New Armies for the New Year

Greetings, and best wishes. In a classic move reminiscent of my younger self I have been distracted from my KoW Orc horde. The demon that is eBay, has lured me into this dangerous path, with several bargains. The High Priestess, under my instruction, got me the Mantic Christmas Box for Christmas. This feast of miniatures was compounded by the Mantic Spring Clear out, where more bargains were had. Resultant from this I now have three new Mantic Army projects. Admittedly I haven't received all these miniatures in the post yet, but a man can dream and plan.

1. Elves

I have managed to get around 750 points of Elves, nearly all infantry, a solid core for further expansion with Cavalry and Drakon Riders. In truth none have technically arrived yet, apart from the sprues from the Christmas Box. This is the curse of eBay! Sill as there is a massive hobby backlog, its not so bad. I have no idea about fluff or indeed a colour scheme for these guys yet. No doubt it will come to me in time.

2. Marauder Orx

Two Grunt Sections, the Trike from the Christmas Box and an old 40k Nob with no arms makes up this army so far. Its not much but according to my calculations its around 530 points all options taken. The initial impetus for this force was the two Grunt Sections for ono £5 on the eBay. How could I turn this down? The Christmas Box has added to this force, as the orc sprues added to variety of the Grunts, and meant there are several bodies left over. These are going to be converted into a heavy weapons sqaud, something which doesn't exist in the Warpath rules, but would be badass nonetheless and would fit the destructive tendencies of the Marauders in the fluff.You can't have enough Dakka.

I even have the beginnings of fluff for them too: 'The Yellowfist Brigade'. An highly organised band, well for Marauders anyway, with ambition. I have begun to assemble this budding force, including the Raptor, which looks amazing. The minis have have a lot of nice accessories on the sprues and I am enjoying putting them together. As for paint schemes, I'm thinking bright, lots of yellow. As they are a ramshackle race, they are going to have a fair bit of variation between minis, which will also be more fun for me. Win/Win.

3. Forgefathers

The Mantic Christmas Box included 5 Elite Forgefathers and a Weapons platform, a prefect base for an army. An order for 20 Steel Warriors, and one depleted bank balance later, and I have the basis for a Space Dwarf army. Sadly unlike the other emergent Warpath force I am building, I don't have any fluff or background in mind.

Colour scheme-wise, I am thinking of dark greens, dirty metals and grey flesh, which would fit the minis, in my mind's eye anyway. It seems 'wrong' to paint these aliens like they are Caucasian, or even humans, hence the grey skin plan.

So 3 more army projects and even more of a backlog, but then what's wrong with that?

Army Log: Commander Panda's Orcs Uodate II

So I have managed to get some good solid hobbytime in, with the High Priestess going her works Christmas do. Not the the furtive one model undercoat or secretive couple of quick miniature  assemblages kind of hobby time, this was a good solid session. Naturally this time was spent working on "The Green Horde of the Beast", despite there being other wargaming temptations.

Gradually the Horde is taking shape. 15 Axes are assembled and undercoated by hand. I've heard great things about spray on base coats, and given thw time and hassle of manually doing it I have resolved to purchase some this weekend Gods willing, or as soon as I can get round to it. 10 Great Axes are assmebled The Gore Riders are assembled, my willpower broken. I aimed to finish these last as a kind of reward for getting the foot sloggers done. Looking upon them in the bag in the army box I couldn't resist. Also 10 Greataxes are assembled, awaiting painting.

The Gore Riders are great minis, and I got 11 bodies in the bag. I don't know if this is intentional or some kind of fortuitous mistake on Mantic's part. Far be it from me to waste this opportunity, so using an old metal 'Cold One' from a long forgotten Dark Elf Knight I have concocted a 'Krudger on a Slasher' using the Champion as a proxy. In his stead as unit leader/champion in the unit, I have used a right arm, bigax and head left over the Great Ax box to fashion a slightly more killy Orc.

The only real issue was that some of the weapon arms and the standard were a bit bent and out of shape. I remember reading somewhere that a warm bath (I am paraphrasing here) would sort them out. Sure enough a bit of water in a pan on the hob for about 2 minutes, and they were soon straightened
out.

Painting has begun on the Beast and the Flagger. A brown base coast has been applied to the fur cloaks, as well a light brown to the Flagger's banner. A dirty silver to some of the metallic areas. My painting is not good, but it can only get better.

