12.08.2009

Why My Floor is Covered with Plastic Chunks

Off I go with another couple of ideas...
I was quite taken by the concept of a medical squad to accompany my 609th. As most of the force is mobile, the medics would need an ambulance.
I decided to use the new hellhound kit as well as a KZKT-537LTractor kit (1/32 scale) mostly for the wheels.
It will most likely count as a chimera. I have plans to make a medical servitor with an operation table inside as well as racks for a couple of stretchers.
I would like to thank Admiral Drax for the medic idea, and Dave Taylor for giving me vehicle ideas that make me drool on myself.
Elsewhere, the Inquisition has commissioned the forges to make an interceptor fighter.
The design is based upon the Aquilla symbol, with similar design ideas to the vulture gunship.
I will be arming it with a twin-linked autocannon and two hellstrikes.

Comments are requested and appreciated! There are a few things I'm not too sure about...so fellow bloggers, what do you think?

Ricalope, SL.

12.07.2009

Gottacon 2010

I love conventions! And here comes Gottacon!
I was asked by a friend if the Rabbit Hole could help with a local convention, providing terrain and tournement tables. I gladly agreed! This will be a three day event, with gaming open for all three days (yes, round the clock gaming!) The Rabbit Hole will be represented by the Odin Primary terrain, Craftworld Apsaraph, Sam's Slaanesh army, and the Scream Walkers (for the tournament) and possibly nWo books for grabs. If you are in the area, I highly recommend attending this weekend of dice rolling and mayhem!

During one of the evenings I am thinking of setting up a giant Planetstrike game...any takers?

Cheers,
Ricalope, SL.

12.06.2009

A Storm of Swords

"Farseer EnDai walked away from his scrying runes towards where Jaher, his autarch, waited. With a slender almost crystalline hand, EnDai gives him a single rune, and with it the knowledge imbued within. Leaving, Jaher goes to muster the aspect temples for war. "
"Report."

"Forgemaster Kyuub, the Murderess' H&K is down again, and the Terminator squad reports their storm bolters are malfunctioning. Unknown signatures keep requesting permission to deep strike and the men report sightings of strange beasts."

"Copy it all to Lord Commander Alphares. I always knew those H&K rigs were crap. Emperor's infallible design my ass!!"

"And where the Throne's my gun servitor??"
The eldar entered from the webway in the grey administratum building, intent on stopping the rouge techmarine from retrieving the archeotech from the machanicum buildings not far off. The farseer, with his bodyguard of dire avengers, defended the portal with a unit of guardins at his disposal. The rest of the swordwind positioned themselves to assault those defending the building.
The assault for the machanicum building was bloody, with the guardian jetbikes destroyed and the warp spiders crushed by terminators. Prolonged as well as swift combats broke out as shining spears rode through chaos marines and fire dragons used their meltas on anything close (like the landraider). Jaher dispatched the techmarine before being taken by the warp during a jump.
In the center, a very angry, and immobilised, dreadnought took scattered fire from the passing falcon. The plauge marines and striking scorpions eventually engaged each other atop the walkways, the infected marines killing half the scorpions while being cut down and crushed (the combat lasted four rounds!)
With a vyper in tow, the waveserpent belonging to the dire avengers made a successful preemptive assault of the marines facing them. With a combination of Doom and Bladestorm they managed to eliminate both the chaos marines as well as two obliterators who deep striked into the fray.
With the chaos objective taken, and the eldar objective held by guardians, the chaos forces were beginning to look deperate. With extermination on his mind, Farseer EnDai and his entourage flew towards the dreadnought, killing it with shruiken and laser fire. This left the guardians alone protecting thier objective, which was targeted by the second squad of terminators still held in reserve. The traitors carved through the artisans and accountants like paper.

The battle ended with a very satisfying draw, with a few laughs and nail-biting, in all a great battle!

"The Omnissiah is great for distracting servitors or bluffing admins or generating time-wasting ceremonies. But beings with the deepest insight see that so delineating the world as to imply that there needs to be a Prime Mover, is insane."
- Radical Forgemaster Nimrod Kyuub, Wolfram

"We cannot trust the mon-kei to defend themselves, so we must do it for them."
-Autarch Jaher, Craftworld Apsaraph.

"I entered this conflict on the side of good, sided with evil against good. My job is simply to destroy as much of SOMETHING as possible."
- Lord Commander Alphares, Wolfram

12.02.2009

Warp Wednesday Nine: Devouring Bronzed Flesh

Welcome to Wednesday, hope you are well.
Meet Lucia, Mistress of Change. She is made from an Inquisitor scale, (limited edition,) wood elf, Gaulrach's wings and a sword taken from the Khemri range. Lucia has gotten a few mixed reviews, mainly due to the fact that she is limited edition, but I like the sheer presence of her (and why would I use a wood elf in Inquisitor?)
She is often fielded as a lord of change in both fantasy and 40k games. Sadly, my daemon army is still rather small, being the army I work on least...


Tzaanaken, Lord of Chaos, was an impulse buy. I was caught by the dynamic of the model itself, and spent little time altering him to the path of Tzeench.


Sadly, the last time I went to the store to pick up paints, I was reminded of the colors GW had stopped making, primarily Bronzed Flesh. Bronzed Flesh is useless as a flesh tone (unless your army has liver disease) but is essential to my chaos.
I have found Bronzed Flesh to be the best orange highlight in the range. Standardly, I will use Blood Red for a basecoat, followed by Blazing Orange, then Fiery (now Solar Machrais) then Bronzed Flesh. I have also seen it used effectively for lava effects and some cool yellows.
I currently have a couple spares in my paint box (along with Tanned Flesh) and mourn the loss of Midnight Blue. It seems odd that I have a Tzeench army but I am afraid of change (paint-wise)...
Well, that is it for this Wednesday, thanks for looking,
Ricalope, LoC.

