Deathwatch additions.

 

“Onyx Blade at the Breach”

The brood-lair pulsed like a canker on the outskirts of Vethros Hive, a swollen mass of chitin and glistening bio-matter that had swallowed entire hab-blocks. Even before Strike Force Onyx Blade reached the perimeter, Lieutenant Albo felt the psychic pressure of the swarm gnaw at the edges of thought.

He raised his power sword, its auric blade crackling with restrained fury.
“Brothers,” he said over the squad vox, “we carve out this rot and we save whoever yet survives. For the Watch. For the Emperor.”

The kill-team advanced.

---

Apothecary Gerhardt – The Living Must Be Preserved

Gerhardt knelt beside a wounded Guardsman as the first spore clouds drifted overhead, stinging like acid rain. His narthecium hissed as it sealed a gaping chest wound.

“You are not dying today, soldier,” Gerhardt murmured, bolter snapping up to blast a skulking Hormagaunt as it leapt. He hauled the man to his feet and shoved him toward the extraction corridor marked by Leto’s covering fire.

“Go. Stay alive.”

Behind him, the brood-lair gaped wide like a jaw waiting to close.

---

Sergeant Marius – The First Breach

Marius advanced with disciplined precision, bolt rifle braced against his vambrace. The first blast from his underslung grenade launcher tore an opening through the resin wall of the brood-lair, spraying steaming fragments across the rubble.

“Breach made. Ancatus, you’re on entry.”

He fired again, cutting down two Termagants trying to slither through the collapsing gap.
“Albo, I recommend rapid penetration before the nest reacts.”

The hive was waking.

---

Infiltrator Ancatus – Shadows Before Claws

Ancatus ghosted ahead, a wraith in Mark X Phobos armour. Smoke grenades burst around him, hiding the route from the synapse beasts overhead.
Inside the lair, heat and wet humidity pressed like a furnace.
He raised two fingers—silent signal. Movement.

A trio of Genestealers crawled across the ceiling, their talons slick with human blood. Ancatus exhaled, bolt-carbine rounds punching upward in a tight staccato until the xenos dropped like butchered spiders.

“All clear—momentarily,” he whispered.

Nothing was ever truly clear around Tyranids.

---

Eliminator Romarich – One Shot at a Time

From the ruins of a shattered manufactorum roof, Romarich had perfect oversight of the kill-team’s advance. His las-fusil whined as he dialed the charge.
A hulking Warrior-strain crested the brood-mound, boneswords raised to direct lesser beasts. Romarich squeezed the trigger.

The beam lanced through the creature’s skull, detonating its cranial sack in a bloom of white steam.

“Synapse node removed,” he reported calmly.

Below, Albo’s team surged into the gap the shot had opened.

---

Heavy Intercessor Leto – The Wall of Fire

Leto strode forward like a living bastion, heavy bolter roaring. The ammunition belt chattered as he swept the kill-zone clear, explosive shells cracking open carapace and flesh alike.
Guardsmen and civilians huddled behind his towering silhouette as he escorted them back through the war-torn streets.

“Stay tight. Keep moving,” he rumbled, even as he stitched a torrent of bolts into an onrushing pack of gaunts.

Once the last survivor was clear, he voxed:
“Extraction complete. Returning to the assault path.”

---

Assault Intercessor Riciardo – Blood and Motion

Riciardo ignited his jump pack, soaring over the writhing bio-tendrils that guarded the brood-lair’s deepest tunnels. He landed amidst a pair of Genestealers, chainsword revving. The first died in a spray of gore; the second slashed, but Riciardo rolled with the strike and fired point-blank with his bolt pistol, blowing the creature’s head apart.

“Entrance secured for demolition charges!” he shouted. “Someone get me a det-pack before more friends arrive!”

Behind him, the tunnel breathed—alive with alien hunger.

---

Venerable Brother Garin – The Emperor’s Oldest Wrath

Terminator armour scraped against swollen organic walls as Brother Garin waded into the heart of the brood-lair. His storm shield bore gouges from a dozen new blows, and his power sword glowed red with chitin-burn. 

A monstrous Broodlord erupted from the darkness, screeching.

Garin answered with a crack of his storm shield that flattened two of its fangs. The Broodlord slashed again, its talons sparks against ceramite.

“You face a son of the Emperor” Garin thundered, impaling the beast through the thorax and lifting it bodily from the floor. “And I do. Not. Fall.”

With a twist, the xenos died.

---

Albo – Closing the Wound

With the Broodlord slain and Romarich eliminating escaping synapse creatures, Albo rallied his brothers at the tunnel nexus.

“Marius, charges to each burrow.”
“Riciardo, hold the choke point.”
“Gerhardt, last sweep for survivors.”

The squad moved with perfect, lethal synchronicity.

When the charges detonated, the brood-lair shuddered and collapsed inward, its flesh-walls imploding in a thunderous cascade of gore and ash. The tunnels sealed. The threat—contained.

