Spikey Bits

Here's a quick look at some Marauder conversions I'm doing for my new Warriors of Chaos Army.

I wasn't quite satisfied with the look of the older models, so I took Empire Flagellants and jazzed them up a bit.  I added a Marauder Horsemen Head, Kroot Shoulder Pad, and a Shoulder Pad from the Vampire Counts Grave Guard.

This is of course just the "test figure" for the block of guys, so I'm sure the rest will look more menacing once they are completed!



What do you think? Chaotic or not? - MBG

Recently at FTW Games we had to get a lot of terrain made up for our 40k RTT.  Fortunately the local gaming club, Stony Point Refugees, had a bunch of Cities of Death buildings assembled. So I opted for the quick and easy route and based them all with Foamboad (also known as Foamcore).

Well I'm back with some great hobby advice to save you time and money, "counts as".  We've all got less and less time lately and it seems like there is no shortage of models to build, so what's better than to get the models you want, AND actually play with them? 

With me I just like to be different. My stuff HAS to be custom. I dunno if its my gamer O.C.D. or my multiple army syndrome, but when something new comes out and looks cool I gotta have it.  That's where "Counts as" comes in, I can make it fit into my existing army.

Now I'm sure by now you've taken a closer look and seen the Chaos iconography on my Storm Raven, and started screaming heresy. Heh, don't worry this baby isn't necessarily chaos per ce, its just a "counts as" Blood Angels Stormraven Gunship.

Why? Well besides the point that fluff wise I'm sure the Iron Warriors have captured all sorts of neat stuff, (Tyranid Levithian ship in Storm of Iron anyone)?  I just don't have the time or the drive to paint up and convert both a Loyalist and Renegade marine army. I would MUCH rather keep converting and painting up models to be Chaos, and run them WYSIWYG off which ever Space Marine book I want.


I have a Chaos Vulkan He'stan (you didn't think the Salamanders had that spear for the last 10,000 years did you)? I have Chaos Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, heck I even have Chaos Land Speeders, and I sleep very well at night. That's because its all WYSIWYG, and I can play it for what it is.  

As many of you know I spent the better part of May opening up a game store in Richmond, Virginia (with lots of help I might add).

Last weekend was FTW Games' Grand Opening, and it was a blast. We had three special guests, Harry Heckel author of two Space Wolves novels, Bob Weiss aka "Brass Scorpion" on the internets, and Steve Campbell author of Turn Signals on a Land Raider (TSOALR) comic strip.

In my early testing I was so enamored with fast moving troop squads that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to some of the more expensive units in the codex.

After the love fest with 60 assault marines wore off (and really what isn’t there to love?) I started to tool around with honor guard and the Sanguinary Guard. They have a lot of options and can deliver quite a large amount of pain right where you need it and can help support those awesome troop/hq choices.

Let’s take a look at the Sanguinary Guard first. These guys have a lot going on. They look cool, can get access to a lot of special equipment and can also be fielded as a troop choice if you include Dante in your army.

Dante is no slouch. He’s got a great stat line, an invul save and gives you a pretty reliable hit and run ability. This is on top of his ‘precise’ deep striking. You don’t have to take Dante to make the SG effective though. He just allows you to take ‘more’ of them and gives a good reason to. There is something cool about deep striking an army of golden angels onto the table all with power fists and melta pistols.

The glaive encarmine is nice. It allows you to re-roll a miss in hand to hand. The ability to upgrade to a power fist for 10 points is also nice – and in a unit of SG I have found myself taking two.

You can also upgrade their guns to Infernus Pistols for 10 points. I also take two of these. Jump troops can always get up close and personal so the decreased range of these pistols is rarely an issue. I have trouble spending 15 points on these but 10 seems to be just the right price. These guys can jump up, pop a hard transport and then charge in for assault. At two (2) attacks base with power weapons that is no joke.

If I plan to have a character running with them, like Dante, a priest or a Librarian, it’s nice to go ahead and include the Chapter Banner for the plus 1 attack. It is the final piece of the puzzle that turns this unit into a real hammer. (besides including the Sanguinor for his attack bubble)

You, bar none, always want to have a priest with these guys. The priest doesn’t have to be joined with the unit but it also doesn’t hurt them to be so. This makes the SG incredibly difficult to kill without gratuitous use of AP 2 or better fire due to feel no pain. I know it’s out there, but if you’re smart where you put these guys then you should always be getting the drop on your enemy or at least in or behind cover. (even if that cover is your own assault squads standing in front of these dudes).

