2025 Hobby Recap

Time for another year-end review of my hobby output. 

Score: (infantry) + (vehicles/artillery * 5) + (terrain * 5) + (games * 5) + (battle reports * 5) + posts

(Blog posts from Pete or Bill also count toward the blog score as it is just total posts for the calendar year.)

2020 output:

• 54 infantry
• 3 vehicles/artillery
• 2 terrain pieces
• 6 games played
• 7 battle reports
• 18 total blog posts
• Score: 162

2021 output:

• 81 infantry
• 1 vehicle
• 3 terrain pieces
• 7 games played
• 6 battle reports
• 52 total blog posts
• Score: 218

2022 output:

• 27 infantry
• 4 vehicles
• 1 terrain piece
• 4 games
• 3 battle reports
• 22 total blog posts
• Score: 109

2023 output:

• 72 infantry
• 3 vehicles
• 0 terrain pieces
• 4 games
• 4 battle reports
• 20 total blog posts
• Score: 147

2024 output:

• 77 infantry
• 2 vehicles/artillery
• 3 terrain pieces (the octagon table)
• 10 games played
• 2 battle reports
• 32 blog posts
• Score: 194

2025 output:

• Evil Sunz nob (finished after about 9 years!)
• 5 Drop Troopers
• Fuel tanks terrain
• HH Phase 5 Operation Downfall Climax: The Battle for the Bridge Over the River Lodi battle report (game in 2024)
• Zone Mortalis battle report (game in 2024)
• The Cleansing of Outpost Zeta-47 battle report (game in 2024)
• 10 White Scars Destroyer Assault Squad
• 2 pieces of stacked logs scatter terrain (count as models not terrain)
• Recursive Lambent Generator Station Vardu-[5A] terrain piece
• Subterranean Seek and Destroy battle report (game in 2024)
• Blood Angels Raid on Ork Fuel Depot battle report (game in 2024)
• Whtie Scars Praetor with thunder hammer and jump pack
• 21 Shoota Boyz with Nob
• White Scars Falchion (superheavy counts as two vehicles)
• 30 Gretchin and 2 Runtherds
• Ork Warboss
• Take and Hold - Xhorik D-87 vs Hive Fleet Tarasque battle report (game in 2024)
• 5 Horus Heresy battles played (no battle reports yet)
• 2 forest terrain pieces

Totals:

• 73 infantry / scatter terrain
• 2 vehicles/artillery (super heavy tank counts as two)
• 4 terrain pieces (fuel tanks, generator station, two forests)
• 5 games played (all HH)
• 6 battle reports (two HH and four 40k)
• 29 blog posts (including this one)
• Score: 187

187 is above average over the last 5 years that I have been keeping track. I am surprised since long stretches of the year were quite slow from a hobby perspective. But once again, December was the busiest month with seven blog posts, including an awesome one from Pete debuting his Crimson Fists, and a long overdue battle report from last Christmas. Also, that big batch of grotz accounted for almost half of my infantry output for the year - a little faster than painting Horus Heresy marines!

I was able to complete more battle reports then games played, but I was not able to completely dig out of the hole from 2024, where we played ten games and only published two battle reports! Now so much time is passing between games and the reports that I cannot always find the notes or remember what happened. I need to quickly summarize the final phase of the Horus Heresy campaign so I can start completing battle reports quickly after the games again. 

As we transition from Horus Heresy to 4th Edition WH40K, it means I can paint models more quickly and the games will be smaller for a while so they should be quicker to play and document. I am excited to get back to playing Orks. Horus Heresy is amazing from a modeling and painting perspective, but the games were getting a bit stale as the Traitors were just dominating the campaign year after year. 

The main goal for 2026 is to play an escalation campaign centered around the Badlanding portion of the Rynn's World Incident. This will involve painting more Deathskulls and occasionally mixing in my black and red orks (counting as the Goff warband on the planet). I also want to start building some terrain to represent the agri-world of Rynn's World to prepare for that part of the campaign. To mix things up, I may paint a few Imperial Guard or other things. I will also finish up the Horus Heresy battle reports so I can start writing battle reports after each game again. 