Albo raised his sword toward the burning sky.
“Strike Force Onyx Blade. Mission success. The city is secure.”

His warriors gathered amid the settling dust, battered but unbroken.

Another world saved.
Another hive cleansed.
And the Deathwatch walked on.

*****

I can't have been the only one who was excited for Space Marine 2 to be released. I ordered my copy on Steam and had great fun playing it.

Then something exciting came along in a way I would have never guessed.

"Space Marine Operations", a tabletop game mode for 40k which based its gameplay off of the multiplayer co-op missions from the computer game. 
You can play it as Players Vs Environment with a small group of player taking control of one or two marines each, or completely solo with you controlling the entire strike team against the chart driven AI controlled enemies.

FANTASIC!

However, slight problem, I was three models short of the strike team, because they all have different classes and weapon requirements.

A short root through the bits box and I threw these three models together.
Assault Intercessor Riciardo of the Flame Phoenixes chapter.
Venerable Brother Garin, of the Broken Swords chapter.
Brother Leto of the Ultima Consuls chapter.

Not the best photo, but showing again how I freehand the different chapter symbols upon the shoulder pads. 
Riciardo, on the left has a yellow and red phoenix flying from flames as his symbol, and a red on yellow cross device on his tilting shield.
Leto with the Heavy Bolter (taken from a very old Blood Angels kit) has a blue Eagle head on white background and green trim, I also took the backpack from the old Firstborn Marines Devastator squad, cut off the target and angled it to match where he is looking, as it it is tracking his movements and recording everything to be analysed later.

Venerable Brother Garin began life as the free "Model of the Month" from a while ago when GW were giving away a free Deathwing Terminator. I really liked the idea of a Power Sword and the big Stormshield, so I converted the sword with one from the Bladeguard kit (I think) and added a Horus Heresy Vexilla to his back to give him some more presence (not that he needs it).
Just like Riciardo and Leto, Garin follows my Deathwatch black armour colour scheme, the differences begin to come in with the detailing.

I really like the colour Barak Nar Burgundy, and was looking for an excuse to use it again, so Garin got it for his robes and for half his tower shield, the other half is alternating checks in Averland Sunset (yellow) and Mephiston Red (Red...obviously!), as I wanted to play up the knightly aspect and throw some more details in there.

I left the Deathwatch shoulder pad on, as it was moulded on entirely and its really nice. I just say that he is from a chapter called the "Broken Swords" and leave it at that.

And Strike Force Onyx Blade gathered in all their martial glory below.

I originally finished these models off in order to play the Operations game mode at Element Games back in September with Cardboard Fortress and Fraser, but such is life that things got in the way of a meetup and it was put on hold for now.
That gave me time to go back and reread everything, retype it up a little so it flowed better on the page, and to design my own scenario to slot into a three scenario mini-campaign which we could play through in less then a couple of hours (hopefully).

I have a few other things to add to the Deathwatch, one of the biggest things will be filling out Riciardo, Leto and Garin's squads, maybe add a few other characters, like a Techmarine, and I would love to get a pair of Dreadnaughts for the strike force (Who dosen't love a Dreadnaught?), perhaps a couple of vehicles wouldn't go amiss either (I do quite like the Corvus Blackstar!).


Until next time, have nice day...

In defence of Orschia - an 8th edition 40k battle report.

 

"Task force Onyx Blade, reporting Xenos presence at marker S351B, confirm" the whispered voice of Sergeant Von Drak came over Lieutenant Albo's vox.

"Confirmed, task force moving into position on your left flank now, gain good firing positions and await the command" the Ultramarine Lieutenant ordered.

Black and silver clad Astartes pushed into the ruins, their armour collecting a patina of dust as they moved. The powered hum of their armour suits vibrating the same dust from any surface it has settled on.

Ruins creaked as they moved and took up positions, and the heavier Aggressors stomped forwards, ammunition clacking as they wound up and tested their electrically charged autoloaders.

Satisfying himself that everyone was in place and affirmed that they were ready for battle, Lieutenant Albo opened a wide vox channel to all his men.

"In the Emperor's name, let none survive. Onyx Blade, engage" Albo calmly ordered, bring the storm to the calm.

*****

To celebrate my birthday on Sunday just gone (29th September) and the fact that I had the new game table, once things had settled down in the evening I pulled together a few things and played out a solo battle of 8th edition 40k.

Why 8th edition? I hear you asking.

Well, to be honest, I just pulled the rulebook and the indexes out of the cupboard as I was searching for something, and using the indexes is the easiest and most balanced thing in the world*.

So with the topper of the table removed...

I grabbed what I had to hand.

A grey fleece blanket I'd bought specifically for this.

My finished ruin scatter pieces and the long suffering MDF built ruins (which I must get round to painting).