11.30.2009

Back to Bugz

Now that the commission is finished, and the Fly the Flag painting competition is over, it is time to get back to Hive Fleet Fester.
This is Brood Infex, a warrior brood. I now have synapse, (as well as two troops and an HQ). The entire force is still only around 500 points, but it is growing.
Up soon is Frankie, the slaughterfex, then more gaunts, and more gaunts....
Honestly, I am not too happy with the "brain bug", he seems a little off. The other two, I like alot.

As always, comments are appreciated (especially if you have an idea about making "brain bugs")...
Ricalope, SL.

11.26.2009

Fly the Flag (Finished)

My entry for the Sheffield Irregulars is finally finished.
The regimental standard bearer leads his comrade, a vox officer, out of the relatively safety of the barricade and into the street. The yellow unit badges mark them out as members of the command squad. The vox officer has been severely wounded on his left side, there is no blood, and is most likely concussive trauma.
As a painting project, this was fun, yet there are many areas that were hard to get at. As for the construction, it was the result of after-Hallowe'en brainstorming.
The stages these two went through to get this far are the construction and painting.
As always, you comments are appreciated,
Ricalope, SL.

11.25.2009

Warp Wednesday Eight: What is this "Tank Spam" you speak of?

"Big guns never tire."
Welcome to Warp Wednesday Eight. Each week I dig out something out of the maelstrom of my gaming room and dust it off. While I take pictures, I try to figure out something to rant about...

In my relatively short time on the interweb, I have come across a term previously unknown to me. I have been collecting tanks (read: playing Imperial Guard) for almost six years or more, and have been accused of being a tread-head (and once an "armoured-cheese-monkey").
I never heard the phrase "tank-spam" before. So I decided to do what any good tank commander would, research. It seems I am often a spammer.
So, in my defense, I would like to point out some serious facts regarding using a lot of armour with the Imperial Guard. First is the quality of our troops, or lack of... Second is the new vehicle assault rules added to the thinly constructed rear areas.
Psychology is the real threat of tank-spam, seeing a wall of iron spitting death at your troops is demoralizing. I believe this feeling is only equalled by the pride of fielding twelve tanks...
The best defense used against me has been to make traffic jams by wrecking my vehicles. This increases cover and decreases line of sight. It also severely disrupts movement, making remaining tanks vulnerable and isolated. And squadrons have their own problems...
In response to the new codex, one of my platoons have been given transports (making them an armored platoon?) and recently they have been enjoying high kill counts as well as getting broken all over the place. Since the new rules, over half of my tanks die ever game.
Well, tell me what you truly think of tank-spam, how do you play with or against them? Or just enjoy the pictures of my gorgon...
Thanks for the inspiration,
Ricalope, SL.

11.23.2009

Lustgrinder Finished

Lilith is finished. After three weeks of sculpting (and an entire roll of GS).
This has been one of the most ambitious projects I have attempted, and I am pretty happy with the result.
Also, this has been the largest commission piece I have been requested to do, and this first commission I will not be painting.
I urge you all to watch Samalander's blog for painted progress of Lilith and for all the other Slaaneshi fun that goes on there.
It almost makes me sad to not be working on Lilith anymore, although a lot of work, she was fun.

It started here with the blue print, then it grew here, here, here and here. That will give you the full progress in order.

Well, until next time, thanks for the inspiration,
Ricalope, SL.

11.20.2009

Lustgrinder (Almost There)


There is little left to do now, she is almost done.
I heard her name will be Lilith, and I am really happy with the project so far.
All that is left is; base-stuff, green stuff on the arms and nose, Slaanesh symbols, and the back 'vanes'.
I am Interested to know what you all think of her so far, anything that seems 'wrong' or more work?

11.18.2009

Warp Wednesday Seven: Superfluous Eldar Pics



It is warm in the warp today, hope you all are well.


I know, many of you read this blog to look at the pictures, so here are some superfluous pictures of my exodites taking a wrong turn through a warp portal. I am (very) slowly working on an exodite army and have a couple of things planned for them (keep watch for a carnosaur in the near future).

I am not sure about the rest of you, but I am lucky enough to have some regular opponents to play against. This, more than anything else, provokes me to build an army and get it table-ready. I refer to this as the "arms race" and it seems the other players have the same syndrome as well. I am referring to the habit of getting that bigger, better, killier model than the one that beat the bejeebus out of you the last game. For instance; a friend of mine (who is insane) built a mechanical squiggoth (aka "the giant metal pig"), and even though the Emperor has blessed me with a tank division, and they have only seen the monstrosity once, I am planning a churchtank, just so I have something bigger.

Also, having regular opponents, creates storyline. The war that has followed me from house to house, has a long history, and many units have the honour badges to prove it. Grudges are made, (my autarch currently has a warboss to settle with), and models acquire history and a reputation.

Both of these factors will foster the most important aspect of the game (in my opinion), the spirit of the game. It is a board game, (with toy soldiers), but when there is history and character it becomes something better. Once this happens the cheering, taunting and other hubbub get started, it becomes an event.

Just something I noticed...
Happy Wednesday!
Ricalope, SL.