Hobby Update: Bikes for Space Marine Battle Company/Super Friends

So, I finally decided that White Scars Battle Company will be my Adepticon army. It was a tough choice considering how much I'm going to have to get painted over the next couple months. I had a ton of bikes already but they were all kitted out to be Dark Angels for my Super Friends army. I needed to convert the Apothecary to run with either Plasma Talons or Bolters and I needed to convert a model to use as Kor'Sarro Khan. Above is the result of the Khan conversion. His sword and banner are magnetized so I can use him as a sergeant for my Dark Angels army as well. I will be the first to admit that my Apothecary's gun conversions are not my best work. It's really just magnets glued to the end of the guns. Sadly for now, I have no other solutions. The ends of the guns are just too small to conceal the magnets themselves. Later on down the line I may just glue them until after Adepticon or get some smaller magnets. 

I only need 11 of the 20 bikes I own for the list I plan on taking, but I figure if I don't paint them all now, I never will. My goal is to have these finished by the end of the day Sunday. I can't wait to get these guys completed. They are starting to crush my soul a little bit. Then I will move on to the 7 Rhino/Razorbacks and 10 Scouts. I'm giving myself the entire month of February to finish them. Then for March I'll be painting up 40-50 Marines. I was feeling super productive this weekend and got a jump on both of those. I got the purple airbrush work done on most of the vehicles and the Marines. GO ME!!!

Hobby Update/ITC Tournament Recap: Drop Pods

Annnnnnnnd the drop pods are complete. I tried a few new techniques on these that I had never attempted before. I wanted the pods to combine my smooth clean style with a slightly weathered style. In the end I think I pulled it off. The only thing I may do at some point is paint some kind of computer display on the spheres in the center of the harnesses. For the time being though, I think they are fine the way they are.

I also got to play in an ITC style tournament this past weekend at Rarity Games. Having played a handful of games with it now, I decided to bring my AdMech War Convocation.

Game 1 was against an Eldar/Space Wolves/Space Marines list. It had everything you would expect to find from those armies: Wraithknight, Scatt Bikes, Thunderwolves, and Grav Centurions in a pod. After taking a devastating alpha strike on turn one, I was left with only a handful of units on the board and Thunderwolves and Centurions in my face. My Grav Destroyers, Knight Crusader, and Vanguard did some epic work in my turn to shift the balance back in my favor heavily. I wiped out the Wraithknight, his Centurions, and unit of Scatt Bikes in my turn. After that, it seemed the wind was totally taken out of his sails. AdMech win 11-2.

Game 2 was against the new Orc list that was recently voted into the ITC. It gets the army a Stompa for roughly 60% of its normal point cost. This game was tough as hell. He had bikes and trukks in my face and a Stompa running straight at me. I managed to take down 6 of the Stompa's hull points before I lost everything else that could hurt it. At that point I charged in my Culexus Assassin! Amazingly he held the Stompa in close combat for 2 turns allowing me to tie on the Primary and Secondary missions. Sadly I still lost on Tertiary missions. AdMech Loss 0-2.

My final game was against Harlequins and Dark Eldar. The list had something like 12-14 AV10 skimmers. Full on MSU. The flamers on my Destroyers were the MVP's of this game. Flaming up to 3 open topped skimmers at a time and roaching all the guys inside. This was another AdMech victory 11-1.

In the end I managed to squeak out a second place victory. 

Hobby Update: Culexus Assassin

I got a little distracted from finishing the drop pods. Having completed this Culexus Assassin, the only models left to finish for my AdMech War Convocation army, are the Skitarii portion and the 3 drop pods. The pods are nearly complete. I'm not loving the way the insides of the pods are turning out though, which is why I took a step back from the models for a bit. I feel like I need to do something to make them look a little less bland. I also really need to pick an army for Adepticon and get painting. As it stands at the moment, I think my best bet may be my Space Marine Battle Company. Unfortunately, I only have a handful of the models for that army painted. Guess I better get cracking.

Hobby Update/Battle Report: Kataphron Destroyers and the First Ride of the White Scars Battle Company

I just finished up my Kataphron Destroyers. With that, the entire Cult Mechanicus portion of my War Convocation is finished. Next up I plan on going back to the 3 drop pods I had been working on before my airbrush broke. From there, on to the Skitarii, or perhaps my new Battle Company.

Speaking of the Battle Company, I managed to get a game in with it this past weekend. It was pitted against William Key's new Tau army. It was an 1850 Adepticon practice game featuring scenario 1: King of the Hill.

Deployment: Vanguard
Mission Objective 1: Control the 24" center of the table to score points at the top of each of your turns starting turn 2.
Mission Objective 2: Emperor's Will

My List (White Scars Space Marines/Imperial Knight):
Battle Demi-Company
HQ

Kor'sarro Khan – Moondrakkan (Warlord: Re-roll failed morale, pinning, fear tests within 12")

Troops
5x Tactical Squad - Grav-Gun, Combi-Grav, Razorback
5x Tactical Squad - Grav-Gun, Combi-Grav, Razorback
5x Tactical Squad - Grav-Gun, Combi-Grav, Razorback

Fast Attack
4x Space Marine Bikes – 2x Grav-Guns

Heavy Support
5x Devastators – 2x Grav-Cannons and Grav-Amps, Rhino

Battle Demi-Company
HQ
Chaplain – Space Marine Bike, Hunters Eye

Troops
5x Tactical Squad – Grav-Cannon and Grav-Amp, Rhino
5x Tactical Squad – Melta-Gun, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
5x Tactical Squad – Melta-Gun, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod

Fast Attack
4x Space Marine Bikes – 2x Grav-Guns

Heavy Support
5x Devastators – 2x Grav-Cannons and Grav-Amps, Rhino

10th Company Task Force
Troops
5x Scouts
5x Scouts
5x Scouts

Imperial Knight
Knight Gallant


William Key's List as Best I Remember(Tau):
Hunter Cadre
HQCommander – Drone Controller (Warlord: Infiltrate 3 non-vehicle units)

Elites
Crisis Suit

Troops
5x Fire Warriors
5x Fire Warriors
5x Fire Warriors

Fast Attack
4x Markerlight Drones

Heavy Support
3x Broadsides – 6 Missile Drones, 6x High Yield Missile Pods, 6x Twin Linked Smart Missile Systems
2x Broadsides – 4 Missile Drones, 4x High Yield Missile Pods, 4x Twin LinkedSmart Missile Systems

Lord of War

Stormsurge - Early Warning Override, Shield Generator

Riptide Wing

Elites
Riptide – Ion Cannon, Twin Linked Smart Missile System
Riptide – Ion Cannon, Twin Linked Smart Missile System
Riptide – Ion Cannon, Twin Linked Smart Fusion Gun

Drone Networt
Fast Attack
4x Markerlight Drones

Tau won the roll to deploy first. I won the roll to place infiltrators first. This was key because with his warlord trait, he could have blocked my scout moves with his Infiltrators. Tau chose to go first and I failed to seize the initiative. Emperor's Will objectives are circled below.

Note the sweet ass F.A.T. Mat

Full report after the jump!