Here is wave 1 of the #40k2ndAC IV for April. We have 11 entries in this wave. The flag above the badge denotes where the participant is currently operating, while a small terminator honours logo means that the participant has been honoured by his peers for a previous entry.

Always expect things to get worse. It’s something that will get you through most deployments. Outpost is overrun with plant life, almost looks like the place was attacked by the planet. Found some of the others though, a squad of Ratlings and some Exo armoured troopers. They were glad to see us and whatever they know about what the hell’s going on hasn’t filtered down through the ranks just yet. I need to find Parker to get my Aquilas back though. We’re not stopping – just pushing onto the Nedrid Basin. Pretty sure those Ratlings looked grakked about something when we moved out. Whatever it is out here, I guess we get to find out pretty quick. 

– Recovered writings within margins of Uplifting Primer identified as belonging to : Trooper Karbeiss Gravers, Catachan XCVIII Regiment, Red Company, Blue Platoon, 2nd Squad, taken D-1 from the Nedirid Incident. 

This month was finally time to divert from the rank and file of the Catachans and look to complete some of the more exotic troop choices for the force. Ive always loved the idea of the Ratling Snipers fighting alongside the Guard (along with the Ogryns) and for this challenge, it was the Ratlings who got the nod. Mainly, and my Ogryns had already been re-painted and if I wanted to fit a Leman Russ tank and some Terminators into a 1500 point force…something had to give. The Ratlings, coming in at 80 points for the unit, where far more reasonable than the 250 point Ogryns, so they got the nod. These models are some of those that I have owned for over 25 years, and its good to see them looking half way reasonable for the first time! Their ability to avoid the S/T chart can really mean these guys punch above their weight (apart from against Tyranids) and with a +1 to hit unto 16” on a model with BS 4 and infiltration means they can cause havoc against high toughness units, although they are unlikely to get more than two shots off unless they can be supported. 

The other unit is something that I always look to do with Allies for a force, and that’s proxy something more force appropriate than just take the standard models. In this instance, some Space Marine terminators become Imperial Guard troopers in Exo suits. The models were from the board-game Incursion and the Weird War 2 theme fits right in with the Imperial Guard. They were located from deep within my storage collection just waiting from their time to shine. Plus they even had a few extra weapon troopers, to allow me to get some additional heavy weapon options painted up. I personally think these fit pretty much perfectly and its clear both what they are representing on the table, while also appearing to being an integral part of the parent force. 

Adding terminators to an IG force isn’t cheap, but brings some much needed durability to the forward line and provide the anvil to hold the centre, allowing the other units to flank and destroy the enemy (hopefully!) With the Imperial Guard codex allowing for 25% of points to be spent on  allies, that’s 375 in a 1500 game, and this unit coming in at 360 are a very large chunk of the force for only 5 models (I could have fielded another 30 troopers for that) but for a flexible force, their inclusion is invaluable – although there is always the chance of a rouge vortex grenade making them an expensive gamble. Having something that the enemy struggle to kill can make them something of a bullet magnet, and every shot saved by the eco armour is another Catachan still in the fight!  

Here is the breakdown for this month, 

Additional Unit 1

Ratling Snipers   80pts 

Allies 

Space Marine Terminator Squad 

Assault Cannon, Chain fist x2, Power Sword  360pts 

I also fancied trying my hand at a spin on another of the sub-goals (that I didn’t sign up for) with creating a special character in my sights. Over the years the Catachans have been graced with a number of special characters, but none of these were kicking around in 2nd edition. So after getting my hands on these three as part of the Stationforge range – it was time to look to bring one of them – ‘Iron Hand’ Straken back to the future. 

My first step was to look at the various codex’s and try to get a feeling for where to be pitching them him terms of value against 2nd ed. While he was around in the 5th Ed. IG codex, the points system by them had shifted somewhat dramatically from 2nd, so I looked back to the 3rd Edition. Here, both Iron Hands was introduced in the Catachan Codex. 

