Epic A: Mekboy Stompa Mob

Hey Folks,

I have finished my third Epic unit now, a Mekboy Stompa Mob.  This Mob includes the first thing I built for the Ork army, my scratch built Supa Stompa as well as 3 (converted, of course :P ) Stompas and scratch built Dreadnoughts and Killa Kans (2 of each).

Stompa Mob ready for Stompin!

Scratch built Dreads and Kans.  The Dreads use a plastic 40k Ork Shoota as a base for the body and detail while the Kan's use metal Stikk Bomz.  Too this I added the claws of a Battlwagon, weapons off the plastic boyz, legs made from various bits and assorted gubbins. 

Painted Dreads and Kans

Stompas.  The left one is an "Choppy Stompa" so has a big ass chainfist with improved neck armour.  The middle and end ones are "Shooty Stompa's" with more Big Guns.  The end one was from a dude in Chch and is the older, smaller model.

Painted Supa Stompa. I ripped the smaller Battlewagon claws off and replaced them with more choppy chain blades

Likewise I thought the original shoulder gun was a bit puny so added a better "Soopagun"

And next to my Son's Lego Supa Stopma - though its more Gargant size!

The Horde so far.  Its over 1000pts now, yay!  I have decided to split the Blitz Brigade into two smaller units as it should have a few more options tactically.  I plan to add a third, big Blitz Brigade with 2 Soopagun Oddboyz for Barrage goodness.



So the Army is progressing well.  Next up I plan to do another Warband, then crack into some converted Fighta Bommas :)

Cheers
Jason

BFG Star Wars: 2nd Campaign Update

Hey Folks,

Jamie and I have both made three Map Moves and new players have entered the stage. Chiss Reactionaries under Admiral Than are massing on the Imperials coreward supply line while the Vaagari of an as yet unknown Admiral have launched an invasion of Chiss space along there traditional invasion route.

Map Turn 3 saw the following happen.

• Chris's Vaagari Fleet has just arrived at Cormit.
• John's Chiss Fleet are at Ornfra.
• Jamie's 1st Imperial Fleet moved to Avidich. 2nd Imperial Fleet at Naporar has just activated so will move next Map Turn
• My Rebel Fleet moves to Csaus and after a bloody fight with local Chiss Defense forces secured the system

We had a few issues balancing out Map Turn/ Battle cycle so the the best way we can see this happening is that we all take the same amount of Map Moves until contact is made. This then results in a Battle Turn where all contacts made in that Map Turn are resolved. Its only in Battle Turns that Appeals/ Repairs etc can be made. This could result in people missing a Battle Turn but that should even out as the front lines solidify.

Here is how the map looks now:

Forgot to add to the map above a legend!  The symbols are Imperial, Rebel, Chiss and Vagarii top to bottom with the numbers in the Boxes the Renown the Fleet Commanders are up too.

Jamie's Imperials are engaging Admiral Than's Chiss today, so it looks like turn 4 is kicking off today.  I'' me Moving my Rebel Fleet towards Copero. Chris's Vaagari could go anywhere though, so we will have to move cautiously.

It looks like I wont get a game vs Johns Chiss anytime soon, so perhaps when he conquers another system (so crosses the 3 systems/ 1 fleet ratio) he can place a Fleet on any unoccupied system?  That way it shows more Chiss rising to support him and we are likely to get a game in if he deploys in the relatively undefended South West quadrant...though Jamie will curse that I am surrounding his Imperials in enemies!

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: First Warband Done

Hey Folks,

Just finished the first Warband.  This is the smallest sized choice and consists of 2 Ork Nobz units, 6 Boyz units and 2 Grotz units and it forms the basic building block of any Ork Horde. To this you can add almost anything so they are very flexible!

Painting infantry in this scale is quite different.  I tried to keep them dirty and Ork like as I like the "realistic" look as opposed to the more "cartoony" look. Its probably too dark, but they should look ok en masse.

Warband with the Blitz Brigade

Nobz.  I based these on 30mm rounds to make them stand out a bit more.  They also have a Big Shoota boy and Grot running round so they have sort of entourage. I have added the Waagh Banna just because I can, this is not a Warlord stand.  The other Nobz unit has a Painboy 

Boyz.  These are based on 21mm washers and have a Kommando mixed in as a non-eavy armoured Nob.  Hes quite a bit bigger so it seems to suit.

Warband.  The bases have lots of gubbins scattered over them to represent the stuff the Deathskulls are famous for looting.

So one warband down, another 2 or 3 to go!  Next up the Mekboy Stompamob and the Supa Stompa :)

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Death Skull Blitz Brigade

Hey Folks,

Here is my first finished unit for my Epic Armageddon Ork army, a Big Blitz Brigade.  The unit is medium sized choice with 6 Gun Wagons, 2 Flak Wagons two added Oddboyz with Supa Zzapp Guns. 

Being Orks I decided I needed to convert everything so every tank was different, I also didn't have any Flakwagons or Mekboy tanks so scratchbuilt them.

Blitz Brigade ready fer lootin!

Gunwagon's with freehanded Death Skull skull Icons

Mekboy Kreations. Supa Zzapp gun "88" and a looted Landraider with a very phallic gun...

Rear shot of the Mekboyz tanks

Konverted Flakwagon's.  The Hydra like one uses big shootas off the boyz sprue while the SAM rokkits are from a Robogear kit.

Thunderbolts Beware!

So one unit down, may more to go.  I will work on a boyz Warband next I think.

