++++INLOADING DATAFILE 088++++ Void Shield Generator WIP 1.0

Just a quick update today as I'm at drill this weekend. This week I mostly worked on a commission to build a void shield generator. Many of the components come from a Triaros Armored Conveyor, the rest are from a drop pod, some random plumbing pipes, and a massage ball.

These pictures are from the early layout phase of the project, it's almost finished now I'll upload more pictures on Monday when I have it completed.

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 087++++ Samech Pattern Rapier Laser Destroyer WIP 1.0

 Sometimes its can take several tries to successfully realise a conversion or scratch build project from the mental image in your head to an actual good looking miniature on a table.  This was one such project. 

For reference here is the amazingly crappy version of a rapier I had worked on a few months ago from my Chaos Renegades army.  It was terrible and I couldn't bring myself to use it.

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future there are only giant killer vacuum clearners!

And now here is attempt number 2.

Samech Pattern Mk II Rapier Laser Destroyer

Samech is a fallen forgeworld, anyone who has played Deathwatch will likely recall it vaguely.

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 086++++ Adeptus Mechanicus Land Raider WIP 1.0

I've been busy of late, and playing too many computer games as well, hence the dearth of posts.  But I have been working on some projects, most notably this.

In the first Horus Heresy book there are not many options available to the Adeptus Mechanicus, but one of them is an Adeptus Mechanicus Land Raider.  A quick glance will show that this is not the heavy assault transport we are all used to, but more a heavily armored exploratory vehicle for traversing hostile environments.  Its stock armament is only a pair of Lascannons and a single Heavy Bolter, and it lacks the Assault Vehicle rule so it does not have the iconic front assault ramp.  To make up for this you are getting it at a great discount at 195 points.

It also has a crazy amount of options, so you can customize it to your heart's content.

I decided to go with a relatively inexpensive but very potent anti personnel build with a Volkite Culverine and a pair of Quad Heavy Bolters.  I also plan to take an Exploratory Augury Web, Flare Shield, and an Auxiliary drive.

As you can see this is a pretty comprehensive rebuild of the basic Land Raider Chassis.  I picked up an old Land Raider a friend and I had tried to convert a while back and removed the front ramp and turret well.  Instead of having the standard offset front sponson I centered it, which means that the vehicle is driven by sensors (no driver's vision port).  I added the sensor pod from the Land Raider Helios to represent the augery web and rebuilt the front using a piece from a Land Raider Achilles.  Then a bunch of plasticard went into creating a new front sponson well, I wanted to use a layered armor plate approach to make it look like the standard Land Raider chassis had been reinforced considerably.

The Volkites and most of the other bits come from a Triaros Armored Conveyor.  I built the front sponson from some defiler and land raider parts, and the 4 gun volkite array just looks cool, its a great feeling when an idea starts to fit together right.  The tracks also were copied from the Triaros, I need to do more work to fix the gaps and casting errors in them but it was worth the effort to visually tie into other Admech vehicles more.

The side hatch was made from the Triaros.  The instant mold material is great for doing quick one off molds for cool parts like this hatch, I cast up at least a dozen for future use as well.  The side sponson is complex; first I started by casting copies of the Hunter turret well (an awesome bit as it can go on top of any vehicle).  Then I sawed off part of the waist to a Khorne Lord of Skulls (Very cool bit, I found a bunch online cheap.) to create a smaller turret well.  Then I took a rhino hatch, shaved the antennae off and inserted it.  After that I used the ball turret part from the volkites I chopped up to make the front sponson and used part of a Forgefiend's plasma cannon to attach it to the sponson.  This all attaches to the Quad Heavy Bolters which were made from recasts of the twin linked Mauler Bolt Cannon from the Triaros.

More work still needs to be done on the sponsons but the basic concept works.

The engine parts are again directly copied from the Trairos, I circled the particular parts below.  It was surprisingly easy to make the molds as the tracks come in separate pieces.

  I haven't completely decided yet what to do for the sides of the engines, this is just a test fit so far.  

 

From above you can see how the roof has been redesigned to accomodate the sensor turret, more detail work remains to be done.  The exposed machine parts on the back are something I am debating over.  They look cool, but it would require the rest of the roof to be redesigned further.  I'll let it sit for a bit and see what jumps out to me to help join all the parts together.

For the rear I'm debating on whether or not to try and use the big gears from the Triaros.  Alternatively I'll have a number of large exhausts coming off the sides.  I'm leaning more towards the exhausts, again this is just a test fit at the moment.

So that is where this project stands as of this afternoon.  Its coming out as well as I'd hoped, its actually the first time I've built a Land Raider in at least 8 years and its fun working with the kit again.

Coming up soon I'll take a break from my Admech posts to show off an Ork Dread mob I built to sell.  My goal is to build up some interest so that when I put the stuff up on ebay it actually gets a good price.

As always let me know if you have any recommendations on ways I can make this tank look better.

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 085++++ Sicarian Infiltrator/Ruststalker WIP 1.0

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been busy cleaning out my apartment to make room for more stuff and with several new computer games.  I'd recommend Dungeon of the Endless to anyone who has a spare day and enjoys falling into rabbit holes.

That said I have had some recent hobby progress, notably my conversions of Sicarian Infiltrators to make them look more like IG-88 from Star Wars.  My original idea was to use Imperial Guard Mortar Shells for the basis of the head, this was a terrible idea as they are way too small for it.  Sometimes you need to actually have the models in hand to realize that an idea sucks.

But in the process of getting the mortar rounds out of my bitz box an ancient special weapons sprue from Necromunda fell out of the box (literally) before me and I had the perfect bit.  Its the macehead to the power maul from the Redemptionists gang.  After trimming down some spikes to make them into eye lenses and lopping off the handle it was ready to get mounted.