They were roughly placed to create a sort of thoroughfare look to the battlefield:

.

Forces were then drawn together from the cabinet, the limiting factor here was the size of the Deathwatch force as I only had around 40 Power of troops painted, I also didn't want anything too extravagant for the first battle.

The Deathwatch force codename: Onyx Blade.

Lieutenant Tassius Albo.

Apothecary Gerhardt.

5 man Intercessor squad, led by Sergeant Ermenrich.

5 man Intercessor squad, led by Sergeant Marius.

5 man Infiltrator squad, led by Sergeant Von Drak.

3 man Aggressor squad, led by Sergeant Soldano.

Tyranids Invaders, Hive Fleet Leviathan splinter.

Tyranid Prime, Command Synapse Beast.

3 strong Warrior unit, Synapse Beasts.

3 strong Shrike unit, Synapse Beasts.

Neurolictor, Infiltration Beast.

20 strong Termagant unit, Horde Beasts.

20 strong Termagant unit, Horde Beasts.

Screamer-Killer, Carnifex, Assault Beast.

Biovore, Artillery Beast.

Timestamp: #19.25 local time (deployment).

With the mission established I rolled up for objectives and got the following:

The contested zone is indicated by the four objectives (circled red), an army holding an objective with a unit above half strength will gain 2 Victory Points per objective.

Additionally, if the enemy Warlord is slain, this feat is worth an additional 3 Victory Points.

With that, the turn initiative was rolled and the Deathwatch were acting first.

Timestamp: #19.34 local time (Turn 1**).

With quick orders, Lieutenant Albo moved his force forwards into cover and firing positions.

Sergeant's Ermenrich and Marius squads moved into the ruined buildings and took up advantageous firing positions.

Sergeant Von Drak moved his squad into the rubble near the right flank objective.

Sergeant Soldano, accompanied by Albo moved up one of the side roads to begin an aggressive push forwards, and Apothecary Gerhardt remained in cover to see where he was needed.

Opening fire, the intercessors and Infiltrators chewed through several Termagants on the flanks, meanwhile Sergeant Marius's squad put a wound on the approaching Carnifex.

Then, with a guy wrenching roar, the Tyranids force moved forwards as one.

Termagants scuttling over the ruins and the Carnifex stomping it's was forward, ignoring the bleeding wound in it's carapace.

Von Draks team came under fire from the Termagants and the Shrikes infront of them, but the living ammunition exploded harmlessly around them.

The shadows moved behind the apothecary as a Neurolictor appeared through the darkness and dust.

Before anyone could react, the stalker-beast pounced and Apothecary Gerhardt found himself fighting for his life against the beast.

Blows were traded from chainsword and rending claw and wounds were suffered by both combatants.

The Biovore at the rear launched a spore mine across the battlefield***, landing a direct hit on the Infiltrators, the acidic weapon slew two of the warriors, Von Drak commanding the remains of his team to stand firm against the Xenos.

Timestamp: 19.50 local time (Turn 2).

Ordering Soldano to push forward and engage the Carnifex, Lieutenant Albo turns to engage the Neurolictor and save his Apothecary.

All other space marines remain on position and open up with all weapons available.

A few more Termagants are killed, not enough to stop the onrushing tide however.

The main focus was the Carnifex, who suffered another three wounds from the attentions of Bolt Rifle and Heavy Flamer.

The Tyranids rushed forward again trying to cover the open ground. Soldano and his unit are charged by the Carnifex, which was supported by the Tyranids Warrior's. In a brutal melee, one of the Aggressors is pulled down to his death and a second takes a wound, in return the Carnifex takes and further three wounds, badly injuring the beat and leaving it on its last wound in the fight.

Timestamp: 20.11 local time (Turn 3).

Sergeant Von Drak and the remaining Infiltrators are killed to a man by another Spore Mine explosion amongst them, leaving the ruins and the objective open to the swarm now****.

Sergeant Ermenrich, after a desultory round of fire, found his squad assailed by Termagants who swarmed the building. Chainswords roaring they accounted for six of the beasts for no losses!

Apothecary Gerhardt, aided by Lieutenant Albo manage to further wound the Neurolictor, however Gerhardt is struck down by the rending claws and falls in service to the Deathwatch.

Timestamp: 20.34 local time (Turn 4).

With nearly everything locked in combat, movement was limited to the Termagants who claimed the objective where Von Drak had been before. The Tyranids Prime broke off from the unit to face Lieutenant Albo and the Shrikes flapped their leathery wings and moved from the top of the building to the street.

One of Sergeant Marius's squad were killed by the Biovore, the mine exploding on the window he was manning.

Combat continued in all other avenues of the battlefield with Soldano brutally ending the Carnifex and two of the Warriors, however he lost his remaining squad mate in the melee, leaving him alone.

Lieutenant Albo finally killed the Neurolictor, taking two wounds, but avenging Apothecary Gerhardt.

