Logan's Fenrisian Wolves

 Logan painted these guys in two sittings using Contrast paints. I helped him with the face. Models covered in texture make for a good use of Contrast paints since you don't get that blotchy effect I always get on flat surfaces. He got a little brown on the legs in a few areas but would rather call it "dirt" than fix it.

Don't I have a nice rack?

I decided to organize my hobby area with a paint rack. Browsing the interwebs for ideas, I found a hobbyist who hit on an amazing, low-cost solution: a simple nail polish rack. (Who knew anyone would own 60 bottles of nail polish, let alone that they are almost exactly the same size as Citadel paint pots?) 

For $16 and next-day delivery, you cannot beat it: Amazon link

It feels pretty sturdy and should last. The only problem is that it isn't big enough for all my paints, including washes, textures, and technicals so I will need to order another. (I guess even nail polish junkies don't need as many colors and textures as miniature painters who are working on three to four armies at once.) I am looking forward to getting the entire paint collection organized and neatly stacked. 

Update with the second rack. I didn't realize how many paints I had! There are some doubles of the same color (and eve a few triples), and a few that are all dried out and need to be tossed, so that will open up a bit of space. At least having it all organized I now know exactly what I have and can better keep track of what I need. 

Painting will be more organized from now on!

Xhorik 87th Commission Art

We have something a little different today.

A few months ago, I came across some nice-looking art for an Imperial Guard regiment on a hobby community site. I was intrigued enough that I reached out to the artist and asked what it would take to get a piece done for my Xhorik 87th Drop Troopers. The price seemed reasonable so I decided to give it a try. I shared with him the little bit of story I had written on this blog and a bunch of photos of painted models. I told him to just create whatever he felt would represent the models and the background.

After a few months, here is the result:

Antax pattern lascarbine sketch

I am very impressed with the effort he put into capturing the unique model of lasgun I converted. 

The second thing he created were the markings and emblems.

He drew a firebird based on the regimental banner model that I painted. And if you look at the badges, there are a lot of 8s and 7s in the imagery, such as the 7-sided polygons inside the 8-sided polygons or the numbers of spears, to represent the 87th. He used spears to represent this regiment being the spear tip of an Imperial army. And of course lots of orange, the regimental color. I really appreciated all the thought he put into the symbolism. The small badges are meant to be at a resolution that could be printed onto transfers for shoulder pads, if I ever want to try that.

Drop trooper sketch

Drop trooper in action

Here is everything put together. 

I think it turned out pretty great. You can tell he put a lot of thought into the project. The art of the trooper is a little busy for my taste, but I like that he captured the unique helmet (on the ground) and lasgun from my conversions and tried to convey a sense of what a drop trooper would be doing: calling in bombing strikes rather than fighting in the trenches. Overall, it was pretty cool to collaborate with someone else I've never met on a hobby project. 

More Stormtroopers

 Painted a few more stormtroopers. Added a few grenades, pouches and a knife to make them look as kitted-out as my drop troopers.

Operation Downfall Campaign Report 2: The Battle for Alteron Bridge

"I got a bad feeling about this one."
"When was the last time you felt good about anything?"

- Exchange between veterans of the 2nd squad, 1st platoon, 4th company of the Xhorik 87th,
prior to the battle for Alteron Bridge

Campaign To Date:

It is the middle of the Horus Heresy and civil war rages across the galaxy on a thousand worlds. Everywhere, former brothers and sworn allies have turned against each other in a fury of betrayal and hatred. The Warmaster Horus has begun his long march to Terra, crushing all resistance before him. In his direct path is the Xhorik System, located at a strategic crossroads of Warp currents in a sector of space known for smooth transitions between realspace and the Warp. This prosperous system has become a focal point for the Traitor war effort as they attempt to seize control of the key spaceport facilities to enable a rapid refuel and resupply of the main Traitor war host as they make their way to the throne world. 

On Xhorik Prime, the key trading and transport hub of the system, Traitor forces are newly victorious over those loyal to the Emperor in a massive planetary civil war that erupted along old, pre-Imperial factional rivalries. A combined force of Death Guard and World Eaters has crushed the stratocracy of Kozar and their small garrison of the White Scars Legion. The major space ports are now securely in the hands of the Traitors, although small bands of Loyalist survivors continue to wage a shadow war along the fringes of the high desert wilderness. 

On Xhorik Secundus, the planetary governor has remained loyal to the Emperor and maintained control of most of the planet. As war raged on Xhorik Prime, armies began mobilizing for an invasion of the heart of Traitor territory, in the Federation of Unimund. The first phase of the invasion was codenamed Operation Downfall and called for a massive nighttime drop assault on key enemy installations in order to clear the way for the massive, lumbering landing craft that would be bringing the bulk of the invasion the next day.