In terms of unassembled models only 20 Axes remain. This begs the question 'What next for the Horde?'. Ranged attacks are something that the horde lacks, so some Sniffs or Goblin allies do seem a natural option. The Heresy Minis Goblin archers look great and would be great pseudo-Hobgoblins, matching the fluff for Sniffs. But then a unit of Moreaxes would add some serious attacking power, or maybe another unit of Greataxes. Financially speaking though another One Player Army set, cheaply bought off eBay, would be many more worthy warriors to the Horde.

There are temptations to deviate from the racial purity of the Greenskin horde. Goblins and HobGoblins don't count, as they are the natural minions and under slaves of the Orc; if anything their addition is inevitable. It is the prospect of non-Goblinoid allies that intruiges me.

Titan Wargames do an excellent line of Dwarfs, which could easily be Abyssal Dwarfs allies/slave masters. This would unleash destructive war machines to add a ranged aspect to the horde. But then there is the prospect of Ogres from KoM, painted as Orkoids allowing KOM warmachines. Choices Choices.

Army Log: Commander Panda's Orcs

So in this blog I aim to document the beginnings and growth in my Orc army primarily for use in Kings of War. A relative new comer to both Mantic Games and Fantasy Wargaming in general this is new ground for me. I traditionally gravitate towards Sci-Fi, having both Space Marine and Tau armies in 'the other Company's system'. Orcs are 'different' to both of those factions in a lot of ways so it should be interesting. Lots of dirty metallic armour/chainmail, green skin and leathers, instead of high tech armour and pale blue/human skin tones. In this respect these are going to fit the 'classical' stereotype of fantasy Orcs. I don't want to be too adventurous, as a new game system, new genre, new style and an original skin colour would be too much I think.

I have a selection of Mantic Orc unit boxes and a couple of characters, namely a Flagger on foot and an Avatars of War Orc boss with which I am buiding my core army. In terms of thw rank and file there are 35 Axes, 10 Greataxes and 10 Gore Riders. I also will use some Hobgoblin wolf riders I have from back in the day. These guys will be temporary Gore mounted Krudger and Flagger. I have also an old Skaven Rat Orge which will stand in for a Troll till more suitable miniatures can be sourced.

I have a dream that one day GW will crack out the mouds for their Chaos Dwarf era Hobgoblins and do a limited edition run as I bloody love those minis. I would happily have a full army of them, they have so much character. A Kickstarter would be an excellent way to do it with minimal risk. Or Mantic could fill that gap as they did with Squats/Forge Fathers.

Any way back to the Horde, the Orc Boss is a stunning sculpt, I am so impressed. It's an absolute monster. It is now known in the army as 'THE BEAST'. Any Orc army for any system would benefit from one. The Flagger is a pretty awesome model too, and it vaguely matches 'THE BEAST', with its fur cloak.

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As you can see I have started on the Green Horde. 15 Axes are assembled, some undercoated, along with the Flagger and 'THE BEAST'. I also have started on the Greataxes too, but these are fiddly little sods, in comparison with the regular Axes.

I am holding back on the Gore Riders, as I often save the best till last. I can't wait to get some of these Boar riding maniacs out and charging around the tabletop so I want to get my skills a bit more practiced before I crack them out.

I have a basic army army list* worked out for the horde as is. This list has 3 infantry units as a core, one big cavalry unit to deal out damage while the Krudger and Troll act as support for the units. The Flagger will stay in range of Axes to maintain discipline and keep them steady.

*I think the link works, should link to Google Docs.

Plans and Praise

In a world of rising prices and falling wages, Cheap Minis and Free Rules? Oh be still my beating heart.

So recently I have been dipping my toe in the waters that is Mantic Games. I say dipping, I actually mean mostly look on the shop alot and planning armies. However as there are also free rules, trying to get it together to learn and play instead of just wishlisting.
I also joined the forum. There are some great threads for beginners like myself, such as the battlescribe rules and army list stickys. Some friendly people responded to my intro post and we met up to play Kings of War. 

The games were awesome! The very lovely forum members, Sardonic Wolf, Darklord and Maccwar bought loads of lovely miniatures, wound counters and Maccwar even some handy cards with stats on to help with the gaming.