I also looked at Yarrick between 2nd and 3rd to see what kind of differences he went through in terms of points, rules and stats-wise to get a feel for the change. Points-wise, Yarrick simply went from costing 170 in 2nd to 171 in 3rd. So far so easy. Stats-wise however there were some larger changes, with a reduction in both WS and BS from 6 to 4 S fell from 4 to 3 and I fell from 6 to 4. You feel him getting older in front of your eyes! Rules-wise he kept his iconic Wargear, and ability to regenerate a wound when reduced to 0, and only his ability to grant auto passed Ld tests were limited to the squad he was attached to. So in summary, the rules and stats of the others would need a boost for 2nd to remain at their same points cost in 3rd, or they would need a discount for 2nd edition. 

With Iron hands costing 130 points in 3rd I tried to amend him for 2nd in a similar manner to Yarrick, and keeping the points the same.

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Colonel ‘Iron Hands’ Straken  – 130 points 

Wargear – Plasma pistol, shotgun, Uniqie Bionics 

M  WS  BS  S  T  W  I  A  Ld  Save 

4    6   5    4  4   3   6  3   9     5+ 

Straken replaces the officer in charge of the army and takes over the Command HQ. The Command HQ are all counted as Catachan Devils. He provides a strategy rating of 2. 

Unique Bionics – Straken is considered to be armed with a power fist, but the control provided by his chest unit also grants him parry. In addition, he counts as having a fixed 5+ saving throw from the durability of the chest unit, however if he fails a saving throw and survives, the bionic arm is disabled and he can no longer use the power fist, while retaining the fixed 5+ save. 

Gung Ho – Straken is indifferent to all danger. Straken, the unit he is with and any friendly Catachan Devil units within 12” of him are considered to possess the Shaken ability if they fail a break test. 

Catachan Devil Force – Straken allows up to 3 Catachan Infantry squads to be upgraded to Catachan Devils, for the cost of 35 points per squad. Each of these squads gains both the Guerrilla Fighter and Hardened Fighter veteran abilities, as well as +1 WS. Catachan Devils also count trees/wood as hard cover and can move through trees/wood without penalty.

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Trying to balance the cost of boosting the ground troops against the need to have already paid for a command HQ only to lose the cost of the captain is tricky – but 35 points a unit in terms of what they are gaining (as the Catachan Devils will be far tougher than standard Imperial guard) felt about right. Will need some extra play testing to find just how broken it is – but that’s the joy of 2nd Ed. 40k! 

So that’s 570 points in total (440 for the pledge and a bonus 130 for Straken) for 11 models, which after the past few months feels a little strange, but its good to see the points total creeping up! 

A short entry for this month (no extra models for the squad or bonus units) due to a very busy April and into May – but an opportunity to paint a model I’ve been waiting to paint since I was a kid was an exciting prospect.

This month I focussed on the Dark Reapers and their mighty Phoenix Lord, Maugan Ra. Maugan Ra is probably one of my favourite models from GW. Seeing it as a kid it was instant love. I mean who doesn’t love a futuristic skeleton armoured grim reaper? It doesn’t get much cooler. I’ll even say I think the original model is still better than their recent resculpt, just so very timeless. I started off painting him, giving him a basecoat with the airbrush of a couple of dark bluey/purples (same as the Dark Reapers themselves). But most of his armour is the bone that goes over everything. I did a little freehanding on his loincloth for the aspect icon and a little white squiggly line… that the original codex version had too (and no I’m not counting that as my Freehand Banner entry!). I deviated from the original paint job in the codex, as I didn’t like that his shoulder skulls were done in black. I think they just looked cooler in bone like everything else. But otherwise I pretty much copied the scheme from the 1 photo I had to work with. Overall I enjoyed painting this model from start to finish and can say I’ve probably waited some 20 years to actually get to paint it up!

