The Tally of 2020

We've finally reached the end of the pier - time for a count-up!

Of course he's happy!

For those who don't know, this is the idea behind "Project: Micawber"...

"Annual leadpile twenty Pink Horrors, annual painting nineteen Pink Horrors, nineteen Blue Horrors and a Brimstone, result: stagnation.

Annual leadpile twenty Pink Horrors, annual painting twenty Pink Horrors nought and a chaos familiar, result: progress."

EXT: Brig

 

Do not pass go.

Totally Eradical

It's the closing days of 20bastard20, and I've completed a commission!

More Than Meets The Eye

 Just reliving my '84 Christmas here...

Absolutely Fabius

I'll Be Cloned For Christmas!

Fight Them On The Beaches: Scions & Marines vs Tyranids

 

It's nearly Christmas! But that's not snow falling out of the sky on Drawbridge - it's drop pods! I, Kraken, will be taking on General Pootle for a 1250 point Strike Force battle. Join us!

Alphapollo 13: Alpha Legion vs Tyranids

Time for a quick fight in the Drawbridge system. What were the Alpha Legion up to? And will  they too fall to the Great Devourer before their nefarious scheme comes to fruition? 

Kraken and Stylus checking in for this Battle Report!

EXT: Realmgates of Glory

I painted some more scenery!

Let's jump into the immaterium!

Last Christmas I Blade You My Guard

But the very next day, they failed their ward save

Oh Come All Ye Unfaithful: The Purge vs The Scourged

More civil war among the heretics - this time, the forces of Nurgle take on the might of Tzeentch.

The Purge vs The Scourged!

Whatever Happened To The Heroes?

Some extra HQs for my heretics!

INT: Hive Security Station

 

Alongside the Outriders, I did a bit of scenery painting.

Slay Ride

 

Get your motors running!

Run to the hills!

Line-of-sight-blocking terrain has always been important in 40k. Back in the early 90s I built a big polystyrene hill, which is usually a central feature of my battlefields. It's made up of three separate sections, so it's quite flexible, though I do usually just use the full version.

A Little Fight Music: Chaos Daemons vs Adeptus Mechanicus

The sluice-gates of the Immaterium burst open, but will reality bite back?

Chaos Daemons vs Adeptus Mechanicus!

Prime Cuts: Tempestus Scions vs Tyranids

 

Drawbridge Campaign part five - the Scions are out hunting, and there's a lot of Prime Targets!

Salt 'n' Ceppr

After a short delay, Indomitus has reached my painting tray!

Chimera! (not the monster)

 Worlds are colliding. I don't know what's going on any more.

Let's roll out!

Incy Wincy

 No water spout is safe!

Delayed Reinforcements

Everyone else can stand down, the Guard are here!

 

(some of them)

Rich T'au Biscuits

 

Not done any of these for a while!

Hunted by the Red Orktober: Orks vs Death Guard

Bludteef's Ork warband have been battling the Ultramarines on Bagot Prime for several months now. Bludteef himself has recovered from the mauling he took from the boys in blue and what remains of his vital organs (mostly teef) have been transplanted into a new cybork body. Now his Meks have intercepted a strange signal coming from an equatorial part of the planet. It sounds like the Ultramarines are up to something, and Bludteef is keen put a stop to whatever the beakies are doing. 

But something else is going on. Many years ago a shrine to Nurgle was built in a radioactive part of the desert. The wasteland has since been mined for the uranic deposits, but the workings have in turn fallen into disrepair and the desert is reclaiming the area. Unaware of other forces interested in the plant, the Death Guard are now looking to take back the shrine for reasons known only to themselves. 

Never mind, Bludteef came to kill marines, and these ones look half dead already, so it should be easy to finish them off...

By The Power Of ...

My Masters of the Universe / Warhammer 40k mash-up is about to conclude with a flourish!

For as long as he's been bothering Eternia, Skeletor had a dream. he wanted Castle Grayskull...

Mind Over Melta: Thousand Sons vs Black Legion

Just a friendly disagreement in the Eye of Terror.

Thousand Sons vs Black Legion!

Against the GreyKn: Alpha Legion vs Grey Knights

Hotspur has returned! Facemasks in place, we faced off in person for the first time in many months. His second 9th Ed game, and a new army to try. 

Magnetis Warriors

Time to embrace the Way of the Magnet!

The Alphalant Mantis: Mantis Warriors vs Tyranids?

 With an operational bastion to work from, the defenders of Drawbridge needed to strike back against the Tyranid swarm hard and fast. Without a rapid counterpunch, it was simply a matter of time before they were overrun. 

