Lord of the Rings SBG Terrain Project - Part 1

Long time no post, anyway, I have semi-quit Warhammer 40,000 recently because quite simply I'd had enough of Space Marines. I don't want to get rid of my Salamanders, but I'm moving to a new system: The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Anyway, as you may have guessed from my other posts, one of my favourite parts of wargaming is building the terrain, and the LOTR SBG offers far more opportunities for me to experiment with scratch-built terrain. So here's the start of my first piece, a small copse of trees.

The trees I'm working with are detachable from their bases so I have stuck the bases down and started modelling roots. I've done a few more since this photo.

The trees themselves. I shan't modify these much, if at all.

A group of my Warriors of Minas Tirth (mostly unpainted as usual) emerge ready for war. I've dotted some lichen around to illustrate where the most undergrowth will be when it's done.

My one painted guy in front of one of the trees. I feel these trees may be slightly too short, but anything is better than the ugly GW forest...

To be continued when the milliput dries...

Survivors Novelisation

Recently I released what I deem to be my greatest film-making achievement: Survivors, a post-apocalyptic drama/thriller about those who survived and gained strange abilities. You can watch it below if you haven't already:

Anyway, due to a couple of audio issues where the dialogue is rather quiet and because a whole world was created for this which couldn't be captured entirely within the above thirteen-minute timeframe, I have created a companion piece. Without further ado, read the Survivors Novelisation after the jump!

The new Dalek Paradigm (Revamped) - Part 2

An update to my Dalek Paradigm revamp project - I have now finished four more Daleks, a Supreme Guard, a Commander, an Engineer and a Scout. The Strategist Caste now has a model representing each of the three ranks. Images are below:

L-R: Supreme Guard, Commander, Engineer, Scout

The current status of the separate castes

Just a better look at all the miniatures so far...

The new Dalek Paradigm (Revamped)

In Series 5 of Doctor Who, a new breed of Dalek was unveiled to the world - To almost universal criticism. Both the new shape and colours were ridiculed by many, including me.

Now, 2 years on, I've come to the conclusion that the Paradigm Daleks would be greatly improved by either a shape overhaul or a repaint. It looks like in this year's series Mr. Moffat and co. are scrapping the unpopular design, but while scrolling through the thread dedicated to the Paradigm on GallifreyBase, I stumbled across the following image of repainted Character Building Daleks done by user Paninaro:

Source: http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5598634&postcount=332

I thought these were awesome, and was inspired to do the same with some of my own Character Building Daleks:

L-R: Drone, Strategist, Supreme, Eternal, Scientist

I switched the colours of the Supreme and Eternal round as I thought that black better suited the mysterious nature of the latter - Whom I envisaged to fulfill a role similar to Dalek Sec - and decided not to stop there, so I've put together a caste-based hierachy for the Paradigm. 

I plan to paint up some more of my Daleks based on the above, and will report back when some more are done...

School Games Day

On Monday, as it's currently Easter break, one of our PSE and one of our History teachers invited us and some other students in for a full day of pure Warhammer-ing. There was a table for beginners, there were two modelling/painting tables and finally I took in my terrain for a big game. We played a 2v2 game - Myself with my Salamanders and Callum with his Flesh Tearers versus Mr. Pinner and his Dark Eldar and Leon with his Chaos.

The Terrain and Armies

The enemy team seized the initiative and went first. The combined forces of Chaos and Dark Eldar began to sweep into the city. The Space Marines reacted speedily and moved into adequate defensive positions, while my Ironclad Dreadnought blew up the Chaos Predator's primary weapon with its Hunter-Killer missiles.

The end of turn 1 (The fire-warriors, rhino and battlewagon are Dark Eldar proxies)

In turn 2, the Dark Eldar raider (or rather the Rhino standing in for it) swooped down into an alley and deployed the Harlequins within. However, on the Space Marine turn Callum brought in one of his Assault Squads and his Sanguinary Guard. His Death Company swooped down and prepared to engage the
Harlequins, while the other troops pressed forward with the assault.

The end of Turn 2

Turn 3 was a decisive round. The Dark Eldar massacred a group of Flesh Tearers Assault Marines and the Salamanders Assault Terminators were fired up by the Khorne Berserkers and lost a man. They retaliated by raging into the Berserker squad and taking out half of them before being cut down to a single Terminator. In the industrial complex, the Salamanders Assault Squad and the Sanguinary Guard obliterated some Kabalite Warriors.

The end of Turn 3

The combined forces of another Berserker squad and the Kabalite warriors finished off the Flesh Tearers Assault Squad but then stumbled into the path of a Death Company.

The Space Marines brought their full fury onto the central plaza and decimated the enemy forces, while the Flesh Tearers Furioso Dreadnought tore through a group of Bloodletters of Khorne. However another Raider full of Wyches stormed through the city and unleashed its bloodthirsty cargo on a Salamanders Tactical Squad.