The Dark Reapers themselves are pretty standard, using the main photos in the codex as my painting guide. A little free handing for their aspect symbol on the helmet (that went better than the Scorpions thankfully) and another bajillion gems were the only real challenge. I found them less interesting to paint up, especially beside their amazing Phoenix Lord, so I got through them as fast as I could.

I hope to pump out a good amount of bonus units the next two months as things settle down, so we’ll see you all next time!

The points for this month:

Maugan Ra – The Harvester of Souls [179pts]: Crack Shot, Show Wargear Cards, Shuriken Pistol, The Maugetar [45pts], Tough, Turn Aside Blow

Dark Reaper Squad [201pts]
. Dark Reaper [67pts]: Dark Reaper Range Finder, Missile Launcher with Frag and Krak Missiles
. Dark Reaper [67pts]: Dark Reaper Range Finder, Missile Launcher with Frag and Krak Missiles
. Dark Reaper [67pts]: Dark Reaper Range Finder, Missile Launcher with Frag and Krak Missiles

++ Total: [380pts] ++

Hi Again

I don’t have a huge amount to say about this months contribution.  I think I have got the basics for painting these consistently down.  I got these mostly done very early in the month and went forward with a bonus entry.

So firstly, the main entry:

The other half of the tactical squad that I painted last month – this half having the special weapon and sergeant.

I did change the sergeant’s weaponry half way through – I didn’t like the look of the sword I had and instead gave a small axe from wargames atlantic.

On to the bonus entry – every figure having a head swap from what it first came with – plus obviously the replacement assault cannon.  

This took more work on my part as again I had to figure out how to paint to match the regular marine girls I already had painted.

A large portion of this was edge highlighting several times over to get the amount of brightness in the figures right and then the usual layers of dusty blue dipping ink to get the blue looking right.

About half way through the painting process I painted the power fists red to match the bolters.  I then had the horrible moment where I realised that they looked like crimson fists.  Hence I spent an evening making every power fist have red and green checks.

I have not worked on either of my remaining bonus tasks this month – but plan to have at least one finished next month and the other finished in the last month.

I also intend to continue on with this army at about the same rate through until the end of the year.  That should get me around 60 painted (most but not all of my figures – but definitely enough for even large games).

Tactical combat squad – needs minor conversions

150

Flamer 9

Power sword axe for sergeant 7

Slice 4 – 166 points

Terminator Squad:  265

5 Power Gloves: 50

Assault Cannon: 41

Bonus Slice: 356

This month I took the family for 2 weeks in Italy. When I entered the challenge I planned my painting block for this month to be something I could manage around my travel schedule. My plan for the month was to paint the warboss (Kor Sparktoof), his 4 gretchin assistants, and the army standard bearer.

Kor is a cunning (but not quite cerebral) ork. What Kor most definitely is NOT, is a subtle ork. I tied the command group together with tiger stripe camouflage: and when it comes to Blood Axes they mean more “tiger stripe” than “camouflage” (to an ork, the difference is negligible). As is usual for Kor, he displays his motivation proudly in his personal livery of Judas Priest art. I built his back banner from styrene shaped over a flame, drilled a few bullet holes, and painted it with the classic Melvyn Grant art from Judas Priest’s 1981 album “Hero, Hero.” I’m particularly proud of his back banner, considering it’s around 20mm X 30mm. His Gretchin assistant with the knife, shotgun, and eye patch is my favorite greenskin sculpt of Warhammer 40,000, of any edition.

The army standard bearer is modified from a Rogue Trader-era standard bearer with a brass rod to lengthen the pole, the original standard placed on top, additional skulls, and epoxy sculpting. I painted the army standard with the ‘Metallion’ from the cover of Judas Priest’s 1984 album “Defenders of the Faith.” I let my family vote for what cover art to use for the army standard. It was down to “Turbo” and “Defenders of the Faith” as being the most “orky” choices. I’m glad Defenders won out, since Kor Sparktoof identifies closely with the first track from that album:

"Fast and furious we ride the universe
To carve a road for us that slices every curve in sight
We accelerate, no time to hesitate
This load will detonate whoever would contend its right
Born to lead at breakneck speed
With high octane we're spitting flames
Freewheel burning!"