And since this every post should have a photo and this praetor never got his own blog post, here he is. (I think I was planning to apply weathering first, but I never did.) Sadly, I built him to lead the destroyer assault squad but then realized they cannot be joined by characters. Until I someday build a regular assault squad, he will be relegated to leading a small unit of tactical marines. I magnetized the backpack, so I have the option of using jump pack. I love the dynamic pose that looks like he is leaping off the rubble, ready to smash something!

Last models of 2025 - The barren woods of Badlanding

 Just sneaking in one day before the end of the year, I finished some simple barren woods area terrain. 

Bloodied Fist: The Rynn's World Incident - Campaign Outline

The Rynn's World Incident is one of the oldest stories of Warhammer 40,000 lore. Some of the very first scenario written for Rogue Tader (Battle at the Farm and The Battle of Jadeberry Hill) took place during the ork invasion of Rynn's World. With Pete starting a Crimson Fists space marine army and me being an ork player, it seemed like the perfect setting for our next campaign. 

Our main source material comes from the article Bloodied Fist: The Rynn's World Incident (WD235, August 1999) by Andy Chambers, which is based on the old Rogue Trader material. It is one of the classic great White Dwarf articles including four pages of history on the incident, one page of fluff/story, and ideas on how to adapt the story into games for 3rd Edition. The second source is the article Disaster on Rynn's World (WD338, March 2008) which repeats much of the history text verbatim from Andy Chamber's article nine years earlier and offers up a campaign for 4th Edition. Another great reference is the Planetstrike book, which dedicates four pages to the Rynn's World Invasion. (Most of the important bits of the story can be found on lore websites such as Lexicanum, etc.

White Dwarf 338 - March 2008

I would like to combine these two articles and flesh them out with a few more scenarios into a multi-part campaign we can play over the next couple of years. 

Phase One: Badlanding

Phase Two: Ork invasion of Rynn's World and Kantor's journey to New Rynn City

Phase Three: Liberation of Rynn's World (18 months later)

Since Pete is just starting his Crimson Fists and I am just starting my Deathskulls, the plan for the Badlanding phase is to do an Escalation Campaign, where we start with 500 points per side and increase the size with each game. This will necessarily require us to change the campaigns from the White Dwarf articles by adding more small games. But that would be quite fitting for Badlanding as only 84 space marines were involved. 

In the 4th Edition campaign in WD338, the outcome of each battle has an impact on a future battle so we may want to incorporate that as well.

Phase 1: Bloodied Fist: Badlanding

3650989.M41 (lasting a couple of days)

Crimson Fists vs Orks except where noted otherwise.

Game 0: Planetstrike at Badlanding - Blitz scenario, Orks vs Imperial Guard, 1500 points (WD338)

Game 1: The Approach to Krugerport - Seek and Destroy scenario, 500 points

Game 2: Blades in the Night - Kill Team Reconnoiter mission (WD338)

Game 3: Fighting through Krugerport - Patrol scenario (WD235) - 1000 points

Game 4: Attack on the Filtration Plant - Sabotage scenario (WD338) - 1250 points

Game 5: Attack on the Comm Tower - Strongpoint Attack scenario (WD235) - 1500 points

Bonus Game: Thunderhawk Down - Combat Patrol, 400 points

White Dwarf 235 - August 1999

Phase 2: Disaster on Rynn's World

3903989.M41 (a few months after Badlanding and lasting two weeks)

Crimson Fists vs Orks except where noted otherwise.

Game 1: Into the Maelstrom - Planetstrike scenario with special rules (WD338 modified), Orks vs Crimson Fists and Imperial Guard allies - 1750 points

Game 2: Battle at the Farm - Special scenario (WD338)

Game 3: The Long Road to New Rynn City, Part 1 - Modified Combat Patrol (WD338)

Game 4: The Long Road to New Rynn City, Part 2 - Breakout scenario (WD235) - 1500 points

Game 5: Battle of Jadeberry Hill - Meatgrinder scenario (WD235) - 1750 points

Game 6: Battle for New Rynn City - TBD (Planetstrike book) - As many points as we have!

Planetstrike expansion - 2008

Phase 3: Liberation of Rynn's World

3403991.M41 (18 months later and lasting multiple years)

Battle of Phoenix Island map campaign from 4th Edition Rulebook.