I played two games both with Maccwar's lovely Elves, once against his Orcs and once against Darklord's Undead. I won in my first game against the Orcs (clearly beginners luck) and the lost to the shambing hordes of Darklord's Unread. All I can say is I don't like Darksurge!  A few deployment mistakes in the Undead game taught me some lessons I plan not to forget about spreading too thin.

The venue for the night of gaming was Stockport's Northwest Gaming Centre, which was a veritable cavern, filled with Wargamers battling away. There was a pleasing diversity in the games systems being played and lots of tables. I had great time and have decided to get a Kings of War army and divert myself from getting a Warpath force till the kickstarter at least. The question is which one?

I do like the Dwarfs as a race, being beardy, stoic and fond of a drink, somewhat like myself. Plus Badgers! The Elves I played as had some strong units but they could never be described as tough which is something I would like. Elite and Phalanx are great rules to have it seems. Dragon Riders are cool too, and the Bolt throwers can dish it out with good dice. The Orcs seem strong and straightforward, smashing all before them, and I do like the boar-riders too. Having played against them I feel that they would suit me. The Undead, while powerful, seem a bit too nuanced for the likes of me.

So a toss up between Orcs and Dwarfs? Hard drinking miners or savage beasts? Orcs have one tactic and that is SMASH and have no shooting unless you take allies with Goblins being an obvious and legit choice. Simple is good.

An amazing eBay deal has swayed me:

More minis to paint. My backlog has increased by 55 now.

I have to say I am loving the friendly and inclusive nature of the community, it's really welcoming. That there is a official Mantic run forum is something awesome in its self and part of that. The only thing I'd like to see changed about the forum is making it compatible with the Tapatalk to increase convenience.

It's all quite quite exciting really for me. I feel I can get an army, maybe two and a Dreadball team going, all with out taking up a second job or selling a kidney. I showed the one player Corporation army boxset on the online shop to the Sweet Lady. She said 'Ooohh, that's cheap!' in a totally serious way. As opposed to the 'Go and play with your little men' tone I sometimes hear.

I guess that must be a common sentiment to many. Times are hard and bills seem to be going up, so its nice for something in life, in this case wargaming, to drop in cost.
Let gaming continue.

Project Backlog

Myself and my Sweet Lady are moving house in the next few weeks, and have preparing for some time. In fact the keys are due to be handed over tomorrow. Following this there is much work to be done in terms of decorating. This is going to put a massive dent in my hobbying, till about Christmas/New Year. Booooo!

Except the new house will have room for hobbying and crafts, and a garden & shed for paint spraying. This also means people can come round to play Wargames! A short term hit for long term gain.

So to fill time and better plan my hobbying time when it comes around again I plan to write large amounts of fluff. I already have posted two pieces on this blog, and have several long  rambling outlines on Google Docs. I have a detailed vision for my Space Marines of the chapter "Swords of Midnight" and there is a basic history prepared for them. My ambition is to write a mini codex for them, cutting and pasting rules from the Space Marine codex. I have a lot of unpainted Space Marines and could feasibly field half a company if theg were all painted, so I want a background to do them justice.

I also want to continue my Tau fluff/story as that is largely formed in my imagination. My Tau are a largely complete army in terms of painting,  with only some Kroot remaining to paint. I feel in terms of technique these are the best minis I've painted yet, but they are sadly packed away for the move. I will release evidence of this in due course.

Journey to Pan'Dha, Part Two

'The Future' was going to break up, our careers and destinies dictated by Tau'va, as it should be. Yet I couldn't help but feel a pang of regret as I realised my comrades, who had been part of my life for so long, would probably see me or each other again. I knew this was the way of things in our society, and these emotions would pass but still I savoured them a while. We had a party to celebrate our new lives, and to mark our parting. It was a lively affair, full of debates and discussion. It had an undercurrent of sadness, as iwe played out the last chapter in our time.

My posting was of little interest in comparison with more exotic roles such an AI specialist to T'ros, gloriously added to the Tau'va, and many of our group to the homeworld, as if some great hidden enterprise was unfolding, sucking in the best and brightest.

And so it ended.

I was packed and ready at that point, and had been for days. The waiting was irritating, I had no fixed project to spend my energies on, and little indication of the time frame of my journey to Pan'Dha. The correspondence I had received stated bluntly to wait until called. And so I did.

It was surprising then, as I thought my time wouldn't come, when a young Fire Caste warrior called at my quarters. 

"You are to come with me, I assume you are packed?"

