Dreadtober 2023 - part 4.

 

A rythmic pounding sound echoed from the stricken drop pod as Ghrast scrambled back over the rubble. It was clear that Dhekarst wasn't going to wait to be released from the transport, rather punch his was clear.

Oresk was busily butchering a scouting party which had found them even as Ghrast crested the wall of the ruined manufactory, the piercing shriek of tormented metal announced that Brother Dhekarst was now free.

A blinding flash erupted as he fired his Lascannon as something Ghrast couldn't see, sparking off an explosion as the high powered laser slammed into the ruins.

Ghrast ripped his bolt pistol from its holster and shot a charging Infantryman, sending the body tumbling through the air, limbs flailing with the freedom of death.

He thumbed on his Auspex scanner and turned trying to see some form of numbers of enemies.

Perhaps a platoon worth of mortal troops had stumbled upon them, armoured vehicles in tow, no doubt hoping to destroy the World Eaters who had become separated from the main force.

Dhekarst fired his heavy Lascannon again, a deeper explosion answering as he definitely hit something this time.

Oresk stomped his was forward, bloody smears ground into the dirt beneath the weight of the machine.

Ghrast felt the Butcher's Nails beginning to dig into his skull as the carnage erupted.

Without realising, he was charging forwards into the mortals, firing his pistol wildly.

His axe swung, separating head from neck, arm from torso and body from waist.

He saw only red and didn't register the burning promethium falling around him as both Oresk and Dhekarst stalked forward firing their Lascnnons in unison. Touching off a fuel storage tank and lighting the entire ruined building with hellish firelight.

*****

Phew, this was cutting it close this year, but both Dreadnaughts are fully completed for the deadline (Dreadline?) and ready to serve on the battlefields of Terra:

Brother Dhekarst in all his glory:

He uses the same techniques as detailed in my previous post for Dreadtober, just this time with a lot more red as he's further along the eightfold path then the previous dreadnaught.

I have three remaining Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts left over from the box I got from my friend. The state of these three shows you how much work went into the two World Eater ones featured for Dreadtober this year:

Everything completed so far for the Twelfth Legion:

Half of the next unit for this army is on the way as well now, I'm starting to bring in some Troops choices, considering most of the HQ and Elite sections are done now, just a second Apothecary to go.

These follow the ethos of mixing and matching any marine/chaos and Berzerker parts I can get my hand on, with a few 3D printed heads thrown in as well:

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Until next time, have nice day...

October Motivational.

 

If our hobby was good enough for Grand Moff Tarkin, then it's good enough for us, I've quoted some text from a recent post from Perry Miniatures on Facebook:

"Peter Cushing’s Napoleonic wargaming ephemera….a treasure trove of wargaming history".

"Apart from his profession as a very fine actor starring in over one hundred films (22 of which were Hammer Horror) plus television and stage, many people (mostly wargamers) know he was a keen model soldier collector. He was also an excellent artist, terrain maker, figure and flag painter and, as it turns out, at the forefront of wargaming. By all accounts he was a true gentleman both on set and off". 

 

"A box file filled with Peter’s Napoleonic wargaming ephemera; handwritten notes on making terrain, painting flags plus many campaign letters, orders of battle and maps". 

"The main impression we have of Peter Cushing, as a wargamer, is from the 1956 Pathe News reel, painting and playing with 54mm figures using H G ‘Wells Little Wars’. However, these notes show that by the 1970’s he was fully in tune with the ‘modern’ wargaming ideas; including building modular terrain on 2 ft x 2ft boards and involved in Napoleonic campaigns, very much like the ones many people, including ourselves, run and take part in today".

Until next time, have nice day...

Hobby Spending - October 2023.

 

A bit of a slower month both hobby wise and purchase wise this month, as mentioned in part 3 of Dreadtober, this has mainly been due to work and the weather conditions chewing up a lot of time this month.

I did pick up a few more Warmachine bits for the projected campaign...I really need to start that project...

Anyway, here we go...

A mk.2 Khador starter set consisting of Kommandant Sorscha and a pair of Khadoran Warjacks:

And then Bargain of the Month.