Key Personae:

Crimson Fists:

• Chapter Master Pedro Kantor
• Captain Ashor Drakken of the 4th Company - led the mission to Badlanding; 84 marines 
• Sergeant Werner of the 4th Company - led the successful raid on the filtration plant in Game 1-4
• Sergeant Huron Grimm - holding the entrance to New Rynn City when Kantor arrived prior to the Battle of Jadeberry Hill
• Scout Sergeant Mishina - part of the incursion to Badlanding
• Scout Vermian - Killed on Badlanding
• Scout Rogar - Injured on Badlanding

Orks:

• Snagrod, Arch Arsonist of Charadon and leader of the Waaagh!
• Uzrog Mag-Kull, Deathskull Warlord of Badlanding, under Snagrod
• Thrugg Bullneck - Deathskull Warboss under Uzrog Mag-Kull
• Smashgob - Uzrog's second-in-command
• Warboss Ulruk (or Ulruc) - led the first wave of attacks at Jadeberry Hill (noted as albino in Rouge Trader)
• Madzog - Deathskull nob under Uzrog
• Hruk - Deathskull nob under Thrugg

Imperial Guard:

• Governor Maia Cagliestra
• General Saedus Mir of the Rynnsguard
• Lord Admiral Galtaire, Commander of the Liberation forces

Combatants:

Phase 1:

• 18th Mordia, 24th Lammas, and 49th Boros regiments
• Crimson Fists 4th Company (56 out of 84 marines lost) 
• Strike cruiser Crusader and three Thunderhawk gunships
• Warboss Uzrog Mag-Kull's Deathskull Clan Warband
• Goff Clan Warband

Phase 2:

• Crimson Fists Chapter
• Planetary Defense Force - Rynnsguard
• Waaagh! Snagrod consisting of millions of orks in hundreds of warbands, including:
• The Arch-Arsonists Inferno Horde
• Black Flame Tribe
• Da Flaming Skulls
• Killchoppa's Blitz Brigade
• Da Skorched Earth Krew
• Mig Mek Big'ead's Fieromaniacs

Phase 3:

• Space Marines
• Crimson Fists 
• Dark Angels
• White Scars
• Storm Lords
• White Panthers
• Angels Encarmine
• Blood Drinkers
• Minotaurs
• Imperial Fists
• Flesh Tearers
• Imperial Guard
• Imperial Navy
• Waaagh! Snagrod

M32 Battle Report 5: Take and Hold - Xhorik D-87 vs Hive Fleet Tarasque

  "You wanna live forever?!"

-Unofficial traditional pre-jump battle cry of the Xhoirk 87th Firebirds 

Background:

The Ork invasion of Xhorik Prime has unwittingly awoken a dormant Tyranid exploratory tendril that had remained in the stasis of interplanetary travel while buried in the polar icecap of Xhorik Prime. The heat and movement of the arriving and mobilizing Orks caused the Lictors to reanimate. As they found prey and released pheromones, more and more of the frozen Tyranids emerged from their long hibernation and joined in the hunt. 

Campaign Summary M32: The War of the Beast - The Third Xhorik War

Scenario:

We played a simple Take and Hold mission from the Fourth Edition rulebook. There was a single central objective and whichever side had more scoring units within 12" at the end of the game wins. We rolled for Night Fighting and determined it would kick in for turn 6.  

Both sides would be fighting for control of a signal beacon in an abandoned Imperial outpost. The beacon could be used by the Imperial forces to bring in air support in the form of targeted bombing runs on Tyranid positions. The Xhorik D-87th Company was given this task due to the expertise they had developed in fighting this new xenos threat. Compiling countless individual pieces of information observed by a multitude of Tyranid life forms spread across the area, the Hive Mind concluded the humans were converging on this point and determined that whatever your enemy is trying to do should be stopped. A collection of quick-moving broods was assembled along with a few synapse nodes in the form of towering Warriors and psychic zoanthropes, all under the overall command of a cunning Broodlord. 

With night coming early at these northern latitudes, each army had only limited time to take control of the critical objective. 