Whilst Sergeant Marius's squad wiped out the Termagants without a loss and secured their objective again, Sergeant Ermenrich moved his squad from the building to rush to Soldano.

Timestamp: 20.50 local time (Turn 5).

In the final moments of the battle, Sergeant Soldano moves off to face the Shrikes, destroying two of the beasts, as Ermenrich guns down the last Warrior, the come under fire from the Termagant unit, but suffer a wound.

Lieutenant Albo charges the Tyranid Prime, the leader of the Xenos and in a tense melee wounds the creature twice for no wounds in return. Bolt rounds fly over the tops of the warriors battling on the ground as Sergeant Marius targets the Biovore and wounds the artillery beast twice.

Timestamp: 21.07 local time (Battle's end).

In the final round of combat, Lieutenant Albo is greviously wounded, but kills the Tyranid Prime, and Sergeant Soldano destroys the remaining Shrike.

With no Synapse Beasts remaining, the Termagants flood into the ruined buildings to hide and the Biovore lumbers off away from the battlefield.

Final Scores:

Deathwatch: 7 Victory Points.

Tyranids: 2 Victory Points.

*****

An enjoyable game and an hour spent battling was a good time.

I really like this period of 8th edition, where as I said, everything was more-or-less balanced against each other and may have to play it some more going forwards.

I definitely need to work my terrain sets up to finished status though, as the battle would look so much better with fully finished terrain.

I reckon  I could easily play up to about 1,500 points on my table without it getting too crowded, I just have to modify the deployment zone sized to suit (instead of 12" make it 6", etc).

So the table is very suited to battles of the size I generally played when I was playing regularly in 5th edition, and again at the start of 8th edition, this is a very good thing.

So with victory attained, the Deathwatch now return to their fortress to recover.

Until next time, have nice day...

*Mostly balanced, remember this was the big reset of 40k so everything was rewrote from the ground up. After this codex creep started, then the insanity of Command Point/Stratagem 9th edition and now Competitive 10th edition...le sigh.

**Once deployed, it game some real Space Marine 2 open vibes with the mass of Tyranids Vs the Deathwatch.

***Yes I know this is our of order, I forgot about it at the time and did it just before the turn was over. 

The curse of not playing for a while.

The benefit of solo-play, no-one complains when you backtrack like this.

****Again I forgot about the Biovore, so did it right at the start of the Marines turn...shut up complaining.

Deathwatch Killteam Marius.

 

"That's three now Trajod, three! And that last one was as big as a Razortusk I tell you" Bjan shouted as he wrenched his knife from the broken skull of the Ork at his feet.

"Good for you, Son of Russ, I'm already on five. Your berserker tendencies wound and maim but don't dispatch. Thunderfist, you should clear your head before fighting" Trajod replied stoically, he raised his power sword and wiped the filth from the blade with a cloth torn from a dead greenskin.

"Pah! And fight as soulless as you and your brethren Iron Knight? You should learn to enjoy the rush of combat, the murder-time, the spray of blood!"

Around the pair of Deathwatch Astartes, the ground slowly flooded with blood from the score of dismembered Orks recently slain.

Trajod was about to retort...

"Enough! Bjan, Trajod, move towards the next ridge, we will follow in covering formation. The next time I hear your two bickering, you will be on punishment detail until I deem you worthy of the Long Vigil" Veteran Sergeant Marius' voice was stern.

Bjan grinned at the silent helm of Trajod and set off sprinting with a spray of gravel as he turned. The Iron Knight set off in support of his squad mate.

"Sergeant, I do believe that you will have to follow up on that threat with those two" Brother Tiguras voxed to his Sergeant.

"You may be right"

***

Bjan whirled his knife and nearly tore an Orks arm off at the shoulder, he howled and struck again severing the limb with a welter of blood.

Trajod slammed back to back with the raging marine, whirling his sword in a figure of eight to create some space.

They had been mobbed by Orks as they crested the ridge and had fought constantly since. A trail of bodies littered the ground marking their passing.

"Eighteen now Thunderfist"

"Hah! Nineteen"

Another wave of Greenskins charged towards them and they readied themselves for another fight.

"Brothers, go to ground!" Sergeant Marius voxed.

Both marines dropped to the ground as Bolt shells ripped overhead. The front ranks of the charging Orks disintegrated as the shells blew them apart. 

Marius, Tiguras and Darnom, the other three members of the Killteam advanced methodically up the hill, disciplined fire erupting from their Bolt Rifles, each round finding a home in an alien body.

The fight seemed to go out of the Orks in that moment and the survivors turned and ran down the hill shouting.

"Well met brothers, I see that my stern words earlier had the desired effect" Marius addressed the two as they picked themselves up.

Trajod turned and slammed his sword through the neck of an Ork crawling towards Bjan, a blade the length of his arm clasped between its teeth.