This set of eighteen Steelhead Halberdiers (the weapons and bodies are in the taped up box), this is two boxes and three blisters worth of Miniatures and all for less than a tenner:

Finally, I bought a grab bag of fifty 28.5mm bases, in order to rebase the Tyranid Termagants I've been picking up, so that they match the rest of the swarm:

I know I didn't have to, but I wanted them all to match as it would bug me looking at the army otherwise.

So the numbers for the month:

Khador Starter Bag: £10.

Steelhead halberdiers: £9.

50* 28.5mm Bases: £8.25.

Total for October: £.27.25

Budget for October: £50.

Over/Under Yearly Budget: under budget by £80.19.

Still well under budget, so I may have a bit of a big blow out on a project at the end of the year, but we'll see, I may try to invest in some terrain or a portable table.

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 3.

 

Ghrast stood at the edge of the crater looking at the second drop pod. He had already been working fifteen minutes opening up the first pod as its doors had locked slightly open due to the damage caused upon its arrival planetside.

This second drop pod had smashed through four floors and was buried beneath the rubble, as well as broken manufacturing equipment which had fallen in as well. He could hear the straining of servo's as the machine spirit kept trying to open doors which were lodged shut by debris.

"Brother Oresk, I will be sometime freeing the other drop pod, I will need covering to keep the enemies at bay whilst I work" Ghrast voxed to the already freed Dreadnaught.

The box like silhouette stamping its way through the murk simply raised its huge Powerfist in response and began a patrol.

Ghrast began smashing rubble with his Omnissian Axe and lifting chunks with his servo-arm. He estimated perhaps twenty, twenty-five minutes before be could open one of the doors.

If they had that long...

*****

Seventeen minutes exactly and the counter attack began.

Ghrast first heard it through the booming of nearby launched mortar shells exploding. Severely off the target of course, but still that meant enemies were nearby.

"Brother Oresk, do you read me?" He voxed, he'd managed to dig out most of the door, but hadn't began ministrations to get the damn thing open yet.

A bark of Storm Bolter fire echoed before Ghrast's vox link crackled into life.

A shrill scream erupted in his earpiece before being silenced and the deep baritone voice of the dreadnaught sounded.

"What is it Techmarine? I've got enemies to kill"

Despite the situation Ghrast smiled, "Understood Brother, Ghrast out".

A whirring power build drew his attention towards the stricken transport pod. It seemed it's occupant had survived the misdrop and was waking up.

"This is Techmarine Ghrast, Brother Dhekarst, are you recieving me?"

"Yes Brother, I appear to be in one piece, but unable to exit the drop pod"

"Yes, I am working on that, the machine spirit of the drop pod was offended by it's landing, it will be some time before I can open it"

"STAND ASIDE"

*****

Well, we're nearly at the end of October, which means we're also nearly at the end of Dreadtober.

Sadly, due to the extremely unsettled weather here in the UK recently, I haven't had as much time to hobby as I would have liked, due to rail lines and yards being flooded, and stricken freight trains to secure either in our yards or stable in sidings nearest to them.

I have however managed to get Brother Oresk fully finished and matching the previous World Eaters I had painted for this project:

The off white from the "Marine-Juice" wash really shows up on these larger models.

I'm pleased with how this started as a generic Assault of Black Reach dreadnaught from all those years ago, and has now been recycled and converted up into this Warmachine of the Twelfth Legion, the centre of the sarcophagus received those armour panels because of damage the dreadnaught had suffered before when someone obviously tried to grind away the winged skull which should have been there.

A lot of the symbology, like the ravening jaws are made from plasticard, with the rivets and spike being of all things, supports from 3D printed models!

I'm particularly fond of the skulls attached to the side of the Lascannon, being cut in half and filed flat before being glued to the trophy slot I built there.

If Dreadtober ends tomorrow at midnight, I'm not entirely sure when it does actually end as we normally go until the end of October, which falls on a Tuesday and then do the finished updates the following weekend. I can say that I am happy I got at least one of the Dreadnaughts finished with the second one, just needing a few highlights to be done 

Hopefully I can get Brother Dhekarst finished and have him added to the end of project update, but we'll see, back on night shifts at work which eat up a lot of my hobby time due to the altered schedule you're on, simply by working during the night and sleeping the morning away.

