Base Painting: Scibor Ruins

Getting a bit more hobby mojo, I have recently turned to painting up some Scibor ruins bases that have been lurking in my collection for a while. These will ultimately be used with some 30k Forge World models that I have similarly been ignoring for a while - but more on those another time.

The image above shows the final bases fully painted. For this work, I undercoated them in black. The base coat was Fenrisian Grey, applied liberally all over, combined with forest green on the leafy parts.  I then inked the pieces in a subtle black to ensure that the recesses of the letterings and decorations on the bases looked correct, and to give a worn look to the overall base. Some dry brushing then followed in lighter grey tones, with some hints of a fleshy cream colour mixed in to give a hint of weathering. The leaves also received some green ink, and then a bright green highlighting. The final touches were to add the gold accents on the shield pieces and other embossed areas of the bases as a contrast colour.

Overall, the effect is one of a weathered, old ruin which is now ready for some miniatured to be pinned on to them. Hope you like this latest bit of painting.

Horus Heresy Review: Contemptor-Incaendius Class Dreadnought

Background.
Let me be polite. Some dreadnoughts have jump packs. Get over it. They're only manufactured by the Mechanicum that is stationed on Baal's first satellite, in association with Anvillus.

Strengths.
The careful reader may have already noted that this dreadnought comes with a jump pack. The more careful reader may have already got over this.

Said jump pack allows one of two things to happen. Firstly, the dreadnought can deep strike in to play. I trust this is not a problem for anyone used to dealing with dreadnought drop pods to deal with.

Secondly, and once per game if the above is not selected, the dreadnought can boost 12 inches in the movement phase, or: charge 3d6 inches. None of these three (one use) options is game breaking in itself. I refer the reader back to the statement of getting over it. Sure, it is powerful, but there's a points cost to be paid. But it is also very flavourful. And no one in the Horus Heresy gaming sphere will overlook this facet. Prepare to face three of them, frankly.

Beyond that, they come with talons of perdition. In short, they apply 2 wounds instead of 1 per unsaved strike. This is powerful, and comes teamed with in built heavy flamers.

Weaknesses. 
It is a dreadnought that likes close combat. The Alpha Legion will snipe it off the board with a conversion beamer from the back pocket. Beware. Other than that, there are no serious draw backs here. Treat it as you would an armoured close combat dreadnought, albeit a speedy one (I forgot to mention fleet above as well), and be happy!

Builds. 
There is a temptation here to swap out the talons for a close combat weapon, or the heavy flamer for a bit more dakka. The close combat weapon will get the doubling of the strength value, whereas the perdition blade is just the dreadnoughts base strength. I think because of this one of each might be preferable for maximum utility.

Dreadnought with 1 talon of perdition and 1 dreadnought close combat weapon with in-built assault cannon (210 points).
I think this is the build that most players will be taking. Balanced, with bonus dakka. There are only a few variations to be candid, and although the melta gun might be preferred in some situations, I would still think the temptation to play the assault cannon is high. It synergises well with day of revelation, but I am unconvinced that buying extra armour here is totally worth it. But if you have the points to spare, why not. 

Horus Heresy Review: Crimson Paladins

Background.

These men are the guardians of the halls of the Primarch, also known as the Keruvin. Like others in the first sphere, they give up their identities and adopt new names. In battle, they are the "anvil" (not my words, I emphasise, but their role is not dissimilar).

Strengths. 

As cataphractii terminators, they are already very strong. However, they really excel in close combat. Their special rules give them feel no pain in close combat when outnumbered which improves by one pip when outnumbered by a factor of two. For the purposes of being outnumbered, each paladin counts as two models. Hence they have some amazing staying power - perhaps some of the best in the game. But this relies on being locked in melee. 

Further, in close combat their power shields reduces the strength of incoming attacks by one as well. This means that they will usually get feel no pain saves against weapons that they ordinarily will not (think here about power fists and similar). Armed with sunset blades and the sergeant taking a perdition blade makes this a formidable unit. 