Captain Nampo of the Mantis Warriors and Brigadier Cholmondley-Maugham of the Hagan Lampreys quickly came up with an aggressive strategy. If they could find and destroy the major synapse creatures on the ground, the Tyranids would become disorganised. During that period, if they could muster the remaining defence forces, they might be able to recapture the planetary defence sites, get them operational and use them to drive the Hive Fleet out of orbit. This would allow the Imperial Navy to continue landing operations, as well as denying the Tyranids reinforcements. 

Analysis of the Tyranid attacks gave them three likely sites to check. The original landfall had occurred on Drawbridge's southern continent, in an area of dense rainforest, and there was a good chance the Tyranid leader beasts were still there. A detachment of Valkyries were launched to drop Scions in the area, whilst another Scion attack group moved to support the besieged industrial city of Barbican, where the Tyranids were currently pressing hard. 

The Mantis Warriors were already a depleted force, but Captain Nampo insisted on leading a scout team to check out the largest spaceport on the planet, Crenel. It had fallen to the Tyranids only days ago, the defenders going silent after a massive discharge of psychic activity. This indicated the presence of some sort of Synaptic leader, Nampo reasoned, a lead that needed to be checked out. 

Nampo took a fast-moving group of seasoned elites and raced to the ruins of Crenel, hoping to ambush and assassinate whatever Tyranid leadership they could find there. 

The Drawbridge Campaign part four - Stylus is commanding the Mantis Warriors tonight, but he's in for a surprise...

Get The Flock Out Of Here

Guess what I found nesting at the back of my painting queue?

Tzaangors!

Nyeh!

 Sometimes you just have to let an idea run...

Expelliarmus: Thousand Sons vs Thousand Sons

It's civil war among the sorcerers of Prospero!

Thousand Sons vs Thousand Sons.

A Fly in the Ointment: Space Marines vs Death Guard

Waaaaay back in March, Kasfunatu was going to bring his traitor Crypt Angels to face my Death Guard warband, The Second Law, but as Covid-19 was just about to hit we decided to play the game by Skype. Now we appear to have a window to play a face-to-face game so now he's hosting and fielding the loyalist Crypt Saints (see this report for the critical battle resolving their fate and their fluff page here for all the back story). I'll be reporting in normal type and Kasfunatu in bold

Film Night: The Quiet Mantis and Iron Mantis 3

 

Why settle for one dreadful pun when you can have two?

Light the Lampreys: Tempestus Scions vs Tyranids

All across Drawbridge, spaceport defence systems shut down. Deprived of their automated turrets, landing pads were smashed to rubble by falling sporocysts or strafed by Harpy flybys. Those spared devastation from above were overrun from within, Genestealers emerging from supply tunnels to devour personnel or tear apart vital maintenance rigs. 

One single terminal remained open, saved for the time being by the desperate sacrifices of the Mantis Warriors - Cullis, a relatively small port on the northern continental mass. It was here that the Hagan Lampreys would have to deploy. 

Overhead, their strike cruiser Millstone of Guilt fought in low orbit to keep a space lane open. Valkyrie strike squadrons raced from hangers in a trio of Imperial Navy cruisers, but their time was limited. Hive Fleet Afanc already dominated the skies, and the larger ships would have to withdraw in scant hours. 

On the ground, the story was no less dire. The remaining defenders of Cullis could see what appeared to be a massive cloud rolling swiftly towards their now-open gates. Somewhere between a dense sandstorm and a black thundercloud in appearance, it would certainly overwhelm the last spaceport. 

Unless the first Lampreys to arrive could create a beachhead in time...

Part three of the Drawbridge campaign! And it's me, Kraken, playing me, Pootle, in an incursion battle as the Scions finally join the fray!

The Devastator Doctrine. Blood Angels Vs Imperial Fists

 Hello! 

My first written Batrep as Blood Angels on the glorious Woffboot sees me facing Beanie. We've played a number of times with his Imperial Fists vs my Blood Angels. Its quite the clash and many a time, especially early days I was Alpha striked by the Devastator Doctrine and the chapter bonuses. Whilst I'm not a hyper competitive player, it does sting to lose a lot. Thankfully once around the tank and I'm back to planning improvements, ways around. Trying to keep the narrative though, it has to be kept close and personal. If there's not a chainsword buzzing in someones face then there's just no point!!

Let Trygons be Trygons

Good to finish a project on a big model. 

EXT: Municipal Generator Buildings

 

A quick break from all these Tyranids - it's a scenery commission for Stylus. 