See the resemblance? 

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 084++++ Skitarii Vanguard WIP 1.5

So I finally had the chance to crack open my two boxes of Sicarian Infiltrators and man is there a lot bits wise in this kit! The first thing which I decided to use it for was to upgrade my earlier Skitarii Hypaspists. I didn't wind up quite liking how that first attempt came out, so here is try number two which I mentioned yesterday.

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 083++++ Sicaran Ruststalkers/Infiltrators

Just a quick announcement, I have picked up two of these kits and I want to convert them so badly that I am considering ducking out from work early.  Stupid work....

I'm planning to use the heads from the Ruststalkers and the Flachette pistols to revamp my Skitarii Hypaspists.  I wasn't satisfied with how these guys looked before, they were too "good guy" esk in appearance.  So here is a proof of concept for what I intend to do to fix that problem.  I'm excited to make this work.  Obviously the pistol needs to be upscaled into a rifle, but really that shouldn't be too hard at all.

Ok now back to work.

++++INLOADING DATAFILE 082++++ Another X-Wing Tournament

Edit: I updated this with better pictures, that's the problem with posting from your phone.

Alright so over the last two months I have gotten more into x-wing, honestly I play it more than 40k at the moment, and I've gotten quite better at it. Last night was another local tournament and I came in Second. It had a disappointing turnout of 4 players, but on the plus side that meant I got to play against all the lists being flown.

Here is a quick run down of my list:

 

 

The basic strategy is to restrict my opponent's movement options through asteroid placement and then rush in and pop the proton rockets into the enemy's biggest ship to take it down fast. From that point the A-wings fly circles around people and do a lot of damage without taking return fire. Tycho can fly around on his own well enough without needing any help, while Kyle's and Jake's abilities are an obvious combo.

Calculation is a great choice for an economical attack boosting pilot skill. I highly recommend it for ships with 1 or 2 attack dice, as you will average 1 hit and 1 focus on two dice. Autothrusters are simply must have for A-wings, the automatic evade die gives you an average of 2 evades on three dice, add an evade token and you will reliably dodge at least 3 hits, which frustrates the hell out of a YT-1300. Push the limit is also a must I've found for A-wings, as they kick ass as long as they have an evade token and a focus token. It also helps guarantee that you will get into range 1 with a focus for your proton rockets as you can boost and then focus. Jake can even focus, boost/barrel roll, and target lock all in the same turn with PTL.

Kyle's build may seem weird. I've found that HWK-290s are terrible at avoiding enemy fighters with their bus like manyever dial, so I added the Autoblaster turret to turn him into a porcupine at short range. It also helps save up focus and is a cheap upgrade. Moldy crow is pretty obvious, but saboteur and expiramental interface was an odd choice. I planned to have the HWK fly behind the A-wings and thus be close to whatever they damaged as they flew past the previous turn. It did not work very well, mostly because Kyle couldnt get into position often enough. It did help kill a tie bomber though, so great combination just not for this ship.

One quick gripe about the HWK-290, it's the rebel's reconnaissance ship but it can't take a sensor upgrade. How does that make any sense?

Alright here is a quick rundown of what I fought from memory:

Round 1: Scum list

 

This opponent was new to his list and overconfident regarding its durability. The Viper ended up flying way off away from the fight and he mismanuevered (just because you are stressed does not always mean it's the best idea to do a green manyever). He also played very aggressively with the Aggressor putting it up right in front of my A-wings. Jake fly right up and bumped him, but then barrel rolled off with a focus token from Kyle. Both he and Tycho then pumped their proton rockets into the Aggressor killing it in one round. From that point the A-wings out flew his fighters and killed them, he tried everything but once either Jake or Tycho are on your tail they pretty much stay there.

So I won with no losses.

 

Round 2: Tie Bomber Squadron

 

     

This list was quite intimidating at range. My opponent deployed the pilot skill 2 pilot on one side and his other two ships opposite of it as a lure. His plan was to fly that bomber back to his 'backup' and torpedo me as I have chase, which would have worked fine in I was flying anything other than A-wings. On turn one Jake moved 9 forwards and was turned to face the rear of the fleeing bomber. That is almost 1.5 feet of total movement, he can do it by moving 5 straight, boosting to one side, and then barrel rolling the other way for extra forward movement.

Two turns later and Jake was at range one behind the bomber and killed it with his rockets.

Tycho was deployed as my own lure opposite of the defender and other bomber. They ran forwards to target lock him and shoot him at long range, but then he did a three bank and boost to get out of their range. From that point he turned and got behind the secon bomber (which did a K-turn). He and Kyle killed the bomber and my opponent conceded.

This was the only time that I got to use saboteur, and even then it was just because the Bomber had already taken a damage during it's K-turn from flying over an asteroid. So not a good enough expenditure of 5 points.

Another win with no losses, each of these games was over quite quickly as well.

Round 3: Stereotypical Han and Friends

This kind of list is always a challenge as Han I so hard to kill. I ended up losing it due mostly to misjudging my movement with the A-wings and so not getting shots most turns. Next time I face this sort of list I will just joust the falcon with both A-wings and put ten dunce into it with the rockets. Han is just too powerful if he lives long.

I also messed up with maneuvering the HWK-290 and wound of stranding him in a corner for a few rounds, lesson learned on how not to fly it.

So yeah overall it was a great tournament. I plan to use the same list in the next tournament in two weeks, the only change I intend will be to swap out experimental interface and saboteur on the HWK for a recon specialist and to swap out calculation on Tycho for Expert Handling or Daredevil for more movement shenanigans.