"That's nineteen now Thunderfist. We're even" Trajod said triumphantly pointing at his brother.

"No, that one was already dead, that was just muscle spasms" Bjan growled.

"Cease your bickering. I swear, by the Primarch, that you two will be on full punishment detail when we're done on this rock and get back to the ship" Marius had lowered his voice injecting it with all the threat he could remember from his years as a Recruit-Sergeant for the Sons of Orar.

"Actually, no you'll start now, Tiguras, Darnom take point, Bjan and Trajod will be joining me for fire support, stow your blades and prime your rifles, prove to me that you two still have worth to this Killteam!"

*****

I've been on a bit of a roll recently getting things painted, mainly because I have a bit of a deadline coming into October as I'm not sure how much hobby time I will have whilst retraining for a new career.

The latest squad finished has been this second unit of Intercessors for the Deathwatch chapter. They are their own five man unit, but can also double up with Deathwatch killteam Ermenrich to make a ten man unit if I find that they perform better that way.

The usual Black basecoat with Incubi Darkness and Thunderhawk Blue light drybrushes to give that sheen to the armour plating.

Again I freehand painted the chapter symbols from my "Second Founding and Later" list I culled from Lexicanum40k.

This time with have (left to right):

Templar Darnom of the Emperor's Shield.

Bjan Thunderfist of the Sons of the Russ.

Knight-Brother Trajod of the Iron Knights chapter.

Sergeant Marius of the Sons of Orar chapter.

Brother Tiguras of the Fulminators chapter.

Continuing on with the second grid, this unit fulfils one of the "Unit of 2+ models" boxes giving my a further ten points.

This increases my overall total to Seven Hundred points.

Until next time...

Deathwatch Apothecary Gerhardt.

 

The campaign to retake Attica from the Greenskin hordes had been proceeding to plan under the experienced, watchful eye of Lieutenant Albo. Casualties had been light thanks to masterful use of the Deathwatch forces, Brother Gerhardt thought to himself.

He proceeded along the route scouted by Killteam Von Drak, accompanied by Killteam Seras. The Primaris marines moving as one, they covered each others blind spots and checked for Greenskins hiding in the rubble.

A recent report of a platoon of Astra Militarum lost to so called Ork Kommando's had led extra caution to the Astartes patrols.

Even so, Brother Leto of the Novamarines, threw himself forwards as he heard the ping of a Stikkbomb boobytrap being triggered. 

The warrior launched himself on top of the device taking the explosive blast full in the chest and being hurled away in a cloud of dust and rubble.

Gerhardt was with the stricken warrior almost immediately, his practiced eye running over his companion, it was not good.

Leto was missing his left hand, as well as most of the left side of his torso, which was a mangled mess of flesh and armour.

Worse was that he was missing everything from the waist down it seemed.

Sergeant Seras ordered his Killteam to cover the Apothecary and to address the sporadic firing which had started with the sound of the explosion.

Gerhardt knelt about to check the vital signs of Leto when his right hand surged upwards and caught the Apothecary around his own right wrist in the old warriors greeting.

"The others?" Leto asked in a strangled voice.

"Through your sacrifice they are all safe brother" Gerhardt replied, ducking slightly as a bullet ricocheted off his pauldron. Leto seemed to visibly relax at this news, nodding to the Apothecary kneeling above him.

"Your vitals are failing brother, I can administer the Emperor's Absolution before I harvest the progenoid glands" Gerhardt said as he was actively monitoring his Narthecium.

"No" Leto's voice came fiercely, "I'd rather know that you recovered the progenoids before the end".

"A fine choice Brother" personally Gerhardt thought that all Astartes should prefer to see his progenoids recovered and know his genetic legacy was secure for the future.

"I will ensure that these are returned to Honorum personally"

Leto nodded, moments later he was dead. The deep, rending cuts of the Narthecium snuffing out his life faster then it was failing.

Gerhardt had succeeded however. Reverently he secured the seal of the silver flask into which he had placed the two organs in sterile liquid. 

He placed it in the rack of his medical equipment and secured it closed, this was far too precious to risk loosing.

"Apothecary ready, Sergeant Seras" he voxed as the Killteam made ready to move on.

*****

Hello.

In the ongoing saga of painting all the things I have managed to get another Deathwatch model finished off, namely my Apothecary (if the fluff above hadn't given that away!).

He's built as stock as I like the entire kit. I even followed the example of an Apothecary from the codex, which the black armour and red apron.

Not much to report about this one. He uses my now standard Deathwatch colour scheme, supplemented more by reds and whites.

The fallen Astartes at his feet was a bit of a pain, as there is no way for me to swap out his shoulder pad for a true Deathwatch pad, so I painted it silver to match all the other ones.

It also gives a chance to look at this Marines chapter symbol, which appears on his knee rather than his chest or shoulders.

It's basically a red Maltese cross symbol, which shows that Gerhardt is a member of the Hospitaliers Chapter.

