickly found my email and explained that the delay was cause they actually have to make it for me  first and thats why it was delayed.

 The moneyshot! ;)

Ras

The Primaris Psyker finished just in time for combat patrol

I finally finished my favorite combat patrol HQ. This guy is often overlooked in games cause frankly he doesnt bring much utility to the army unlike many of our other HQ units. However what the Primaris Psyker lacks in utility he makes up for in brute strength!

Front view

The primaris psyker while being a standard human statswise  have some dark talents. He have two powers. The main power and the main reason why you might include him in your army is of the power: Lightning arc. The Primaris if successful will shoot out 2 D6 strength 6 hits up to 24 inces!! so anywhere between 2 and 12 strength 6 hits pr turn. This guy can put some serious hurt on units with weak saves(Ork boys for instance) or simply force alot of saves on units like Terminators or open transports. 

A funny example is last game i used him i attached him to the blob unit and moved forward toward my enemy playing Codex Spacemarine. Telion snipes my commisar in first turn(arrrg i just finish painting him!!) and in my turn i use lightning arc back on Telion and his scout squad and manages to force so many saves that 2 scouts + Telion dies!! Mwhaha revenge!

His other power is Nightshroud and  to be honest i only use this when i am out of range forLightning arc. If successful he will shroud him or the unit he is in and any units that wants to shoot   on the unit have to  make a LD test or shoot on another target.

Another little extra bonus is that he wields a Forceweapon which means that he have the ability to instant kill a model. However this should only be tried if you have no other choice as he is only strength 3 and will always have a hard time wounding a target with multiple wounds since they often have thougness 4 or more with only 2 attacks. Also keep in mind that he only have a 5++ save or 5+ save and with two wounds you dont want to risk him getting instant killed or simply get enought wounds on hi mthat he will end up dead.

back view

In combat patrol where i mainly use him, this power is rediculous strong! However even in big normal games he have his uses. I add him from time to time for the fun factor cause it fun to see your opponents face when you roll 10 strength 6 shots from one model.

I hope this post will maybe tempt you to bring out the Primaris psyker out for a game or two or if you already tried him out maybe you have some funny stories how the Primaris psyker made you giggle.

Best wishes Ras

The infantry blob

 It occurred to me that i where using the infantry squads as less effective heavy weapon teams(one heavy weapon only in each squad). That meant that I had a heavy weapon team that you couldn’t kill of fast like normal weapon teams, but I was wasting the last 8 guardsmen most of the game since I had to keep them static to use the HWT. 


 I then later combined two infantry squads to a blob with 2 heavy weapon teams in one squad. Only one “bring it down” order where needed now, but now I was wasting 16 guardsmen! So why not remove the HWTs and get full usage out of the blob?

Why use a mobile blob?
- Provides a role for your platoon’s infantry squads while at the same time strengthens it.
- Makes full use of lasguns.
- Provides a tough stabile tar pit if you add a commissar, which can claim objectives.
- Makes a tar pit out of the unit that can actually fight back effectively if you equip your sergeants and commissar with power weapons.
- If you add Straken to the mix and keep his command squad nearby, the blob gets even stronger with counter attack, furious charge and gives you the option of doing “First rank fire, second rank fire” first without losing the extra attack if your target is still alive and charges the blob.

What to watch out for
- Flamers! You will always want to keep your blog in cover since the blob only have flak armor(5+ save).
However as we all know flamers eat both 5+ saves and cover saves..
- Units with a lot of attacks that strike before or at the same time as your blob. Example would be ork boys on the charge, dark eldar wyches etc. You get the point.
- Big blast weapons or small blast barrage. Make sure to spread your blog out with 2 inces in-between each mode.


Best wishes Ras

How to paint camoflage on uniforms

Hi guys. As promised i made a little tutorial on how to paint camoflage on uniforms. Its a very simple 3 step program i do, nothing special at all.

When i paint a model no matter what model i always prime the model white. I then give the whole model badab black. This have several functions.

- It makes all the details much more clear for me, which again makes it alot easier to paint.
- It gives naturel shadows all over the model. This is great cause i thin my paints with water. So when i paint a part, the shadows comes through the layer as you will notice on the second picture.

Heres how the model looks before i start painting the pants.

First step is a layer of catachan green. I mix it with about 2 drops of water to 2 drops of catachan green. Notice i do not care if it doesnt cover 100% the pants, this just adds to the whole look.

After the 50/50 catachan green / water

Second step i add a drop of camo green in the catachan green mix and then adds a drop of water to it aswell so it stays thin. I then paint on some of the raised areas AND some places i feel need some(this is intirely up to you. Again keep in mind we are painting camoflage).

After the mix of catachan green / Camo green

 Third Step is a subtle step. I now add another Camo green drop in the mix along with yet another drop of water. I now highlight some of the same places as before and some new places.

After yet another drop of Camo green.

A clearer picture of the finished pants.

I hope you get the generel idea on how i do it. This is a fun and easy way of painting camoflage pants(atleast for me) and i hope it helps some of you guys.

best wishes Ras

Power weapons WIP

Hi guys. A little quick update on some work in progress, my powerweapon sargeants. I have had a few thoughts on how to do my catachan powerweapons. First idea was to make it less shiny than normal powerweapons, kinda like overheated metal. I somehow didnt like that tought tho, i mean comeon its powerweapons! So i started painting them like my Dark angel powerweapons since i really like how they came out and this is how they came out.

However after a day of looking at them i decided that its to flashy and the blue just didnt look right on em. So i decided to go for same style but other colors. This is how it came out and will be what i stick with unless people can convince me otherwise.

All i need to do now is to paint the pants camoflage, which i am making a small tutorial on since a few people have been emailing me for help on.

Until next time
Ras

Commissar joining the catachan ranks for indefinite time

 For reasons unknown to them, the catachans find themselves with a commissar amidst their ranks. How can this be? Have the Emperor lost faith in them or is there a higher cause?

Any of you that can guess why this is? Lets hope he survives longer than the last commissar 5 years ago..

Best wishes Ras