-- Freewheel Burning, Judas Priest, 1984

I feel these are my best pieces of freehand so far, and I couldn’t be happier!

Month 4 is a wrap. Next month I’ll be painting 2 mobs of boyz.

MODELS AND POINTS:

Warboss – Kor Sparktoof 65
Ork ‘Eavy Armor 7
Gretchin Assistants (3 @ 3) 9
Gretchin Assistant Champion 5
Battle Standard Bearer – Ork Standard Bearer 50

Points: 136
Models: 6

Welcome back dear apprentice mechanics! How’s that second-hand Rhino up on blocks? Demanding human flesh and speaking to you at night? Just be sure not to feed it after midnight is all and  definitely DO NOT repeat the words it whispers. Let’s look and see how the rest of the malefic machinery is going!

This month sees me complete the second of my official subgoals by completing three vehicles in a single month. However, the ruinous powers truly have my soul now and I actually completed four vehicles and a few more bits and bobs! We have three dreadnoughts all of very different designs; a Slaanesh Rogue Trader renegade dread (I cannot believe I finally have one!), a Thousand Sons one from second edition proper and finally a Death Guard dreadnought that takes the form of a corrupted Eldar dreadnought (often known as a wraithlord to you whippersnappers)!

The fluff here is that the sorcerer Septivus the Unwashed cursed this war machine and invaded it’s soulstones with all manner of nurgle daemons. Now however the daemons are trapped in the soulstones and are bound to Septivus’ will while they slowly corrupt this walker into a fleshy monstrosity! I achieved the grossness with a mixture of green stuff, bass strings, pva and superglue and then the rest is just paint (no airbrush here either)!

The rest of the models for this month are twelve cultists dedicated to Nurgle and a corrupted rhino for the plague marines to hoon around in. This rhino also got some epic conversion work done to it and I went a bit nuts here XD I also managed to make some game counters here to tick off another sub-challenge and these include three blight grenade markers and three wreckage markers (thanks to Oddgit’s Hut for the inspiration here).

Thanks once again for reading and see you next month!

TainMONTH FOUR’S CONTRIBUTION:

One Rhino (50pts)

One Dreadnaught with MK1 plasma cannon and power claw (190pts)

One Dreadnaught with MK1 plasma cannon and power scourge (195pts)

One Dreadnaught with power claw and twin-linked lascannon (205pts)

1 Acolyte: Plasma pistol, power sword and mesh armour (23pts)

6 Chaos Cultist Coven members:  Five lasguns and a heavy bolter (49pts)

5 Chaos Cultist Coven members:  Three stub guns, a shotgun and a heavy Stubber (35pts)

Total points: 747pts

Total model count: 28

Subgoal completed:

Paint three vehicles in a month

Unintentional subgoals completed:

Sculpt a significant addition to a figure (Nurgle dread and rhino)

Build usable game tokens (3x Blight grenade markers and 3x wrecked vehicle fire markers)

Mist swirled in the cavern’s vast expanse. Exarch Shan’Tel hovered silently amidst ice stalactites. the battle went on. He monitored the progress of a unit of Striking Scorpions, crawling their way across the icy debris below. The Tyranids were full of surprises, springing from dark crevasses when least expected. Losses had been heavy.

Wham! A heavy impact threw Shan’Tel out of his musing, spiraling toward the ground. “Gargoyles, sir!” The warning came too late through his headgear. Dozens of shadows detached from the ceiling and hurtled toward his unit. Batlike wings expanded and gobbets of acid vomit across ice and Eldar alike. They were too many….

And then, there were none.