Cheers
Jason

BFG: Star Wars Campaign

Hey Folks,

The Space Table is Complete, Rebel Fleet finished and the Emperors Lap Dogs motley collection of mass produced and inferior ships amassed.

We are kicking off our BFG games with a campaign as the BFG campaign system is awesome.  Its slightly modded with the rules from this post on the Dakka Dakka forums by Cruentus.  We are battling over The Chiss Ascendancy.  This is an area of space just within the Unknown Region governed by the red eyed and blue skinned alien Chiss.  The Wookiepedia Article is here but they are famous for being the birthplace of Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Timothy Zhan series of books.

The premise for the campaign is entirely non-cannon but the idea is that the Rebel Alliance has dispatched a task force under the Mon Calamari Line Admiral Mari'Nara to attempt to sway the Chiss to the Rebellions cause.  Imperial Intelligence has detected this and a punitive expedition has been sent by the Empire (under a yet to be named Commander) to prevent this and "remind" the Chiss of the Empire's displeasure.

I lifted a map online and then modified it with Publisher.  Here is the Map after the 2nd Campaign Turn and the first battle:

In the First Campaign turn the Empire started at Naporar and moved towards Sposia, capturing the system.  The Rebels started at Rhigar and moved to the Capital system of Csilla on a peaceful diplomatic mission. 

In the Second Turn the Rebels heard of the Imperial task force at Sposia and decided to move to intercept them before they could stamp down on the peace loving Chiss.  The Imperials moved towards the Csilla intent on stamping on some Aliens and the Fleets met in deep space.

As you can see above (and I will blog the battle report soon) the Rebels didn't fair to well. Their commander lapsed into a n00b state and committed a tactical blunder or two.  The Rebels were forced to retreat back to their start point while the victorious Imperials moved on Csilla, capturing the system and started to persecute the aliens.

Campaign wise my Rebels lost their captured Escort Carrier, an Assault Frigate and some Nebulon B frigates while the Dreadnought was heavily damaged.  My one planet only had sufficient repair capacity to rebuild the 3 Nebulon B's.  The Dreadnought was so heavily damaged it had to sent out of the sector to be repaired so will miss the next game.  Alliance Command granted my appeal for reinforcements so a new Assault Frigate was added to my task force, but its crew are untrained so only LD 6.

The Imperials now have three planets, and while they lost an Enforcer light cruiser they have more then sufficient capacity to repair their crippled Dreadnought. Their Commander was promoted to Battle Group Commander for his increased Renown after his victory so now gets an extra re-roll.

So its time to make our next moves,  but word has reached us that Chiss Reactionaries are massing and perhaps a third player will enter the scene?

BFG: Star Wars Rebel Fleet Completed

Hey Folks,

Finished the Rebel Fleet :)

Unfortunately my "Matt" Varnish wasn't so Matt after all, and there is a bit of a shine on the models.  It also munted my careful panel highlighting and darkened the models somewhat :(  I have given them a bit of a dry brush but I will have to look for another varnish that's actually Matt, like Testors Dullcoat maybe.

Other then that, I think they came up ok;

The completed Rebel Fleet

Temporary bases look crap, but will soon be fixed

A screen of Escorts protects the Capital Ships

Mon Calamari MC80 (Wingless) Star Cruiser "Reef Home" - Counts as a Retaliator Class Grand Cruiser

Mon Calamari MC80 Liberty class Star Cruiser "Independence" - Counts as a Despoiler Class Battleship

Rear view of the Star Cruisers.  The panel lines are done with Mica pen then different panels are painted either tan/ a orange mix, stone gray or medium sea gray.



The Cruiser backbone of the Fleet: the Assault Frigates "Haven" and "Tyrants Bane" (Slaughter class) and the Old Republic Dreadnought "Indomitable" (Carnage class)



Captured Imperial Escort Carrier with prominent Rebel Symbol :)  In game terms its an Imperial Defiant Class light cruiser.

Escorts: Nebulon B and B2 (the ones with the split front "sails") Escort Frigates.  These count as Infidel class Raiders

The bottom Frigate is the Nebulon B2, a slightly improved version on the Nebulon B

Tiny Escorts: Corellian Corvettes.  These are actually the slightly larger "carrier" Corvette that could carry a starfighter squadron in the launch bays along the sides.  I chose these instead of actual Blockade Runners as the  Blockade Runner Corvettes were even smaller, and the Gunships even tinier. These count as Iconoclast Destroyers

Apparently one of these has Princess Leia on it according to my Son, a Subplot perhaps? :)

So all done and good to go for our Inaugural BFG Game tomorrow night.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they fair vs Jamie's Imperials.

We are going to run a Campaign straight of the bat I think so now all I need to do it make up a Star Wars-ey Sector Map.

Cheers
Jason

BFG: Star Wars Rebel Fleet Assembled

Hey Folks,

Just spent 3 hours after getting back from Club finishing assembling the Rebel Fleet.  The models are very, very nice but also bloody fragile and a bit fiddly.  Assembling the Nebulon B and especially the nebulon B2 Frigates has to rank up there with assembling Flames of War Katyushas!  I also made some temporary bases out of nails and card to get the fleet space worthy before I source some better bases.

But the end result is worth it, don't they look cool! :P  Note there is another Nebulon B and B2 frigate to come, but they are being bastards and wont stick together properly :(

Tomorrow its painting time. Now its sleepy time :)

Cheers
Jason