The priest gives them, and any other character that you might have running with the unit, furious charge as well. What’s not to like?

The SG unit I just described is only 270 points without the characters, 240 without the chapter banner if you decide it’s not for you.

Next up is the Blood Angels Honor Guard.

I like these more than the Sanguinary Guard for the simple fact that you have a built in priest. This unit can fill that critical ‘3rd priest aura’ issue that some lists seem to suffer from.

I originally started to filed the HG as a screen/cover save for Mephiston. He can fit inside a nice little pocket they make standing around him and the priest gives him FnP. I outfitted them with a few melta gunners and the Blood Champion because I thought the 20 points for a combat shield and power weapon was a good buy. The combat shield actually paid off a couple of times – but it’s a long shot. Something that is less of a long shot is the Storm Shield.

The BA Honor Guard can get 4 of them for 20 points each. Recently I’ve been running them with 2 power fists, 2 melta guns and 4 storm shields. This creates a unit that your enemy basically has to deal with in some way or another. They are also small and maneuverable enough to flank charge long lines of nob bikers or thunderwolves and come out on top – especially when supported by an HQ unit. It’s expensive but worth it.

When not taking Mephiston I like to include both a Chaplain and a Librarian with jump packs. This adds an amazing amount of offense to this unit. The Chaplain for re-rolling misses and fearlessness and the Lib for his str 10 power (re-rolling misses). In a budget pinch you can also get the re-rolling misses power for the Lib. The chapter banner the HG can take gives both of these guys an extra attack. The unit I described above is a whopping 345 points without the characters but ever bit as worth it and fill so many more roles on the battle field that a Regular Assault Squad can’t do. (that 345 points is exactly what a naked priest would cost in extra points to run with the above SG.. I think that makes the HG and ultimately better choice)

Like the SG above the Honor Guard are both a hammer and an anvil with 2 attacks base, access to many special weapons/power-type weapons. You can’t go wrong with their built in ‘phantom’ priest. If you aren’t including other IC models then the Chapter Banner is probably a little too much. Without it the unit is only 315 points and still just as worth it. This unit will put pain on anything it touches. The unit is also small enough to be able to hide behind line of sight blocking terrain or vehicles. I see a lot of mech lists run one jump squad to hide behind their sideways rhinos as they advance – maybe take one of these units instead next time.

What do you think? -TPM Blood Angel

Well true believers, I have managed to just about finish up my Stormraven Conversion. I know, I know, it took like two months but to be fair I did open up a gaming shop in there someplace!

I really tried to put a lot of detail into this puppy and actually rebuilt it twice, as you can see below. I think the second version really catches the "mini thunderhawk" theme I was going for originally.

Now I'm sure by now you've taken a closer look and seen the Chaos iconography, and started screaming heresy. Heh, don't worry this baby isn't necessarily chaos per ce, its just a "counts as" Blood Angels Stormraven Gunship.

The difference between my MKI and MKII Stormraven Gunship is quite striking. As you can see I cannibalized a large amount of kits on my project including both a Land Raider and Valkyrie kit- which acted as the base of the model. However in hindsight I'm not sure I actually needed the Land Raider's "guts". I also used front of a Pre-Heresy Land Raider from Forge World, and the FW Razorback Twin Lascannon to get the look I was going for.



While all this was costly monetarily it wasn't really necessary, as the same efffect could be obtained with scratch building or even using different components.  Regardless I used what I did mostly cause I had it already, and it was quick both of which work for me!



The rear Dreadnought bay is still intact, and functional. I also left the rear stabalizer intact, as I think it flows nicely with the height of the twin lascannon turret.



I had intended on doing a conversion guide, but with the redesign and the amount of people selling these things on e-Bay I decided against it.  However as always I'll answer any questions you may have about the work I did.
Well what do you think? Did I capture the design and spirit of the newest Astartes warmachine?