One thing I would mention is that even though in the fluff, Leto is terminally injured, I chose not to model or paint up the wounds other than the few little sections present on the model.

I choose not to take that step as it's not something I feel needs to be modelled, we know what injuries can happen during warfare and combat (look up a reference book), that's not part of my hobby.

Nothing to show for Hobby Bingo for this miniature however, I'm saving my last few boxes on this first grid for my Warmachine project, which is another story entirely...

Until next time...

- Lewis

Deathwatch Killteam Soldano and Auvray..

 

"Auvray to command, Killteam in position" the space marine sub-vocalised into his vox-mic. The snipers of his Killteam were concealed in elevated positions around him in the hills overlooking the Greenskin shanty town below.

"The word is given, Soldano the honour of the assault falls to you and your team. May the Emperor walk with you" Lieutenant Albos' voice came over the net.

Far below the ranged in snipers, three figures in hulking Gravis armour trudged forwards through the scrubland.

They made no attempt at concealment for their armour could not afford such tactics. They were a brute sledgehammer force compared to the surgical precision of the snipers supporting them.

The Aggressors closed to within thirty meters before a sentry spotted them. If the Greenskins had been sane like the other major races of the galaxy, the warriors would have been spotted long before this. Likewise, is the Greenskins had been sane, a great roar of delight wouldn't have rang out accompanied by Orks charging from the gates to engage the foe...

Sergeant Soldano and his Killteam continued on, straight towards the charging Xenos, drips of molten flame leaked from the ends of their flamestorm gauntlets as they readied firing mechanisms.

The air buzzed with the sound of engines as a mob of warbikers slewed their ungainly vehicles around the foot warrior and charged forwards, brutish warcrys' drowning out the sound of their engines.

Soldano readied himself for combat as his helmet display counted down the distance between them.

At four meters the leading warbikes' front assembly exploded sideways, scattered shrapnel and twisted machine parts as the Ork tumbled from the saddle.

The second warbiker skidded around his stricken compatriot and rode straight into Soldanos' right gauntlet. He punched straight through the aliens chest, his first exploding out the creatures back in a spray of gore. To his right Brother Agamedes immolated the Third biker.

"My thanks Sergeant Auvray" Soldano voxed as several of the larger Orks in the mob were pitched off their feet by pinpoint accurate sniper fire, the Aggressors drowned the front ranks in white hot flames from their gauntlets.

"Support is what we do" Auvray voxed back as a series of missile strikes shook the encampment. 

A subsonic boom announced the arrival of one of the forces Corvus Blackstar Transports dropping into hover mode and deploying it's cargo of Killteam Von Drak into the battle.

'One more day on Attica, One more day of the Long Vigil' Sergeant Auvray thought as he sighted and squeezed the trigger, erupted another Ork mob leaders head with his long range sniping.

*****

Focusing down on the Deathwatch has been a pleasure recently as they have such a great, easy to paint scheme when you work out the different layering involved.

For instance, starting with Abaddon Black, drybrushing Incubi Darkness and then Thunderhawk Blue gives me the entire power armour of the model in three steps.

Three steps which are easy as hell to batch paint with a podcast or TV show in the background.

To this end the latest additions to my force are Killteams Soldano and Auvray.

Technically they aren't Killteams as they are not al units from the codex, but as everything else is referenced as a Killteam, I thought I'd stick to the convention.

So Killteam Soldano are a group of three Primaris Aggressors led by Sergeant Ignacio Soldano of the Fire Angels chapter.

I chose the flamestorm gauntlets for some closer range firepower for when things inevitably get upclose and personal.

The icon on his back was part of a power sword I think, it was too cool not to use and to add a little personality to the otherwise generic Primaris armour.

Sticking with the black and red major colours, I added some yellow to this unit in the form of their fuel ignition cables. Everything else is the same as on the rest of the army.

Sergeant Soldano is accompanied by Sarawut of the Stormcallers chapter and Brother Agamedes of the Guardians of Celeres chapter.

Not quite showing up, but Sarawut's shoulder pad is a rather light grey, noticeably different to Agamedes white shoulder in person.

Again it has been a fun challenge researching second founding and later chapters and freehanding their iconography onto these models.

The second Killteam, is that of Sergeant Auvray, Eliminator of the Helion Legion.

These, along with the Spectrus Killteam of Von Drak form the more stealthy and subtle half of the force.

Their camo cloaks are a generic Tallarn Sand and Earthshade wash, due to their desert bases I felt that fitted better then some form of full camouflage.

Accompanying sergeant Auvray are brothers Aziz of the Black Guard and Romarich of the Steel Confessors chapter.

Even though their camo cloaks cover their shoulder pads, I felt it was standard practice now to name each member of the squad, if you can't see the chapter icons (I chose some which would have been a bit more involved to paint).