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 2.

 

Techmarine Ghrast ground his teeth as he listened to the report from the ship in low-orbit. Both of the assault forces Dreadnaughts had been dropped off target and we're not responding, and even though he fought the fog in his head caused by the Butcher's Nails, he knew that they would need the firepower of the venerable brothers in the near future.

"I'll handle it, Ghrast out" he growled into the vox link, his bronze teeth chinking as they clicked together.

He checked his position from the co-ordinates he had been sent and started the loping, ground eating stride Astartes adopted when they ran.

Smashing through ruins with his axe rather then going around, the Techmarine cut a strange sight as he bounded along, in a completely different direction to the main assault. Servo-arm tucked against his back to make better speed.

He'd made better time than he hoped as he had not run into any enemy patrol's, they were all too busy countering the orbital drop of the main force as he closed in on the transponder signals of the drop pods.

The report was accurate, the dreadnaught drop pods had both landed within fifty yards of each other and within the same manufactorum, bringing the roof down and a fair portion of the walls. This was the cause of the non-responses from the Dreadnaughts, trapped by rubble the doors of the pods couldn't open.

Heaving himself alongside one of the stricken drop pods, Ghrast immediately began throwing chunks of rubble away and his servo-arm sprang into action lifting steel girders out of the way with little effort.

As he found he had room, he jammed the end of his axe into the seam of the drop pod door and proceeded to force it open, the way a mortal would open an ammunition crate using a crowbar.

A huge white slab of armour greeted his efforts, bronze trimmed and battle scarred, the venerable machine sat waiting. The sky blue of the legion colour slowing being replaced by a deep blood red as the legion transformed by the will of their new patron.

The view-slit on the sarcophagus lit up an angry orange as the growing electrical whine signalled a full power up of the machine. Heat distortion rippling from the turbine exhausts and the engine spooled up.

"YOU TOOK YOUR TIME TECHMARINE"...

*****

The forge has been busy this past week working up some armour Anti-Tank support for the Twelfth Legion.

I know that you can field havoc/heavy support squads in any Legion, but I never felt that they fit the theme of the World Eaters*, especially by the time they get to Terra and have fallen fully into the embrace of Khorne.

The infantry with the Butcher's Nails forcing their actions, in my opinion, wouldn't be able to hold a good firing position and not succumb to the temptation to charge headfirst at the first target to come close to melee range.

Instead I wanted to use vehicles for that role in my army, and with it being Dreadtober, what better way then to get some Anti-Tank support through the Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts.

My rationale is that they have some sort of circuitry over-riding the nails until they are released by the Techmarine present and given over to melee like the rest of the legion.

So after a week and a bit of chopping plasticard and adding details, the two Dreadnaughts for my army are here in their painting sub-phases:

A close look, the skulls added to the sides of the arms were chopped in half removing the rear rounded portion and filed flat, before being glued inside the boxed off area, which was made from 1mm strips of plasticard cut to size.

The Powerfist sides of the Dreadnaughts had much the same work done, one had a piece of banding added around the fist by adding another strip of plasticard:

And the business end, the front facings.

The dreadnaught on the left has had its sarcophagus left as was, but the armour planels each side have been paneled over and a Khornate symbol added using plasticard. 

Lots of trophy chains taken from various chaos vehicle kits were then slung under the chassis, all swinging the same direction to convey movement.

The right hand dreadnaught had some damage to the sarcophagus, so this was scraped flat and then a detail added through the plasticard method.

This time the armour planels got a World Eaters symbol and a spare Khorne Crest from a Blood Warrior was added above.

Both dreadnaught have skulls mounted on spikes above the sarcophagi, the spikes made from 3D print supports of all things, the various rivets added to the plates are also from the same source:

The bases, as it normal for my urban assault force, are made from cut up and torn up cork sheeting, along with some random dotted skulls and the "rebar" poking up is actually detonator wire which came from a mine which was closing down.