A flash of warp energy and a four-armed figure apparated onto a stalactite beside Shan’Tel. A burst of fire launched gossamer webs from his two weapons. Anything the webs touched, died, sliced at the atomic level into falling slabs of meat. The warp spider released his hold on the stalactite, falling with the remnants of his prey toward the cavern floor before blinking out of Shan’Tel’s sight, silently as he had arrived. 

* * *

Today I have lots of aspect warriors! A unit of four Warp Spiders and their exarch, a unit of five Striking Scorpions, and, as a bonus, a unit of four Swooping Hawks with their exarch.

I attempted to keep my paint scheme for these units, but also wanted to make them unique to display their aspects.

The Warp Spiders were the least fun to paint. Traditionally, they should be red, but after many… many… attempts I could not find a scheme that made them coherent with the rest of the army’s blues and greens. Instead, we went with black (Sorry Dark Reapers!) and settled for a red emblem on their belts. This was my first time using a dark blue to highlight black and I really like how it turned out. The freehand was fun and necessary to fill the canvas on the back of the spiders. It looks too empty otherwise!

Striking scorpions used the same base of Gauss Blaster Green I’ve had on my other units, but washed in green instead of blue. They’re a pretty simple paint scheme and went together fast!

My bonus Hawks! These were my favorites. I went for grey with their armor, keeping the color in their wings. I don’t actually have an Exarch model for the Hawks, but I did have Exarch wings. A little minor kitbashing later and we were able to get a decent enough model whipped up. I had to convert the ball on the model’s back where the wings normally sit into a gem. All in all, I’m very happy with how the unit turned out. They’re looking to get some play at our FLGS’ next crusade match!

Can’t believe we’re coming to the end of this challenge. Good luck everyone as we hit the final two months!

Slice 4

Model Count: 15

Total Points: 566

Warp Spiders – 4 – 164 points

Warp Spider Exarch w/ Jump Generator & 2 Deathspinners – 90 points

Striking Scorpions – 5 – 130 points

Swooping Hawks – 4 – 112 points

Swooping Hawk Exarch with wings – 70 points

The Night Lords Rhino rumbled across the battlefield, its metal hull creaking and groaning as it plowed through the rubble and debris of the war-torn city. Inside, a squad of Chaos Space Marines sat patiently, their eyes fixed on the holo-screens that displayed the tactical situation.

The leader of the squad, a hulking figure clad in midnight blue power armour, spoke into his vox: “Brothers, prepare yourselves. We will disembark at the next intersection.”

The Rhino slowed down as it approached the designated location, its engines whining as it came to a stop. The side doors of the vehicle opened with a hiss of hydraulics, and the Night Lords of squad Kalex leapt out, their weapons at the ready. As they emerged from the Rhino, they found themselves in the middle of a fierce battle. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of burning flesh, and the ground shook with the detonations of artillery shells.

The Chaos Space Marines advanced, their weapons spitting fire and death at the enemy. Bolter rounds whizzed through the air, tearing through flesh and armor alike, while plasma and melta beams lanced out, melting through walls and enemy vehicles. The Night Lords moved with a cold efficiency, their movements calculated and precise. They showed no mercy to their foes, cutting them down with brutal efficiency.

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My fourth slice consists of a classic Rhino with added spiky bits! I always assumed the Chaos Rhino came out in the later stages of 2nd edition, but it was in fact not until April 1999 (a good six months into 3rd edition) when GW designed the spiky Chaos vehicle upgrade kit and packaged it with the existing Space Marine Rhino. The Chaos Predator would follow in May 1999.

I once again broke out my Nostalgia ’88 paints, and more or less used the same techniques as on the Dreadnought from last month. Though there’s thankfully a lot less gold trim on this model!

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Nightrider

1x Chaos Rhino (50)
Total: 50 points

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This month I also managed to finish one of my subgoals!