Sergeant Auvray has a plain left shoulder pad, just like the Spectrus Killteam, as being the stealthy types they are, they wear a black shoulder pad to blend into the shadows more easily. Their concession to the Deathwatch is that the trim of the pad is gunmetal to show their allegiance.

Finally I took a photograph of the full force so far:

I am really liking how these are coming together so far and have a few other commander models to finish which are well on their own way to joining the force.

I figure I'm going to have a break from the Deathwatch when they are finished to get some belligerents together to face them, so be prepared for some Greenskins in the future.

No hobby bingo this time, as neither of these units clears a box for me, but next time for sure.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

Deathwatch Killteam Von Drak.

 

The space marines of Killteam Von Drak stood in place inside the compartment of their Corvus Black Star as it rushed towards their mission.

They stood as still as they could within the rolling and yawing motions of the flyer as it banked around to come on course to their destination. Advanced stealth systems ensuring that the enemy, crude as they were, should not detect them on their approach.

Sergeant Leo Von Drak, of the Knights of Caliban chapter ran through the mission objective again on his wrist mounted interlink. 

It listed the topography of the mountains in this area, the stark white peaks befouled by a dirty stain where the green skins had set up camp.

How the barbaric aliens had managed to harness the geothermal energy of this region to power their war factories the Astartes warrior would never know.

'Perhaps techmarine Mateus would know' he thought to himself.

"10 seconds to drop" came the monotone announcement as the side doors slid open automatically.

The space marines readied their bolters and mag-locked them to their chestplates as they took the positions.

The Blackstar seemed to lurch nose down for a second as the pilot applied the full airbrakes and slammed the vehicle into hover mode.

"Deploy" rang out the vox as the first two marines stepped off the craft.

Von Drak was the first out, followed by Brother Chisori of the Sons of the Khan on the opposite side. One by one the members of the squad followed, Ancatus of the Sable Swords, Bartholomew of the Genesis Chapter, Corvion of the Raven's Watch, Saal of the Dark Crusaders and Kassar of the Deathstrike. 

Each warrior chosen for their skills by Von Drak, he trusted them to accomplish their mission, even if he didn't trust them fully due to different chapter philosophies and rituals.

The grav-vanes attached to their power packs kicked into life after a dizzying moment of free fall and began to arrest the Astartes headlong descent.

Above them the Blackstar flared it's engines and moved off, a darker shape against a dark night sky, only visible if you knew where to look. It would remain on station or gunship support and extraction.

Von Drak checked around him, each marine now had his boltgun or pistol in hand and had primed it ready for fight when they hit the floor.

Only Saal differed in that he was wielding his paired combat knives, the brutal close combat Reiver had received more then one reprimand within the Deathwatch since his arrival for unnecessary brutality.

As the icy wind howled, Von Drak readied himself. They were dropping fast so he aimed himself for an Ork sentry on the outskirt of the encampment. 

He hit the unfortunate creature full force and drove his boots down into the ground as he landed, crushing the alien beneath him, firing two silenced shots into its throat, he was already moving as the others landed.

"Chisori, Kassar, the east approach. Corvion, Bartholomew with me to the west. Ancatus, Saal, through the center, cause as much distraction as you can, but remain within three hundred meters of the northern extraction route" he clipped tersely into his vox.

A quick acknowledgement from each other warrior and they broke away like shadows.

"Now the work begins brothers" he turned to Corvion and Bartholomew, "In the Emperor's name".

*****

Hello, I finally to do another blog post, and more importantly get some more miniatures finished.

This time a Spectrus Killteam for my growing Deathwatch force. The Spectrum Killteam are from the Deathwatch codex upgrade and include all the more stealthy aspects of the Primaris marines. Anyone wearing Phobos armour basically, so Infiltrators, Reivers, Eliminators, etc.

This particular team of seven members is made up of models which I had available, I'm not sure how well they will perform on the battlefield, but that's never been a major issue for me.

So we have five Infiltrators who make up the main bulk of the unit and attached to them are two Reivers for some punch when needed.

Again, I've freehanded the shoulder pads for the chapter iconography, wanting more second founding and onwards chapters then the major first founding set, or the more notable successors which GW have produced over time.

So this time we have:

Saal of the Dark Crusaders.

Kassar of the Deathstrike.

Corvion of the Raven's Watch.

Chisori of the Sons of the Khan.

Ancatus of the Sable Swords.

Leo Von Drak of the Knights of Caliban.

Bartholomew of the Genesis Chapter.

Duncan, owner of the Chaos Reaver Titan I posted a while back chose the Germanic noble name for the sergeant as he is building a Primaris force of Knights of Caliban, so I thought it would be a good thing to include his chapter in the mix.

If anyone has any suggestions for chapters to include as I have several other units in the queue, I'd take reasonable suggestions, my freehand is good, but not Howling Griffons good, if you know what I mean.