Alongside Dreadtober, I've also been assembling an Death Korps of Krieg army for a friend in order to play a game against Cardboard Fortress's Guard later in the month when we have another gaming day, so that's why it's taken a little longer then it normally would have to get to this stage.

So next steps are to start painting the pair and getting them ready to face the loyalists across the battlefields of the 31st millennium.

Until next time, have nice day...

* I know, I know, I am trying to add logic and reason to a make believe military force.

It's my hobby and I'll rationalize it anyway I want to thank you.

Feel old yet?

 

Until next time, have nice day...

Encounter at Voltistrum - Imperial Guard Vs Tyranids.

 

"We've not had any vox communication with the recon unit for hours now sir, I think we should assume them fallen" Sergeant-Major Hathewaye said, reporting on the lack of intelligence from their scouting patrols.

"Or fled" Commissar Von Bosque said quietly 

"My men are loyal to the Imperium and this regiment, you are not of this regiment, so I don't..." Hathewaye began to reply, anger rising in his voice when he was cut off by his commander raising his hand.

"Gentlemen, I will not have bickering in my command staff" Colonel Walshe began, soothing the raised hackles of his command staff as they glared at the Commissar.

"Sergeant-Major we must assume that the scouts have fallen, therefore..." a knock at the buildings door drew their attention, Sergeant-Major Hathewaye turned from the unblinking stare of the Commissar to see to the interruption.

Colonel Walshe and Commissar Von Bosque turned their attention to the local maps which were laid out over the small table and held down by mugs of caffeine.

"Through the door at the double, Officer on parade, sort your uniform out sharpish" Hathewaye ordered at a flustered Corporal who was busily patting himself down to clear the dust from his uniform and straightening his jacket.

He stood to attention and saluted.

"Corporal Ackerman Sir, third recon unit assigned to the North-East sector. I report a major Tyranid probe approaching from that direction sir, lots of smaller beasts, definitely a Screamer-Killer and some command creatures, but we didn't get close enough to identify".

"Good work Corporal Ackerman, where is the rest of your squad?"

"Dead sir, that's why I couldn't vox in my report. I also report that we encountered the infiltration beast's, I am not confident that I haven't been tracked here as the infantryman's primer tells us the Xenos often do".

"Alright, the Emperor thanks you for your efforts, as you were. Sergeant-Major prepare the men to dig in on our current position, this hamlet is our best position of defence" Colonel Walshe ordered in a calm commanding voice.

"At once Sir!" Hathewaye saluted and ducked out of the door, he immediately began barking orders and the men jumped to follow...

*****

Last week I managed a meet up with Cardboard Fortress at Element Games, Stockport for a gaming day and we clashed with our 40k armies.

He brought his veteran Imperial Guard which are almost 15 years old at this point, and are still as lovely as ever.

My own force consisted of the Tyranids I had been furiously painting over the last month whilst I've been off sick*, **.

As is usual for us, we played 5th edition 40k, in my opinion this edition hits that sweet spot of just enough crunch to keep interest, but not drowning in bloat and detail like later editions, or having so much off table rules and exceptions it feels like you are playing an RPG rather then a Wargame.

So the rulebook and codexes were dragged out, the drive over the Pennies was made and we met up early afternoon and grabbed a table.

Rolling for the game as we didn't have anything planned, we rolled up opposite table quarter deployment with nothing within 12" of the center, and we rolled up Killpoints for the victory condition.

My own deployment was as far forward as possible, apart from the Mawloc (Psychophage counting as) which was at the rear and ready to burrow away.

The Guard were deployed as far as possible in the corner, no doubt hoping for some good rounds of shooting before close combat ensued***:

This is one of my favourite photos of the day, taken by Fortress, I should have taken more but got sucked into the game later on:

After deployment a roll of a six seized the initiative for the Guard and there was some minor movement, mainly of the tanks, but surprisingly the infantry on the right flank pushed forwards a little for firing lines.

The Tyranids did the logical thing for an army which has very short ranged shooting and charged everything forwards as fast as possible.

A lot of the Hormagaunts were blasted to bloody scraps from the artillery and mortars and the vanquisher tore a hole in one of the Termagant units:

As the Tyranids closed in nearly all of the smaller creatures lay dead on the valley floor, the Carnifex and Hive Tyrant had moved forwards ready to charge, and the Shrikes had started to swing round to the left flank of the Guard.