-Build a faction specific piece of terrain/objective

I’ve always liked the look of the GW Studio Chaos monuments from the Warhammer Fantasy 4th edition era (also used in 2nd edition 40K), and I’ve been wanting to build some of my own for quite some time. This challenge provided me with a good opportunity, so I finally got around to building a shrine/monument dedicated to the four Chaos gods. I imagine the statue at the top represents a mighty Daemon Prince blessed by the four powers.

I used a plastic cake pillar for the column and a resin gargoyle from Greebo Games as the statue. The base was made out of insulation foam, and the Chaos icons are the plastic ones from the 3rd edition vehicle sprue (I think). I used tile grout to texture the stonework and then painted it with a selection of greys and browns.

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My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddgits.hut

Cheers!

Well, I actually finished on time this month, but forgot to put together my email early… heh.

Anyhuw, this month I have mostly been painting Space Wolf Scouts – two packs of 5, to be precise. I also had time to paint up a “Nigel” and Ragnar (who was an eBay rescue and needed his face covering with a mask), which were nice little bonuses to get out of the way.

111pts – Wolf Scouts – Bolter, Meltagun, 5 Swords

104pts – Wolf Scouts – Bolter, Chainsword, 4 Swords

161pts – Ragnar Blackmane & Frostfang, Master-crafted Bolt Pistol

275 pts – Njal Stormcaller & Nightwing, Psychic Hood, Runestaff

12 more models and I’m in my stride 😀

Still need to do the bonus subgoals though…

After cutting things a bit too fine this month I decided to work on this month’s slice nice and early.  Sure enough in the first week or so of the month I got the Shadowseer painted.  I also got half way though the Death Jesters, then I hit a wall.  Queue one looming deadline and suddenly some very sleepless nights see me just squeaking this one in!  I’m taking it as a win though because I did get a bunch of work done nice and early in the month.  Just not enough of it which I plan to build on in the last two months.

Shadowseer  214
 -Pack Grenade Launcher
 -Laspistol

 -Powerfist

Death Jester 125
Death Jester 125
Death Jester 125

Total Harlequins: 589

I did quite well with the painting schedule this month, even managing to add some transfers to my previous month’s models… but still left the photography to the last minute as usual, because I’ve also been trying to make some terrain that I could use as a backdrop. Of course, when I came to take the photos, my camera ran out of battery charge…

This month’s models are some Eldar Scouts, their bright yellow helmets broken up by stripes inspired by an old Eldar Pirate illustration, and a pair of Warlocks.  One Warlock has had a weapon swap, getting Eldrad’s sword in exchange for his singing spear.

I also bought some Microset and Microsol to apply the transfers to my previously painted jetbikes and aspect warriors, and think they helped get a good finish and made it easy to add painted details on top of the logos.

I ran out of time to finish the terrain, a bunker inspired by a cardboard model I remember making from the middle of a White Dwarf, but have included a couple of work in progress photos of to show how it was made. I put together of two layers of foamcard, the top layer with arches cut out, and with sides overlapping by the thickness of the foamboard to allow the sides and front to join.  This was topped with a layer of mounting board with slightly larger arches cut out for the pointy arches, and card left over from board game components for the round arches.  Cereal packet card covers up up the untidy corners, and leftover bits of mdf and plasticard for the ledge and upper floor.  I used pieces of a Necromunda barricade for the door and upper floor hatch handle, then used greenstuff and no more nails glue to fill in gaps and cover raw foam.

Total for this month is 10 models, 328 points:

