Tag: 40K

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

Battle Ready 2022, part one

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Grey Knights. That’s the army for January.

Currently I have a very small amount of models painted. I’ll try and dig them out for a group shot.

A few months back I bought some out of print metal Grey Knight Terminators from Troll Trader, enough to make up 3 squads of 5. I have a box of the current plastic Grey Knight Terminators that I’m making up as an Apothecary, a Standard Bearer and a 3 man Paragon Squad.

They’ll be the core of my GK army, adding to the Stormraven Gunship, Dreadknight and a few other odds and ends.

Even the already painted models will be getting a wee spruce up with some paint.

I’ll dig the other models out of the cabinet later and I’ll try and get a picture up for tomorrow.

🙂

Links:
Troll Trader
Plastic Grey Knight Terminators from GW

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

Things to do for 2021 – The Warhammer List, part one

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This year I didn’t get as much painting done as I would have liked. Not fine art but the subtle art of painting tiny soldiers for the purpose of table-top wargaming.

I have loads of models built and very little painted. They’re on my shelves of shame.

I think, rather than setting a goal of new armies or any foolishness like that, I’m going to do an army project a month. To clear through an army a month is achieveable, and it stops things from getting stale. If I haven’t finished an army by the end of the month, then back on the shelf they go and the next one is given a once-over.

This gets certain projects, like my Grey Knight Terminators, Adeptus Titanicus Titans, Aeronautica Imperialis models, and a few other small projects, a set amount of time to progress the models.

It’s a different plan, in that I have a plan at all.

Tomorrow I’ll have a look at the shelves of shame and try and set a more solid list.

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

The Adventures of Inquisitor Smashface

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There’s a game available on Steam (and, presumably, most modern consoles) called Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor – Martyr. As you can guess it’s linked to the ever popular tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40K, a game where you move little soldiers about your friends Mum’s dining table, rolling dice and listening to W.A.S.P., while casually keeping an eye on his mum and her friend who are obviously trying to pretend that they can’t make out the lyrics to the live version of Animal (Fuck Like A Beast), which starts with a rising chant of “Fuck like a beast, fuck like a beast”.

Allen Johnston, I’m looking at your here. I’m still amazed that you never got pulled up for that.

Anyway, Warhammer has come a long way since the heady days of my teens. And while I have a reborn love of moving expensive tokens about a make-believe battlefield, the electronic gaming part of the hobby is yet another channel to pour the precious seconds of my life into.

I’ve played Inquisitor – Martyr before, initially on the Playstation, but I could never get into it. An almost perfect storm has caused me to get into it again now.

  1. My daughter has all but commandeered the Playstation. It was inevitable.
  2. I got a new pc at the start of the year, a shiny laptop to replace the aging Frankencomputer I had before.
  3. The game was really cheap on Steam.

A. Perfect. Storm.

It’s a game in the style of Diablo. You play as one of four character types, each with their own playstyle, you gain experience points for killing baddies and completing missions. All the usual stuff.

So, Inquisitor Smashface. He runs about with a heavy flamer (a bigger than big flamethrower) and a thunder hammer (a two-handed hammer that has electricity running through it). And it’s great fun. Smashface has reached level 20 now, which means I can take the hammer. Before this, using the flamer was like running the game in easy mode. But now that i’ve unlocked the Thunder Hammer? Bloody hell, it’s fun.

As long as I keep moving, and don’t get tied up in fighting mobs, i bash the heads of heretics in. It’s great fun. As I unlock more skills, i’ll try other weapon combinations but, for now, it’s all about burning the enemy and flattening them with a big hammer.

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

New Year, New Army?

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There’s this thing, New Year, New Army, which I know is a marketing tool used against the weak-minded. Or me. It’s being used successfully against me.

There are these monsters in Warhammer 40,000. Tyranids. Part of an intergalactic-biomass-hivemind, they travel between the stars stripping planets of biological matter. Tasty, tasty biomass.

Tyranid Hive Tyrant. He's pretty, isn't he? And hungry too. Image copyright Games Workshop
Tyranid Hive Tyrant. He’s pretty, isn’t he? And hungry too.
Image copyright Games Workshop

There are was to play the army, one is with a horde of tiny monsters and the other is known as “Nidzilla”, which is a collection of big monsters.

I’m going down the big monsters route.

I’ll post some photos of the guys I’ve painted once I can get access to a better camera. Ha.

So, Nidzilla. This is for a number of reasons.