The end of Turn 4

Turn 5 saw the Death Company get slaughtered by a Dark Eldar Archon and the remains of the Tactical Squad killed off. There were few significant events this turn, and as it was the end of the day this was the final turn. At the end, the forces of darkness won by a mere 49 points.

Climperoonie and the Adventure of the Sherlock on Twitter

My favourite TV show ever is Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock. It's brilliant television and leaves me feeling the most satisfied TV has ever made me feel. Therefore, my quest is to praise/talk to those involved in the show on Twitter and try to get them to reply, so that I can know they know how much I love their work. My quest has been fairly successful so far. I have been retweeted by Lara Pulver, who plays Irene Adler in 'A Scandal in Belgravia'...

... And replied to by David Arnold, the brilliant composer of the score ...

I'll update when I get more responses...

Battle Report: Skirmish on Medusa V

The sun was high in the sky as M'dlaka led his hardened command squad of veterans toward the spires of one of the ruined cities on Medusa V. In the centre of the city was the remains of a highly sacred cathedral, a shrine which could not be allowed to fall into Xenos hands. M'dlaka and his command squad were captaining a task force comprised of tactical squad Kan'mi and the dreadnought brothers Mareni and Sho'bana. They entered through one of the northern valleys, and came across the settlement. It still lay untouched. Should they hurry, they may be able to enter the city before - A small shockwave caught his attention, coming from the direction of the cathedral. M'dlaka looked toward it and twisted a dial on the side of his helm, zooming in on the shrine's ramparts. There, he caught a flash of purple armour and red lens. It was an XV25 stealth team - The Tau were here...

My new terrain was christened today, so I thought I'd mark the event with a narrative opening to the battle report. It was myself with my Salamanders against Lee and his Tau in a 700pt game. The armies were as follows:
- Salamanders
-- Captain M'dlaka and Command Squad D'loko
-- Tactical Squad Kan'mi
-- Dreadnought Brothers Mareni and Sho'bana
- T'au
-- Commander Battlesuit and two XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguards
-- Two teams of six Fire Warrior Shas'ui
-- XV25 Shas'vre Stealth Team
-- Five Gun Drones
-- One Piranha
The main terrain setup was as below:

Excuse the blurry photos, the game was intense so we snapped the images off quickly.

The battle began quickly with the bulk of the Space Marine forces moving into the city through the Industrial complex, with the Command Squad and Dreadnought Sho'bana quickly taking the Basilica Administratum to the top centre right of the photograph. The Tau retaliated by moving in through the Sanctum Imperialis' to the left. The combined force of the Piranha and one of the Battlesuits chewed through Dreadnought Mareni's legs and right arm with seeker missiles and burst cannons. The tactical squad moved deeper into the industrial complex and took shelter in some ruins, while the Stealth Team on top of the cathedral and M'dlaka's command squad on top of the Basilica got caught in a firefight over the rooftops.

Peekaboo, I see you!

Dreadnought Sho'bana took advantage of the diversion by moving round the back of the shrine and getting into a mexican stand-off with another Crisis Battlesuit.

The Dread chipped away two out of three of the Battlesuit's wounds before the Commander blew him up. Down below the tactical squad fired off a few shots at the Piranha and the other Battlesuit before taking casualties and backing off. The squad then made a tactical run across open ground to regroup with the Command Squad (sans its sergeant and standard bearer, who had been taken down by a Fire Warrior team's pulse rifles). The gamble paid off well, with them surviving the explosion of Brother Mareni after his disabled shell was finally destroyed and only having one casualty under Tau fire. The command squad and the tactical squad switched places, so the former was able to get into the cathedral and the latter could draw the incoming fire away. The tactical squad survived for a while, but eventually succumbed to the blasts.

*Insert Heroic Music Here*

The command squad clambered to the top of the cathedral and entered into a fierce close-combat fight with the stealth team. They emerged victorious, and the shrine had been liberated from the immediate Xenos incursion. 

However, they still had to ensure the others would not reclaim it, others who straight after the fight shot the company flamer in the head and sent him tumbling from the top of the ruins. Captain M'dlaka and his Company Champion and Apothecary then clambered down from the tower and entered onto the battlefield to meet their destiny.

The Piranha attempted to flank the trio, but ended up travelling to the opposite end of the board for no reason (Don't ask). M'dlaka shot the wounded Battlesuit square in the face, but his companions were gunned down and he retreated to the top of a nearby building. There, he realised Tau forces were going to overwhelm the city, and he had to stop the cathedral from falling into enemy hands. His last act before the searing heat of the returning Piranha's seeker missiles melted through his power armour and found charcoal-coloured flesh was to arm a bomb at the top of the tower, ensuring that the shrine would remain unpurified.

THE RESULT:
- Salamander Casualties

-- Captain M'dlaka and Command Squad D'loko
-- Tactical Squad Kan'mi
-- Dreadnought Brothers Mareni and Sho'bana
- T'au Casualties
-- One XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguard
-- Two Shas'ui Fire Warriors
-- One XV25 Stealth Team of Three

This image sums up the game perfectly.

VERDICT: The best game of Warhammer I've ever played.