In the rear area, the Lictors had ambushed a command squad and the mortar squad and started to shred Guardsmen with their rending claws.

The big action was the Mawloc who had burrowed under the battlefield and risen up beneath the company command squad and the Ogryn's, eating most of the command squad in one go leaving just the company commander and swallowing an Ogryn as well, before lashing out and hitting another Ogryn.

The bid brutes laid back in with Ripper Gun stocks and fists causing a wound and driving the beast off next turn:

As the battlelines drew together, the Hive Tyrant and Shrikes leapt upon the various infantry around, laying waste to squad after squad.

The Ogryn's in the very back charged the Lictors and avenged the Mortar squad, killing the aliens before their rending claws could destroy the Basilisk.

The big win for the Guard and loss for the Tyranids was the fact that the Carnifex had suffered a rapid loss of integrity after being shot in the face by the Vanquisher and pulped by the Exterminator:

Eventually the fighting started to die down as the field was VERY empty, after everything which had been deployed at the start:

*****

"This is Captain Caldwalle of the Vanquisher 'Indomitable', I assume command of the Emperor's forces here. The command given is to fall back, our position is overrun and the enemy too numerous"

A series of affirmatives sounded over the vox and Caldwalle nodded, satisfied to see that the discipline hadn't left the men.

"Exterminator 'Righteousness' provide covering fire as the infantry break off, regroup point is waypoint seven" the vox was choppy with interference and Caldwalle frowned.

"Aye Indomitable, we'll chew the Xenos up", the ferocious firepower of the Leman Russ Exterminator thumped over the field.

Alien roars answered the firepower as they were denied closing with the retreating infantry, they clambered aboard the vehicles wherever they could and the ragged convoy turned away from the ruins hamlet and the piles of corpses left in the battles wake.

*****

And the Casualties table at the end of the game:

At the end of the game the scores were as follows:

Tyranids - 10.

Imperial Guard - 5.

Highlights of the battle were definitely the Mawloc tunneling up and eating nearly the entire senior command squad, and the cocky Ogryn's who drove off said Mawloc, killed a Lictor squad and then got really over confident and charged the Hive Tyrant, only to die before they got to act!

The Killpoints victory condition really hurt the Imperial Guard at the end of the game (we thought he has it sewn up by the end of turn two).

I think I might suggest the Points cost victory condition from 4th edition if we play a random pick up game like this again.

That's where you earn victory points for the total points cost of the unit, so a unit costing 50 points scores you 50 victory points, etc.

That seems a little fairer then just scoring a point for a unit destroyed when he turned up with a LOT more units then I did.

The day was great, meeting up with old friends, rolling the bones and talking shite all day, a greasy take away for dinner and plans made to meet up again at Element Games, a win overall.

And a tick for the start of one of my to-do list objectives of being more sociable with the hobby ...

Purchases of hobby supplies...and maybe some new Tyranids...made from the store before we left and then face the drive back over the Pennines home to the correct side of the mountains.

Definitely doing this again, hopefully on a semi-regular basis and maybe write some of our own rules to field the newer models in the old 5th edition set.

Until next time, have nice day...

*This was one of the main driving forces for getting the army complete, the last time we gamed all the way back in May 2022. Considering how nice his army is, it was kind of embarrassing to be fielding unpainted mini's against his force.

But as we discussed, in spite of all the youtubers who state "no unpainted mini's on my table", when you have a real life (job, family, commitments) outside of the hobby, it has to take a back seat at times as we only have limited time during the day.

**Fortunately I have been cleared medically to return to work from this week!

***I won't post army lists because a:I can't remember what was fielded fully and b: I never asked Fortress for his.

We play for fun and I trust that he fielded 1,500 points of stuff.

Seriously though, if I thought he was going to cheat at Toy Soldiers, we wouldn't be friends...

Dreadtober 2023 - The Project Begins.

 

"Report, where are the Dreadnaughts?" The captain asked of the bridge crew.