Combined with the Blood Angels legion rules, they are a force to be reckoned with when played well. Which is to say if they're outside combat, they are not being played well. 

I'm not sure this is a strength, but the models are simply wonderful too. [Well painted, and beautiful models survive longer on the battlefield, do they not???!!!]

Weaknesses.

Fundamentally, the crimson paladins have only one wound each (except for the Exemplar). I had hoped that they would have two each like some of the other legions, but alas they do not. 

They also need to be in combat. All the time. 

Strictly then, terminators from other legions provide a better "anvil" role better to the crimson paladins. That said, I've no problem in thinking of them as escorts, or as bodyguards for Sanguinius himself. It seems like a very reasonable and prudent role for them. Alternatively, fielded in conjunction with other dedicated "hammer" units, they will shine. Finally, the other obvious use for them is as (expensive) tar-pit units to snare up others. 

Builds.

3 Paladins, Exemplar with perdition blade. (170 points).

I regard this as the baseline build. Probably best used with a character or as a sneaky tar-pit.

Feel free to add extra bodies if you're confident of not losing the feel no pain rule. 

5 Paladins, Exemplar with perdition blade, 1 with heavy flamer, 2 with sunset blades, 2 with power fists (295 points).

Getting expensive here, but this is a close combat squad effectively. Take grenade harness to taste, or replace the heavy flamer with a plasma blaster if preferred. 

5 Paladins, Exemplar with perdition blade and assault harness, 1 with assault cannon, 2 with sunset blades, 2 with power fists (310 points).

Slightly shooty with still excellent close combat possibilities here. More expensive than necessary though, as a regular legion terminator squad is arguably better for this role. 

Horus Heresy Review: Dawnbreaker Cohort

We begin our reviews of Malevolence with the Blood Angels and the Dawnbreaker Cohort. Sine the legion rules have not changed since the last outing, we refer readers back to Retribution for our earlier review.

Background.
The Dawnbreakers are the elites of the assault squads for the Blood Angels. They are known for accompanying Sanguinius himself in dawn raids as they sprinkle down from the skies to liberate long long human colony worlds from xenos and tyrants alike.

Strengths.
In a nut shell, they are beefed-up assault squads. Along with a regular jump pack, they also have artificer armour to make them more survivable. This will work well with both "Days" rites of war for the legion in general.

Their weapons are interesting. Along with the grenade dischargers, they have access to falling-star pattern power spears as standard. These are the same weapons that the Phoenix Terminators of the Emperor's Children have under a different name which gives AP2 and and one extra pip of strength on the first turn of combat which makes them very hard hitting.

Alternatively, they can have Equinox blades: one with shred and keen, the other with rending and sunder. Sunrise blades give a bonus pip to initiative which is truly excellent against other legions and their regular squads.

Weaknesses.
There is a worry about being tar-pitted, particularly against enemy terminators if this squad is not built for taking them out on the first turn. They also lack significant ranged weapons (beyond the grenades). Otherwise this is an excellent unit selection when played to its strengths.

Builds.
I would like to devise a way to give these guys hit and run to take more advantage of the power spears so that they can really devastate terminator enemy squads. But that's a thought for another day. In the mean time, here are some thoughts for builds.

5 Dawnbreakers, champion with perdition blade (230 points)
A basic build to provide a good amount of damage on the first assault turn and pose a continuing threat to infantry.

5 Dawnbreakers, Equinox power blades, champion with perdition blade (250 points)
Another sort of "basic" build to take advantage of the sunrise and sunset blade to give a bit of flexibility, but it gives up the AP2 on the charge which is why I would recommend the blade of perdition.

10 Dawnbreakers, 4 with equinox blades, 5 with falling stars, champion with perdition blade (355 points)
The mixed approach and maximum squad number is a very nice squad indeed, although here the points cost obviously start to stack up making this a choice for a larger points value game. The addition of melta bombs is cost effective for this unit as well as a potential further upgrade.

