Finally a few pictures...

Stole the wife's phone for a bit :-)  Thinking this month is the time to upgrade my POS phone, and the one she has is nice...  Though have to admit I am spoiled by my Nexus 7's ease of use and inter-operability with my computers...  But in any case a few of the "work in progress" shots...

Not great pictures, and I'll have to get some with the zoom to see if I can capture some actual detail.  The SGT with the light green base is one I base coated a year or so back the last time I cycled through my "Zulu" phase.  Have to say, after the basecoat, the Minwax and Matte spray really changes it from a "eh" paint job to something that at least looks good on the table.  So, just another 80+ to go :-)

Oh, and repainting almost all of my Vehicles...  From the ancient RT era "Death Chicken" class Sentinels to the various AFVs...  Ogres as well probably.  I know they are not popular in various internet blogs, but locally, having a good, solid "Linebacker" unit is really nice to have...  But once I get all of my Heavy Weapon Squads painted up (yes, I still have blisters of them), might drop them for a straight "we just shoot things" army...

Repainting Praetorians...

Keep forgetting to take a camera or my phone downstairs...  Stripped and repainting the lads.  My first squad is done with the base coat and going with the "dipped" method.  Kind of like the Army Painter stuff, but using the Minwax and a Matte spray...  Saying that, growing up in the 80's, the Matte spray is hair spray of course :-)

Have to say the lads are turning out pretty darn nicely, certainly compared to their original "hey, it has 3 colors" paint for RTT's back in the 3rd edition era...  I know I had 2 Leman Russ tanks at one point, but have only found one so far...  Looking at snagging a 1/32 scale Lee/Grant to see how close it is...  Might end up modifying them if they are close.  Also looking at getting one of the Airships I was working on a while back made with some of the wood and the shop in Psych...  Might work out, at least be a VERY different Valkyrie/Vendetta...  Going with a WWII American paint scheme for the vehicles I think...

Praetorians next?

Back to painting something different for a while I think...  Back to one of my ancient armies.  Might even get a bunch of them FULLY painted as the "base coat" has taken 15 years :-)...

:-)  So, back to some of my ancient IG...See how long before I get absolutely sick of painting the same figure over and over...  But the Light Rifle Company concept I think will be a fairly powerful one in this edition, provided I support it well.  And the IG codex is insanely customizable and VERY powerful if you feel like going in a specific direction.  Me, I was always a fan of heavy weapons and Artillery.  Never did server in the Artillery, but I did a fair amount of the "Call For Fire" as an NCO in a line combat company...  So, unsurprisingly I have a fair idea HOW to use Artillery, Tank support and combined arms tactics...

Got in on the Kickstarter for the Stormtroopers (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m) here, so I have some what I hope are good "stand in" models for my Veterans and Storm-troopers...  So at the very least I will have something completely different to paint, when they arrive at least :-)...

Looking at repainting the vehicles I have from the "sand" scheme I have for most of them to something different...  Might have to go for something "brown-violet" and make them look like WWII American vehicles...  We'll see I guess...

Wow, Crimson Fists for the Win...

Wound up on table one against Mark's really annoyingly tough IG army to determine first/second for the Tournament...  Have to admit I was a bit surprised, I somehow skirted my "bad" matchups and by playing hyper aggressive I think I surprised the Danville players.  They really didn't expect the Drop Pods full of scoring Sternguard dropping right on top of them, and the Thunderfire Cannons are just REALLY effective against Infantry based Armies...

Game one I played against Noah's IG force, but it was at the 500 point level...  Sternguard dropped in, got "First Blood" by offing his Platoon Command Squad before dying...  Was the game winner for me.

Game 2 I wound up against a Tyranid force @ 1000 points with a Swarmlord, Flying Tyrant, Tyrvagon (?  Spawns more termigaunts), a few other things...  Had 2 full Scouts Squads (one sniper, one HtH/Shotgun), Thunderfire and the 2 Sternguard Squads (5 man each) with Pedro Kantor.  I think had the Tyranid player played it a bit more aggressively, I would have been wiped out.  My reserves waited until turn 4 to arrive, so it was a hard fight...  Surprisingly I did a LOT of damage with what I had though, so when the second wave hit, they claimed an objective and killed the Swarmlord getting me to a draw with a LOT of things killed...  Well, dead Tyranids at least.  I had surprisingly few casualties given the army I was facing.  Thinking back more on it, I REALLY think that had he moved up to engage early, I would have been wiped out before my reserves arrived.  But the Draw was enough to advance me, keeping me without a loss, and raking in a LOT of tiebreaker points.

Game 3 was a bad matchup for the kid I faced.  He ran a BA/Necron list with a big Fortress setting him back 250-280 points...  So, he was starting down points, and he was REALLY not ready for an army as aggressive as mine.  Having said that, the ORD missile swarm was REALLY powerful.  Not sure it is worth THAT much, but I think I could have used it a lot better...  He also had Mephiston and some big named Necron character, so 3 things that were REALLY expensive and hard to protect.  Drop Pod hit, Heavy Flamer alone almost wiped the min size Necron Troop squad, and took the Cron Lord to a single wound.  Second Sternguard Squad was what killed off Mephiston.  SO many Plasma and Melta shots, and no INV save or Cover save for him...  Unfortunately, I shot off all of my Meltas against Meph and to kill the Las Cannon/Dev Squad...  Building explosion is BRUTAL...  The Dev Squad ate something like 15 STR 6 hits when I melta'd the building they were in...