Although suffering significant casualties in the war for Kozar, the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Regiment, the Firebirds, were called upon to support Operation Downfall from Xhorik Prime, along with several dozen drop regiments from Xhorik Secundus attacking from orbit. They would be making simultaneous night drops to secure key landing zones, disable defense and communication capabilities, and clear roads and bridges to allow the Loyalist forces to move quickly out of the vulnerable landing zones, establishing a beach head. The target of the 4th Company was the Alteron Bridge. They were to secure it in the night and hold it against any and all enemy counterattacks to enable the landing forces to quickly breakout of their landing zones and establish a controlled perimeter. 

Pre-Game and Mission:

The scenario would be simple. We would play the Bridge Assault scenario posted previously, except with the victory condition that whoever controlled the bridge at the end of the game would win. 

Army Selection:

Traitor Counterattack Force - Pete

General Titus Ghoulv’s Iron Battalion – “The Marauders of Meddeon VII”, “The Pirates of the Northern Fringe”, “The Chem Hounds”

• Force Commander Saghesh the Sadistic: power sword, plasma pistol, refractor field, Alchem-Jackers, Warrior Elite
• Squad Alpha - The Tongue Collectors: 15 Grenadiers with plasma gun, flamer
• Squad Beta - The Psycho Slaves: 15 Grenadiers with melta gun, flamer
• 2 Auxilia Medicae: Dr. Cut and Dr. Cauterize
• Leman Russ Battle Tank
• Leman Russ Demolisher
• Leman Russ Vanquisher
• Malcador Battle Tank Chimaera with armored ceramite and flare shields

Death Guard Allies

• Tactical Squad with vexilla and sergeant with power fist
• Tactical Support Squad with flamers and Rhino with heavy flamer
  
• Deredeo pattern dreadnought with Arachnus heavy lascannon battery, twin-linked heavy bolter, Aiolos missile launcher, and helical targeting array

Xhorik 87th Drop Troopers, 4th Company - Phil

This battle would be a tougher task for my airborne infantry than the last scenario. Holding an open objective in the center of the table would be suicide for an army without any solid armor so I knew I would have to utilize some fortifications in order to have a chance. I took an Aegis defense line along with some tank traps to represent the drop troopers' taking the time to establish a fortified position on the bridge. They had arrived in the night and had time to prepare, after all. 

I would be using all of my Xhorik 87th regiment that I had painted, which would give me some firepower in the form of the three fliers: the Valkyrie transport, the Lightning attack fighter, and the newly-arrived Avenger strike fighter. My plan was to use my veterans to establish a solid line at Pete's end of the bridge to stall him, while deploying a second rank at the other end of the bridge to hold the objective later in the game when the first rank was inevitably destroyed. I would use my reserves to attack Pete's militia on their side of the bridge, pinning them down and striking at any exposed rear armor I could see and generally causing chaos. From previous experience, I knew Pete would hesitate to rush the bridge with everything he had in his first few turns as long as the threat of my reserves striking his rear was still  viable. I knew I could not destroy his much tougher force, but with any luck, I could tie him up on his side of the bridge and use my air support to destroy anything that tries to cross the open space of the bridge toward my second rank. I would be asking my lightly-armed paratroopers to stand against a wall of tanks and a few squads of superhuman space marines, but I knew they were up to the task. To die in defense of the Empire of Man is their duty!

• 4th Company command section (5): regimental standard, medic, vox, power sword and plasma pistol
• Lord Commisar with power sword, bolt pistol, and refractor field
• Stormtrooper squad (10): melta gun, plasma gun, sergeant with power sword
• 4th Co., First platoon: Veterans
• Veteran squad (10) with carapace armor, three sniper rifles and missile launcher
• Veteran squad (10) with carapace armor, two sniper rifles, missile launcher and plasma gun
• Veteran squad (5) with shotguns and demo charge
• 4th Co., Second platoon: Grav chute insertion force
  • Platoon command squad (5) with power fist, vox, medic and two grenade launchers
  • 1st Infantry squad (10) with melta gun 
  • 2nd Infantry squad (10) with grenade launcher 
  • Special weapons squad (6) with three melta gun teams 
  • Special weapons squad (6) with three melta gun teams
  • Heavy support squad (6) with three missile launchers
  • Drop sentinels (2) with multimeltas
  • Valkyrie with multilaser, 2 Hellstrike missiles, and 2 heavy bolters
• Tauros with grenade launcher
• Drop troop recon bikers White-Bolts (5) with demo charge
• Drop troop recon bikers Black-Bolts (5) with breacher charge
• Sentry Guns (3) with twin-linked lascannons
• Lightning: six missiles, twin-linked lascannon
  
• Avenger: Avenger bolt cannon, twin linked lascannon

**WH40k Taros Campaign army list with 15% discount

Battle:

The lead elements of the Xhorik 87th 4th Company fortify the Alteron Bridge, hoping reserves will arrive before the inevitable Traitor counterattack.