Biomassive Attack

Bigger bugs this week, I'm past the filler units at last. 

The Spore Flank Redemption: Mantis Warriors vs Tyranids

During Captain Nampo's disastrous attempt to protect the generator complex from the Tyranids, a portion of his Mantis Warrior force became separated from the rest and missed their extraction. 

Primaris Librarian Nagai Ryozo, who had been wounded during the fight, found himself in command of a small group of marines and veterans, trapped inside the generator tunnels. Unable to contact their cruiser either via comms (they were underground) or psychically (the Hive Mind drowned out his attempts to broadcast), Ryozo decided on a simple course of action. 

If they could cleanse and retake the generators, repairing even one would be certain to attract attention from the planet's defenders. There was the added bonus that they would also be helping the defence effort at the same time. 

They were, however, deep inside territory that Hive Fleet Afanc had already infested. At least they weren't near a swarm front, but if they didn't move fast and hard, even the relatively small numbers of tyrannoforming organisms nearby would be certain to overwhelm them. 

Sportification Network

Balloons! 

Centre of Biomass

The Hive Fleet grows apace!

The Red Painting Table

 

This is my (immediate) current painting queue. The full queue doesn't need to be talked about, I don't feel like crying today. 

The Hellblasters and Aggressors have been in this queue for a long time, passed over so many time. BUT NO MORE.. They are top of the queue and will completed sometime in the not to distant but near, not to near but not to far future. Soon.

The Sons of Sanguinius

 Hello!
I  (Rapid) was most humbled when asked to contribute the the mighty Woffboot blog! Blood Angels player through and through, originally playing 2nd edition however many years ago that was (insert moment of denial to actual age). Coaxed back in early 8th and fallen for the game ever since. 40k has renewed friendships and created many more, including the wonderful chaps at Woffboot.
Play style wise, its about having fun. No one likes to lose all the time but its great to just have those awesome smashing battles where heroes are made or broken!
9th is turning out to be some great fun with the BA. Lets hope for some belters going forward!
First port of call is to add my main army, the Blood Angels to the already well stocked army lists that Woffboot commands.

 Currently standing at approximately 6450pts painted. With over 5000pts left to paint. That number MAY have gone up today with some purchases. ..

"No Dear I haven't bought any more plastic space men"

/rehearsal.

Fingers crossed the Necron and Tyranid army will follow at some point! 

The wonderful image below links to the Army Page.

Thanks!

INT: Hive Maintenance Tunnels

 

That's good timing - I've just finished my Dungeons and Lasers set in time for the sequel to hit Kickstarter!

Made Guard

Why buy models when you can make your own?

Swarms the Heart

 

Plenty of Tyranid reinforcements this summer, eBay had some good deals going. Paint the boring ones first, is my rule!

Kraken vs Kraken: Mantis Warriors vs Tyranids

The Drawbridge System - a colossal Imperial logistics installation, providing food, ammunition and fuel to several key battlefronts. Since the events of the Zamaroon Campaign, this crucial supply nexus has become next in line for Hive Fleet Afanc. As the shadow in the warp falls across the system, the Imperium races to redeploy defence forces from more than a dozen other warzones. 

In the meantime, protection of Drawbridge falls to a tiny force of Mantis Warriors and Hagan Lamprey Scions...

Once More Into The Thirteenth: Thousand Sons vs Space Marines

Back on the tellybox - and no paywall this time!

I actually managed to get further than my garden to play against Winters SEO.

Robot Killymen: Black Legion vs Adeptus Mechanicus

Black Legion vs Adeptus Mechanicus!

My 9th Edition career has known nothing but heresy to date, and my poor AdMech haven't had a run-out for months. And so I, Stylus, decided to put this right by challenging Kraken to a fight!

Magical Mystery Tour Bus

Here's a 40k landmark for me: I've finally bought, assembled and painted my first vehicle!

Why I chose to freehand it as well is anyone's guess...

Through Tyranny, Freedom

Order's up!

Eaters of the Dead: Tyranids vs Necrons

Necrons! They're the new big bads for the new edition. But never once have I, Kraken, faced them on the field of honour. Until now! 

 

Step forward General Rapid and his large and well-established dynasty, hosting tonight's Skype Fight!

 

Evil Knievels

It took a while to get these finished, but it's like riding a bike*.

*(difficult, frequently-abandoned, and costing me more front teeth than I'd like to admit)

Death Among The Hydrangeas: Blood Angels vs Thousand Sons

Let's Gardenhammer!

Blood Angels vs Thousand Sons. In the fresh air! In person!