A short post to share recent progress as June comes to a close. I'm pretty excited to play the new edition of 40K and after fielding my Deathwatch in my first game the bug to continue the progress I started last fall is back! What I realized I was lacking was BIKES! In the first codex, I didn't get how they really fit into Kill Teams, and they couldn't be used standalone in the Deathwatch formations/detachments. Now in the new edition, they are back as a sanctioned stand alone unit for Deathwtach, plus add a new ability to kill teams they join - shooting in the same turn the unit withdraws from combat, which normally is not allowed. I had the White Scar model from kill team Cassius, so five more would allow me the option to field two minimum units of three, or break one unit up to mix with other kill teams, etc..
So of course I had to buy a box and get them assembled. I went heavy with the hand weapons as it seems a waste to run them with just the bolters on the bike. I may regret that when playing with points instead of power levels, but we'll see. The group above is led by a Dark Angels Ravenwing biker as a nod to my long time favorite Space Marine chapter. In all, I included members from the Dark Angels, Iron Hands, White Scars, Ultra Marines and Black Templars chapters in this squad.
So far I have only gotten as far as priming (Vallejo Black Primer) and base coating the armor (Abaddon Black) with the air brush. The I took a break to put some flesh on the Ork boyz! Basecoat and the first shade/wash layer in the picture below. I'm using the paint recipe form the GW painting guide for Ork boys. Not being a dedicated Ork player, I saw to reason to break with cannon and innovate here. I just want some simple, but good lookin' boyz to field.
And not content there, I decided I needed a little more Shadow Wars terrain for my Mechanicum Sector; shown below in all it's emergent glory...
Plenty of terrain for games of Shadow Wars now, and plenty of interest to spice up the occasion 40K game board too.
The tile on the bottom right of the photos is the new work in progress. Based on the Ferratonic Incinerator kit, I need to pick up another walkway sprue on eBay to give it a little more dimension on the second story (including more railings). In order to have the third bridge to connect tiles, I had to sacrifice two of the walkway/gantry pieces that come with that kit. I also laid down a few more sections of promethium pipes on a couple of the tiles to give more cover at the ground level as well.
I'll stop here with six Sector Mechanicus tiles to compliment my existing set of six Imperial Sector tiles. Plenty of great terrain now...and really where will I have the time to paint twelve tiles anyway?! Well...'ll get it properly based, and primed black anyway...then we'll see where I end up.
That's a lot of hobby for me. I expect another painting session tonight to round out June. I'm still torn between painting kill teams and Deathwatch...and terrain...plenty of variety anyway. Hopefully some more games will come too!
What projects are you looking forward too this summer?
Cheers and Happy Gaming!
I like it - the new terrain looks great too, I'm hoping to get my hands on a few bits myself as a couple of mates and I work up some boards so we can run events.
ReplyDeleteMike over at Standwargaming has a few thoughts on bikes in his latest batrep - they've certainly taken a bit of a hit with the ruling in 8th that they can't climb buildings, but I think the special issue ammo for deathwatch bikers still makes them entirely worth the cost!
Thanks, Nick! Funny thing; I just caught and read Mike's 2000pt battle article after hitting submit on my own post. Definitely some limitations to keep in mind there and a sign not to over invest in bikes now. I definitely see a house rule in my future to keep objectives on the ground floor and make games more interesting without forcing armies to limit themselves purely to address a rule on cover. My own terrain set now emphasizes multi level cover with most things haveing two levels and many have three or four floors...ugh! :)
ReplyDeleteSome great progress there Dave! I love the Deathwatch Bikers, both on the table and painting. I think they look great when painted up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just so you know, the Bikers in a Kill Team allow them to fall back and then assault. It is the Vanguard Veterans that allow them to fall back and then still shoot (thanks to Fly).
The terrain is looking great too. Once I get my current batch done, I am planning to invest in a bunch of the Shadow War sets, they just look amazing.
Ack; that's right! Thanks for the correction, Mike. Still getting the specific committed to memory it seems. I do like the abilities that the Terminators/Bikes/Vanguard add to the kill teams now in the context of the new rules.
DeleteI totally agree. I did not see the point of adding them to a Kill Team in 7th edition, but now they give you access to awesome new rules, they are well worth it!
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