Lastly, in an update for Hobby Bingo, I've filled in the centre "Any Model" square using this unit as it gives me more options about which way to go filling the rest of the grid in:

This brings me to 240 points in total.

With lockdown really easing in the UK and the chance to begin meeting up with people for games again, I'm kicking the Deathwatch into gear to get them finished for some games soon. Especially as Fraser, owner of the Ad-Mech army I've been painting, has just bought a force of Eldar Harlequins!

Until next time...

 - Lewis.

Deathwatch Lieutenant Tassius Albo.

Mist hung in the air around the chilled room, a figure knelt in meditation loomed large. A sheen of ice crystals reflecting the low lighting coming from the floor.

His armour was not a full flat black, but the blue-black of the midnight sky, contrasted to this was the shining silver pauldron with its gold overlaid Inquisition symbol on his left.

On his right was the proud Ultramarine blue pauldron, ringed in white, to match his helmet.

Lieutenant Albo meditated upon his service within the Deathwatch. It had been an honour matching his elevation to the vaunted first company when he had been selected.

His armour freshly repainted from blue to black and the demi-company of veterans parading for his leave, Chapter Master Calgar and Chief-Librarian Tigurius were present too.

Tigurius' knowing half-smile had hid more mysteries then Albo really wanted to know about.

His service was almost complete. Seventy years service had seen him battle and destroy the profane Xenos who would prey upon mankind, were this order not in place to prevent them.

He thought about the Greenskins, tough, hardy fighters who relied on brawn then skill.

He grudgingly admired their focus and will to keep fighting, even through mortal wounds.

He had faced the Tyranids, their ravenous hunger had once threatened Macragge, his homeworld, before he was born. Master Calgar had led the victory then, and he himself had saught to emulate his master when facing down the tendril of Hive-Fleet Scarabus. There was much honour in his deeds, not least was the destruction of a pair of Carnifex creatures single handedly.

The perfidious Aeldari were at times allies, at others enemies. Swift and deadly they were a different challenge to the riotous numbers of the other Xenos.

Likewise the robotic Necrontyr, a relatively new threat to the Imperium, but more deadly then ever with their firepower which could flay even his cermite armour to atoms.

After a moment's rest and blanking his mind with a calming mantra, Albo turned his thoughts to comrades old and new.

There was Old Ranulf, member of the Fangs of Fenris chapter, just as unruly and wilful as their parent Space Wolves chapter.

Seraphiel, of the noble Blood Angels, constantly battling his own personal battle lust, but more of a mentor to Albo since he joined the Deathwatch then any other marine he had met.

Leonatus of the Minotaurs chapter. As close to a true friend as an Astartes could make, until his untimely death against the Necrontyr not four solar months ago.

He cast his mind to Macragge, homeworld to himself and the Ultramarines chapter.

His service complete at the end of this solar year, he was surprised to find that he was looking forward to standing beneath familiar skies, visiting the Temple of Hera and the huge space which the Lord-Commander of the Imperium had once lain in stasis, wounded unto death.

He even resolved to ask Tigurius about some of the mysteries he had witnessed, which the formidable psyker no-doubt knew about already.

His reverie was disturbed by a distant klaxon wail growing stronger each second. The lighting in the room came on automatically as the door opened.

"Lieutenant Albo, the Inquisitor needs us" Bretheren-Ceallach of the Red Templars announced from the doorway.

"Thank you Bretheren, what is the news?" Tassius Albo asked, raising to his full height, half a head taller then the Astartes stood Infront of him.

"We've received calls for aid from the Imperial Lions chapter. They defend a planet named Attica from invasion by the Swine" Ceallach answered using an ancient term.

"Greenskins, let us be off to the Inquisitor then" Albo said, gathering his helmet under the crook of his arm, "The Emperor's work is never finished".

*****

This model is part of the Warhammer Conquest partwork magazine which Hatchette partworks put out.

The full partwork ran to more then 75 issues.

I only picked up issue 5 so that I could get the exclusive Lieutenant model, unique to the magazine.

Lieutenant Tassius Albo is a member of the Ultramarines chapter, this choice was to make life easy with all the Ultramarines iconography which comes sculpted onto him.

He follows the previously painted Deathwatch Intercessors I finished last month and the same painting scheme.

Abaddon Black, Incubi Darkness and Thunderhawk Blue drybrushes.

The difference here is his shoulder pad, it being a basecoat of Caledor sky, a Nuln Oil wash, then worked up through Caledor Sky and Calgar Blue to get that nice colour going.

His shoulder pad rim and helmet are white denoting him as being a veteran of the 1st company, on loan to the Deathwatch.

He fills out another "Hero" box on the hobby bingo grid:

This brings my total so far up to 220 points, and makes me one box closer to completing a third line!

I'm well underway for my goal of completing two full grids so far.

With these last two posts, I have also completed more models this year then I have bought, which is also great news!

 - Lewis