2 Warlocks – Witch Blades [132 pts]

8 Scouts – 1 Power Sword, 3 Laspistols, 1 Shuriken Pistol [196 pts]

Colonel Voss looked at the spectacle some hundred yards away. Fire had spread to most of the patch of jungle, but even the roar of the flames couldn’t entirely drown out the sounds coming from the jungle. Lasguns cracking, explosions and screams of man and alien alike filled the night and was audible even from this distance. Suddenly the familiar sound of Lieutenant Burke’s voice brought the Colonel’s attention back to the group of guardsmen gathered in the shallow dunes behind him. ‘This is two, looking for some Howlers to do some howling…shit went crazy real fast. Get your asses in gear and get those grenades flying…on my six, I repeat, on my six’. Even with the sound of combat in the background, Burke’s voice was easy to make out. Harvon picked up the horn, ‘Two, Harvon here reading you loud and clear. pipes are hot and ready’. Harvon looked at the voxcaster, as the numbers ran across the display. ‘Two, Howlers acknowledge, expect incoming in 60 seconds, on your six, I repeat, on your six, coordinates confirmed.’ Voss looked at the mortar squad scrambling to get ready as he walked down to them. ‘Looking good men, get those pipes in position’, he slapped Harvon on the shoulder as he walked past. ‘Keep your eyes and ears on the horn, we’ll let you know if the situation changes.’…’Yes Sir’, Harvon snapped a quick salute to the Colonel before returning to his squad. Voss had just made it across the small camp, before the first mortar went off followed by a second and a third, sending howling shells of death across the dunes into the jungle. He turned around and looked at the scenery once more. It always amazed him how precise and coordinated Harvon’s men operated. Trained and drilled to deliver their deadly cargo with precision and accuracy, the crew worked in unison leaving nothing to chance and using every second to their advantage. ‘What’s the word Boss?’, Voss looked back over his shoulder at his unit, waiting patiently for the Colonel. ‘The word is that so far things are going…well if not according to plan, then at least in the right direction. But I think it’s high time we get a move on, if we’re not to miss out on the action.’ He looked to the top of the dune and the tanks parked there. ‘Sergeant Akil’, he called out to the tank commander, who immediately popped his head up the turret. ‘Fire up those engines, me and the boys are gonna need a ride.’

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Halfway through the challenge, and the number of minis left to paint is decreasing rapidly. Having only 6 minis in the fourth slice, I put several different bonus projects on the table, hoping to be able to finish at least some of them. This however did not go exactly as planned, as time became an issue between work and reality. But luckily the last two months are looking somewhat better in this regard, so I should be able to get some of these projects done before the end of the challenge. Anyway, back to this month’s slice, the mortar squad. Love the minis, as I’ve found I do with more or less all the Catachans I’ve done so far, and it was a real pleasure to paint them.

I really don’t know why I decided to do them on separate bases, as I’ve done all my heavy squads in the Tallarn army on one larger base (save the missile launchers). I probably ended up doing them like this, because I haven’t done any of the other teams for the Catachans, and aren’t planning to do so. I might be able to put together one or two autocannon teams if I have to, from what’s in the box, but it’s not exactly something I need in the army. And with the current value and availability of 2nd edition heavy weapon teams, I’m really not looking into expanding the army. I would love to be able to field more mortar squads, but that’s a dream for another future, as I learned that they are very scarce and for that same reason quite expensive. So for the time being I’m more than happy with the one squad. Besides, considering the rules and the impact of these in a game, I’m sure I can use the points for something more worth it.

I’m somewhat inclined to redo them at some point, to make them fit better with my Tallarns, but for now they will be deployed like this. Besides, I’ve got several other “small projects” between my Tallarns and this army, that’s of a higher priority, if I’m ever going to get around to it. Bonus models this month were limited to a single mini. You really can’t have too many assassins, and so the Callidus was up next. Power swords and power weapons in general, have always been an issue for me. Through the years I’ve tried several different techniques, but never really got the hang of it.

I guess having painted mostly Imperial Guard, I just haven’t done enough of them, to get it done right. And lacking the skill to do anything really impressive, I just did…something. I think it ended up ok, even though you probably can’t see it in the bad angle of the even worse picture that my phone for some reason decided to take. Looking at what other people can do with these minis, my work really doesn’t give it enough credit. But I love the assassin minis and love painting them.

And wouldn’t you know it, there’s actually another one sitting on my table right now, waiting for its turn.

Heavy Weapons squad @ 120 pts – 3 x mortar

Imperial Assasin – Callidus @ 237 pts