Horus Heresy: Malevolence -- First Impressions

Traitors and Loyalists, those in-between and those who refuse any such label: I finally have it. My copy of Horus Heresy Book Eight: Malevolence has finally arrived!

This is the first book in the series that does not have Alan Bligh as one of the leads on it. Of course, Alan is sadly no longer with us and we grieve for his loss to the Horus Heresy. As the afterword in the book states, he truly was a driving force behind the series.

The most obvious side effect of this is that the language used in book 8 is slightly different to what Alan used. Sure, on the surface it is very similar, but dig a bit deeper, and the differences start to show. I do not consider this to be a negative. I want to be clear about that. All I am saying is that I miss his nuances and tempo, in the sense that Alan's writing was familiar to me. 

As will be known to fans, Malevolence contains rules for two new Legions to the series: the Blood Angels, and the White Scars. In addition, there are army lists for the Legio Custodes, as well as the Daemons of the Ruinstorm. For me, this is enough for this book to really rank up there very high with some of the previous ones in the series. I'm not going to lie, I am a rather biased reader. When the first book (Betrayal) came out, it was a real revelation to me, and to many other players. It was a shining light. I would also evaluate the third book (Extermination) to be very high on my list as well. After all, it did deal with the Alpha Legion in depth for the first time. But more than that, I have long felt that Extermination had one of the most fascinating campaign ideas the featured the Raven Guard trying to stay alive on Isstvan. I loved that campaign a lot more than many others. I'd even rate it possibly higher than the Conquest rules set for campaigning, and that's saying something. As a result, I want readers to believe me when I say that for me personally, Malevolence ranks close up there with Extermination and Betrayal. Thank you Forge World. Sincerely.

In addition to the army lists, there are two campaigns included in the book: one for Signus (Blood Angels and Daemons in the main part, but also elements of Space Wolves, Legio Custodes, Word Bearers) and one for Chondax (White Scars and Alpha Legion in the main part). Both of these are well thought through, but they don't approach the levels seen in Conquest or Extermination. Of these, I would contend that Signus is the better, as Chondax is more sequential and, arguably, generic. 

As for the background details, I welcome the addition of the Psyarkana, and the extra details gleaned about the internal Alpha Legion civil war that comes along with the description of Chondax. The Blood Angels and White Scars are detailed like never before - leaving only the Dark Angels relatively untouched for now and no rules for the Lion (he has to be next in book 9!). The details of how the legions viewed daemons is also really, genuinely interesting to me. 

In future posts, I will start the more formal review of the units contained within this volume, and get in to more detail about the new daemons from the ruinstorm. But for now, I am a very happy reader. 

Volkano Game Mat

One of my more recent purchases is a new game mat. This one is the "Volkano" (Volcano), produced by PWork Wargames. 

The company is based in Italy and prices their gaming mats at a comparable level to other companies that I have dealt with before who retail similar mats. As always, I opted for the neoprene version (which is the mouse mat material) since it works a lot better for my needs and preferences. The game bag comes as a separate purchase to the game mat with this company (others sell it alongside as a default), but I was happy to pay a little extra for the portability factor.

What I like about this mat is the near-realism of the detail. Zooming in on the image above, it is obvious that the makers have studied how lava surfaces look. The top level of the detail is a black to grey textured area that is clearly dried or cooled lava rock. This gives way to the runnier mantle material as we look deeper in to the mat. Some other retailers have chaos-like symbols everywhere, or other features that I didn't think contributed to the aesthetic that I was after. With this mat, I am free to interpret it as a chaos terrain board should I desire, as well as a young planet, or one suffering from a post-apocalyptic event. With this flexibility, the use of the mat is wider than ones specifically dedicated to chaos, and I cannot go past the pseudo-realism of the mat either. Top grades from me, but clearly my tastes may differ from yours(!)