So, on to the final game on table one...  Mark's IG force ran the field against some of the armies that I could not have dealt easily with in Necron and GK mostly...  OTOH, I could almost guarantee killing a lot of KP if this was what it ended up being or at the least killing off the things he had to hold objectives...  I think this was probably the thing that lost it for him.  Sternguard dropping in with Heavy Flamers meant that the Infantry screen melted.  First Blood, Warlord death  and going up in KP almost immediately meant I more or less needed to be wiped off the field for him to win.  Sniper Scouts had no targets, but they hid and preserved their KP...  Thunderfire Cannon were useless after Turn one, but the Techmarines were huge....  Flamer, TL Plasma Pistol, dual Power Fists?  Works really well...  BUT having said that, I think that this is the last time I field 2 of them...

Got to say, I'm kind of burned out a bit.  Going to take a week or three to see what happens I guess.

Tournament this weekend...

Going to be a strange one...  1500 point list, but the first round is 500 points from this list, next round at 1000 points then third and fourth at 1500 points...  So running my Crimson Fists, the 500 is going to suck in so many ways...  1000 and 1500 at least I have an army I can field a coherent force, the major things I simply cannot deal with are things like heavy flier armies...

Hordes might present a slight challenge, but the dual Thunderfire cannons are insanely powerful against them...  Especially with my ability to target specific things like command squads, specific models...  Dark Eldar are also going to be hard, but I don't think Mike will be there with his vehicle swarm and insane number of saves...

Bringing:

Pedro Kantor
Sternguard Squad (10, HF, 7 Combi Melta, 2 Combi Plasma, SGT w/LC, Drop Pod w/beacon)
Sternguard Squad (10, HF, 6 Combi Melta, 3 Combi Plasma, Drop Pod)
Scout Squad (10, Cloaks, HB, 9 Sniper Rifles)
Scout Squad (10, CCW, Shotguns maybe?)
Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Aegis Line w/ Quad Gun

Comes in at 1500 points, might swap the quad for the Las Cannon...  Just the raw killing power might be nice, total lack of long ranged AT firepower.  Also missing the FT's ability to just MOVE.  Jump Troops, Drop Pods, Fast Vehicles, I could move across the field so very quickly, and that was hard for a lot of people to deal with.  This army shoots.  Shoots a LOT, and fairly well...  And has a potential for 8 Scoring squads, not including the Heavies in that one mission...  Stubborn too, so more or less you have to kill them all to get them off of an objective.  Really liking the army so far, just worried about fliers as I have no real answer yet...

Guess we'll see how it turns out, need to finish up some detail work and the like, but pretty ready to go...

A Draw @ 1500 points :-)

Well, played against Mike and his Dark Eldar...  We played 1500 points, I brought my list with the 2 Scout squads (1 Sniper, 1 CCW/Pistol) and 2 Sternguard Squads in Drop Pods backed by 2 Thunderfire Cannons and a Whirlwind...  He brought a fully Mechanized force with Warriors/Zombies/whatever the basic guys are with the Homunculus  in Venoms (3-4?) and 2-3 of the Elite squads in Raiders with 4 Blasters/squad and 2 of the Heavys with the 1 DL/2 Disintegrators...  Oh, and a Void Bomber...

He got first turn, killed my 2 Cannon and stunned my WW...  But Techmarines survived denying him "First Blood"...  My Sternguard dropped in, DID kill one of his 2 heavy "Screw you Marines" tanks, but failed to off the second with a series of amazing 5++ saves :-)...  Running theme for me this game, my Melta simply bounced a lot...  So, First Blood to me, and that was what got me the Draw.  Game ended on Turn 6 with my single surviving Scout SGT holding one Objective, one of his Warrior Squads holding one, and a bunch of dead bodies piled around the 3rd...  Both lost Warlords, and he killed the sole surviving Sternguard in his own DZ to deny me Linebreaker...  Of course my Whirlwind failed to kill his 2 troops in the open to deny that to him :-)...  So, a VERY bloody draw.  Good game though...

Crimson Fists at 1500 points...

So, the league is finally up to 1500 points...

Been painting a bit, and testing the camera, such as it is on the Nexus 7, so here are a few of the lads:

So, fielding:

Pedro Kantor
Scout Squad (9 Snipers, 1 HB)
Scout Squad (9 CCW/Pistol, 1 HB)
Sternguard Squad (Drop Pod, HF, 9 Combi Weapons, SGT w/ LC)
Sternguard Squad (Drop Pod, HF, 9 Combi Weapons, SGT w/ Melta Bomb)
Thunderfire Cannon

And either Storm Talon Gunship and Attack Bike or...

A second Thunderfire Cannon and  Whirlwind maybe....  Just the sheer amount of shooting for the Heavy option could be bad for an Infantry based Army...  The Flier?  Maybe, have it escort one of the Scouts who flank, hope to catch enemy fliers in the flank...  So, depends on who I end up facing I guess...  2 Ruins that give me 3+ cover saves could be annoyingly powerful :-)  Guess I'll bring them both...