  1. Big monsters
  2. Not so much to paint.
  3. It’ll look amazing.
  4. Big monsters.

That last point was an important one.

I’ve painted two models out of the seven I currently own and I’m digging the paint scheme. You’ll have to manage your own expectations there.

Links:
New Year, New Army – Warhammer Community

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

Managing Expectations…

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So, this happened…

Then, this happened…

Initially scunnered, I’m now sitting at my desk with broken tanks, glue and a sense of peace and acceptance.

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

40k : astra militarum and alpha legion vs. tau (750+750vs1500)

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Tonight’s game was a three player, two vs one, game of Warhammer 40000, Games Workshop’s futuristic military tabletop miniatures game.

I brought 750 points of Astra Militarum.

This isn’t a battle report of any kind but a wee breakdown of how my army performed, unit by unit, especially as I brought some things to battle for the first time. Let’s begin.

Company Commander
+ laspistol
+ frag grenades

Company Commander
+ laspistol
+ frag grenades

These guys are order generators, and to pay the H.Q. tax. Low points and a basic loadout, they’re not used for actual combat.

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

One squad for minding the Basilisk with a Company Commander. The other two, with a CC, for objective sitting.

Bullgryns
+ Bullgryn maul / 3
+ frag bombs
+ slabshield

A first time unit. I wanted to see how useful they’d be for hitting and smashing. They took on a Tau Commander and lost. To be fair, I rolled badly. Adding a Ministorum Priest would have given the unit an extra 3 attacks. The slabshield was worth the points, though. It kept my guys alive for another turn.

Hellhound
+ heavy flamer
+ inferno cannon

Armoured Sentinel
+ heavy flamer
+ Sentinel chainsaw

Armoured Sentinel
+ heavy flamer
+ Sentinel chainsaw

The Hellhound was a new unit. The inferno cannon is a beast. 2D6 auto hits at strength 6. It all but wiped out a unit of Tau Fire Warriors. The Sentinels I used to accompany the Hellhound. They did an okay job, but swapping them out for a second HH seems a better use of the points.

I DO like Sentinels though. 

Basilisk
+ Earthshaker cannon
+ Heavy bolter

The Basilisk needs a pal. One isn’t enough to do serious damage now that weapon templates aren’t a thing. I can churn out a good amount of damage to single units, but only D6 hits (rolling two D6’s and choosing the highest) a turn. I should have used it for picking apart battlesuits but I wasted it on squads of cheap infantry.

Valkyrie
+ multi-laser
+ two multiple rocket pods
+ two heavy bolters

For delivering the Bullgryns and annoying the enemy. It was okay but didn’t do as well as in the past.

For a next game, at that points level, I’d add a second Hellhound, drop the Valkyrie and Basilisk and maybe add some Heavy Weapon Teams. And maybe a Chimera transport for the infantry, for objective camping.

A good fun game though. 🙂

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

battle ready – pastor niles

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Okay, as promised, an actual model that’s been painted. 🙂

Everyone, say hello to Pastor Niles.

Pastor Niles is one of the Ministorum Priests assigned to Major Emerson’s Fighting 27th, a motley collection of soldiers trying to stay alive on the nightmare world of Planet Nine.

He’s shinier than expected when seen close up. That must be something to do with the light of the God-Emperor, or something…

The Ageing Gamer  ⁄  Warhammer

the saga of inquisitor emerson

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This (and apologies for the poor paint job / image) is Inquisitor Emerson.

Inquisitor Emerson

I play Warhammer 40K. I’m sure I’ve banged on about this in the past. Its not something I hide. Recently I’ve been bogged down in too many miniature painting projects for too many army ideas and, as is often the case with such procrastination, very little has been done to complete any of these projects. 

But ages ago I had a daft idea for running my regular games with more of a narrative in mind. It doesn’t really matter if my opponent does the same, only that I do. And it means i can swap different detachments in and out of my force and as long it keeps to the overall story then I can justify keeping that army around rather than have lots of disparate elements that don’t seem to gel, or ever get finished.

So, I’m going to build something round Inquisitor Emerson. I was tempted to repaint the model as I’ve come on considerably with my painting but I’m fond of him so I’ll probably stick with it. I have a few ideas of a wee retinue that would follow him about and would join him in games as required. Also, two other Inquisitors, named Lake and Palmer. Just because.

I have a game coming up on Sunday so I think I’ll write a wee background story and one that help theme my army. Let’s see what I come up with.