Her voice was firm and invited action.

"Yes ma'am, I ready."

"Please follow me."

She didn't seem to have time for academics, especially young and unproven ones such as myself. She was an intelligence officer, it was about the only information I could extract and even that was implied.

Our journey to the space port was quiet and uneventful. She piloted the simple transport and I sat in the back. I had work to do on my database... adding relationships, refining linkages, adding notes, pulling in new sources of information. Finally near the end, as the Space Port came into view she asked:

"I see you're busying yourself, personal project?"

I wasn't expecting her question, I betrayed my shock my jumping a little in my seat.

"Yes, its a database on Pan'Dha, I'm collating all available sources to begin analysing it's socio-historical background and putative trends."

There was a pride in my voice, and why not? This thoroughness was why was top of the class. Her response was surprising to say the least.

"An interesting approach, I think that's why they picked you. I had to read your work on xenos integration and the caste system, I see how you began that line of thought. That was good work."
"What? Are you in the Pan'Dha military? Who are 'They'?"
"All will be answered in due course. We're here"

Journey to Pan'Dha, Part One

Allow me to introduce myself, I am Suo'Khu. An unusual name but I digress. My past is not important in this tale but some needs to shared. I was a young student of Social Science, as part of the General Institutes, a group of educational institutes in Southern Bork'an. There was a group of us, high achieving students.

We called ourselves 'The Future". We were full of ourselves. Top marks across the spectrum, some like my self social scientists, others economists, AI specialists, engineers and even an astro-physicist. We rampaged across academic events on Bork'an like a Tidal Wave of youth and vigour. We all were in the same academic year, and graduated all within the space of a month. We awaited our assignments in the Empire. Some hoped for frontier postings, assisting in the expansion of the Empire. Others wanted to be posted to homeworld for top level research.

Pan'Dha is an insignificant outpost of the Tau Empire in the "northeast", and so it was with trepidation that I was assigned there. So insignificant I had never heard of it. Me, a recent graduate of the Bork'an Central Academy of Social Science, an educated member of society, ME! Suo'Khu!

Of course I immediately began investigating my destination  My initial research on the planet was only slightly less discouraging than my initial prejudice. I shall summarize here several available reports:

"A small observation outpost established at the close of the Second Sphere expansion, Pan'Dha - a moon of Dasak III, is neither ideal for our race in terms of habitability nor on established trade routes. As such it had a small population and limited importance, interesting only to Marine Xeno-biologists. This has changed in recent years due to breakthroughs in agricultural production of local sea plants, and in increased hydrocarbon extraction."

An isolated backwater, full of farmers and miners. I was to join the faculty at 'the' local educational institute and teach part-time while I documented local history and culture. There was only ONE educational centre on the whole planet! Of course, the Greater Good demanded it and I would obey, but I resented the sideways step my career was taking.

However deeper investigations began to pique my interest. More recently established colonies, when researched using academic libraries, have extensive volumes of socio-historical data and analyses. For example Fi'rios has two comprehensive and updated sets of social and linguistic trend data, which are analysed in the Bau'na series of journals. Pan'Dha has nothing. There a few scattered essays, the latest of which was14 years old, not to mention the poor methodology of its own research and poor referencing. My own work is far more thorough and rigorous. Perhaps I could begin a new journal, with myself as editor?

"The Pan'Dha Journal of Social Science, edited by Suo'Khu"

A scintillating thought. I began to see the wisdom in the guidance of the Tau'va and fully committed myself to my post.

 Naturally what was available was now safely stored in my personal archive. Already, I began to construct a database collating all available data and began requesting works on frontier worlds, even marine biology and hydrocarbon extraction - if it was important to Pan'Dha, it would become important to me.

Tau Update

I haven't posted in a while, having been busy with a tranche of my old models from my youth I found in my parents attic. In partiular some Space Marines, which included a Tactical Sqaud in metal, 4 plastic terminators and a Chaplain in Terminator armour. These have been stripped using the dettol method, and repainted as "The Swords of Midnight". Having worn myself out on these Gue'la warriors of repute, I got the urge to continue with the Cadre.

A thread on ATT inspired me, which detailed the creation of an all drone army. Accordingly I customised one spare gun drone so that instead of twin linked pulse carbines, it has one Pulse Rifle and an attachment indicating it's different configuration and role. I intend to run it as the Commander's personal drone, in addition to another similar customised drone. This is of course highly fluffy and not in the Codex, but it seems to fit the background.