They were monitoring the orbital drop, when ferocious anti-orbit fire had forced an evasion maneuver in low-orbit which had thrown off the landing co-ordinates of the drop pod assault, scattering the landing troops.

"Searching captain, Auspex sweeps are having difficulty due to the interference"

"Do we have a read on that emplacement?" He asked.

"Weapons tasking sir, I'm reading a massive spike of energy at 00.51/3CR, possibly a capacitor or heatsink for a weapon".

"I don't care what it is, blast that thing into the dirt or we're all dead, either from that or the Astartes when they return aboard".

"Aye captain, weapons tracking now, firing in twenty five seconds".

Orders were relayed across the bridge as the pings of the Auspex rang out, the oculous screen choppily reading outputs from three World Eaters squads... they'd put twenty drop pods into the atmosphere.

"Weapons firing" the officer called out and everyone could feel the deck vibrating beneath their feet.

The captain looked up at the viewports instinctively, but they were too far away to see anything at all, he had to settle for the energy spike on the oculous blinking out.

"Round on target, spike destroyed sir" the weapons officer reported, obviously pleased with himself.

The oculous suddenly lit up with a series of World Eater squad transponders.

Most of the company had landed together and were pushing forwards towards the loyalist position. The ones which had been off course were working their way towards the main force.

The Dreadnaughts however, they had been launched together and had landed in what appeared to be a manufactorum, worryingly they weren't moving or responding.

With a sigh the captain opened a vox-link.

"Techmarine Ghrast, are you recieving..."

*****

Well, it's October and that means it's time for one of the community projects to begin.

There are a few which happen at this time of year, Orktober*, Zomtober**, Spookytober...

But my project of choice like last year is Dreadtober.

This year, winding our neck in a little, I'm going to use the project as a way to tick off a couple of things for the 30k World Eaters force I started earlier in the year.

Again, earlier in the year a friend gave me a box with five Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts (Boxnaughts) in it which were in various conditions. He is slowly replacing his with Redemptor Dreadnaughts and was going to throw them in the bin, until I said I'd salvage what I could and get them back on the table.

Yesterday, as of writing this, the plasticard and first Boxnaught was brought out to the mat and work was started.

Some judicious filing and sanding got the plates smooth(ish), and several clumps of dried glue off the model. Fortunately the black isn't that thick so I don't have to worry about stripping it off to start again.

After a couple of hours, with a podcast on in the background I had ended up with the following:

I've added plasticard plating to the two front flanks of the sarcophagus and made a World Eaters symbol to add detail, the rivets are slowly being added, I just need to chop some more.

His crest is taken from a spare helmet and adds the Khorne flavour along with the trophy chains hanging and the skull, although I am going to add a few more spiked to the top of the sarcophagus.

The diagonal plate on the centre was added to add interest and cover up where the previous owner had tried to scratch out the winged symbol which is normally there, again, this will have the rivets added.

I haven't started on the Powerfist arm yet, but the Lascannon arms has had some Petruges added to echo the Cataphractii Terminators look, and add that gladiator factor, similarly with the chains, of which I'm going to add some more.

Looking at the leg plate, I also added a stylised version of the World Eater "jaws" to add interest there.

There is more work to be done, adding more chains and skulls, before basing him and then starting on his Brother, as I have two in the force, I am aiming to get both built and painted for Dreadtober.

I envisage these as more corrupted and along the eightfold path, why?

If your trapped in a sarcophagus, with the nails pounding in the back of your skulls and unable to do anything, I imagine you'd be willing to listen to anything daemonic whispering at you.

In a contrast  to the command staff who have started to openly worship Khorne willingly, the Boxnaughts I imagine are more victims of their situation then some of the more understated line troops, so they may get a colour scheme similar to the Red Butchers.

I am going to work on these as a priority, however my hobby time has been cut a little short, compared to painting the Tyranids, as I've been cleared health-wise to return to work...Woo!

Until next time, have nice day...

*I have taken part in this before, when I get back to my beloved Greenskins, I may do so again, or find something GREEN to work on for Dreadtober in the future.

**Chris has taken part in this before, he loves him some Zombies...wait for his Xenos Rampant project.