Ten or so FireWarriors need basing and finishing so they are a priority once the custom "Rifle Drone" is finished. I also plan to finally attach the landing gear to the devilfish.

It feels good to be back paying attention to the Tau, there's just somehing about them. Even moreso the recent finecast releases open the way to more conversion opportunites. Happy Days.

Hobby Slow Down

I have nothing for Miniature Monday this week. I feel sad and it also shows how I am a little bit lazy: I have Kroot that need painting.

The fiddly little bastards.

They've a lot more smaller details than than the Tau models. Which is a pain for my limited skills and they have natural surfaces like skin and leather. Tricksy.

I was thinking of orange for the  Space Chickens. My Tau are mainly black, so the Orange would both stand out and make a change to paint. Or so the theory went. Being so bright, however, makes my lack of artistry painfully obvious. A dark green is much more forgiving. And boring. Time to work on my skills then....

Pandaforce Onwards

The Pandaforce is making progress! It's time consuming and fiddly, but I have almost a playable force:

• A Crisis Suit Commander and two Fireknife bodyguards.

• Six Stealthsuits.

• Two six Tau Fire Warrior squads.

• A Devildish (nearly finished painting).

In terms of unpainted models I have some Kroot and some more Fire Warriors. The Kroot are being undercoated and are next on the agenda following the Devilfish. The Kroot are going to have as a main colour Orange skin - this will be a nice contrast to the mainly Blacks and Blues/Purple of the Tau in the Pandaforce.

I am aiming to add 3 more Crisis Suits, 3 Broadsides and some Pathfinders to the Pandaforce but this goal is dependent on time and money. By my calculations it runs to well over £100. Better get that new job then! I've had a week of work so this shows me that, given time, it's possible to get a significant amount of painting and modeling done.

The Inquisition

One day me and an old mate brainstormed the "Ultimate Videogame". Essentially this game was Mass Effect. By essentially I mean almost carbon copy.

Today it struck me that there are no rivals to Mass Effect. Sure Deus Ex: Human Revolution is comparable, but it is distinctly Earth bound (at as far as I've got in it). Nothing has space ships, galactic war and intrigue in an action rpg.

On one level the sheer cost and effort to realise this is immense, but then so are the potential sales. What fictional backgrounds could enable this dream?

Star Trek? Hmmm only if you play as a Klingon
Star Wars? The Old Republic games were the prototype for Mass Effect so its already been done but it could be...
Wait I know!
Goddamn 40k!

Just think of the possibilities of playing as a Inquisitor rooting out heresy in a distant corner of the Imperium. Dealing with planetary governors dealing with the Tau, eradicating a Genestealer cult that threatens a Forge World, removing a corrupt Cardinal that has turned to Chaos... The potential scenarios go on and on.

Astartes, Sisters of Battle, Imperial Guard and Grey Knights are just some of the squad members you could have while the enemies of man are even more colourful and numerous.

It just makes sense and with Relic doing a sterling jib on the 'Space Marine' game they have both skill and the engine to make this happen.

Pandaforce

This is the extent of the Panda-force. It is small and in progress, but one day, One Day! It shall be ready to take to the tabletop.

Back in the Game

After years out of the hobby my interest was rekindled when I got Dawn of War on the cheap. It was in many ways what my young Warghammer playing self dreamt of. Full 3D armies careering around, blasting everything in sight. Things slowly progressed from that to getting the complete Dawn of War 1 series.

After the satisfaction gained from this burst of 40k goodness faded I progressed to harder things. I *acquired* a selection of Codexes. This was followed by Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign. This was the absolute deal sealer. Reading this book for the first time was amazing, it really sucked me in.

The final straw was when the Space Marine game came out on the HD Consoles. I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, and when it was £20 new in Gamestation I took the plunge. Many happy hours later I had completed the game on hard and got all the trophies I could realistically get, short of the daft multiplayer ones.

From there it took time but eventually I took the plunge and decided to get back in the hobby and collect a Tau army. After visiting the local GW store I returned with paints and a box of Fire Warriors. The addiction begins again!

So now I am currently on the process of painting and collecting my first proper army. A Tau battle force sits on top of my wardrobe waiting to be assembled and painted, while I work on the few plastic kits I got to start off.