Pre-Game:

"Into Hell We Go"

Phil: I started this army with the first test model way back in 2015 and have worked on it in small bursts of energy over the last decade. (It's been a labor of love!) And for all of that time, I have been wanting to play some games against Tyranids. Imperial Guard vs Tyranids is one of the most classic matchups of the 40k universe and has a special place in my heart. It draws on themes from countless classic sci-fi books and movies. And The Anphelion Project was the first Imperial Armor book that my brothers and I ever owned or read. In all these years, the closest we have come is a game of Kill Team where The Lucky Bastards of the Xhorik 87th took on a brood of genestealers of Hive Fleet Tarasque. (Drop Troops against Space Marines? Less fun. Drop Troops are like Space Marines Lite, with an emphasis on the LITE: anything they are supposed to do, marines just do twice as well.)

First, a word on which rule set to use. IA3: The Taros Campaign would have been best for 4th Edition WH40K, but I only had the 2nd edition of that book, which was updated during WH40K 6th Edition. IA4: The Amphelion Project has the rules for the D-99 "special forces" drop troops, but it has unique bespoke rules for flyers that would add complexity to the game. IA:8 Raid on Kastorel-Novem came out during 5th Edition so is mostly very compatible with 4th Edition and it just treats flyers as fast skimmers. I decided to use the IA4 army rules but the simplified flyer rules from IA8 since flyers did not exist in the core WH40k game until 6th edition. The IA4 D-99 list is very thematic and flavorful and makes it easier to field a smallish army like mine because you take individual veteran squads instead of platoons. Every trooper is more skilled than normal, but you have a distinct lack of bodies for an Imperial Guard force - quite a concern when going up against a horde of gribblies! 

For the rule of cool, I decided to limit myself to my converted Elysians and not take any of my storm troopers, grenadiers, "Ogryn" battle suits, bikers, etc. This gave me a reasonably balanced force with 53 infantry, split into eight squads, two batteries of sentry guns, two walkers, a Tauros, and two fliers (the Avenger counting as a Vulture, the closest equivalent gunship in the list). The weapon composition is not ideal for Tyranids (7 meltaguns and no flamers??) since my historical foe was always space marines. But the missile launchers and fliers gave me some versatility, and I figured all the lascannons, meltaguns, and multi-meltas, combined with my fast skimmers and deep striking infantry, should allow me to slag the big bugs, thus depriving his hordes of synapse control.

The mission was simple: hold the center objective at the end of the game. After watching the Tyranids wreck a static gun line Imperial Guard army in the first battle of our 4th Edition campaign, I knew I could not afford to sit back in my deployment zone and let the Tyranids control the entire table or I would never reach the objective. I used a standard deployment of infantry and artillery aimed at the center objective and placing my mobile fliers / skimmers positioned on the flanks to fend off the speedy genestealers and hormagaunts before swinging into the center. I elected to keep a few units in reserve to deep strike via grav chute combat drop: the special weapons squads (melta stick A and B) to take out choice targets with their short-range weapons and some infantry squads to drop in close to the objective and fight their way to it. I mounted one unit in the Valkyrie as another way to keep them safe until I was ready to grab the objective late. (I knew trying to sit on the objective and hold out against a Tyranid assault for multiple turns was a losing proposition!) I wanted all of my missile launchers on the table from the start in order to maximize my early shooting. 

The plan was to use the gun line to soften up the center, the skimmers to blunt the fast flanking attacks, the deep strikers to hit targets of opportunity, and then converge on the objective with some late-arriving deep striking units and the squad in the Valkyrie. All that stood in my way was an absolute mass of scuttling claws and gnashing teeth...

Unleash the Swarm

Bill: My army list has remained utterly unchanged since its inception about 20 years ago, consisting of tons of weak, cheap units that can swarm forward and dominate the table in the style of classic sci-fi monsters, drowning the better equipped but hopelessly outnumbered human defenders. Powerful enemy units like tanks and dreadnoughts would have to ignored or tied up in suicidal 'tar pit' melee attacks since I just didn't have the high strength weapons to destroy them. My only options were two Warp Blast zoanthropes (who still couldn't be relied upon since they had to manifest their good attack,) a carnifex (who was too slow to reliably attack anything,) and genestealers (who only rend on a roll of 6 in melee.) Luckily, the mission chosen was well-suited to a 'horde' style army, rewarding taking many small squads and ignoring VPs gained from kills so I could spread out my termagants into 4 ten-strong squads that would be fearless, giving me an excellent core to hold the center objective. 

Adding melee power to the center was the intimidating bulk of the carnifex, while shooting was enhanced by a walking gun line of warriors all equipped with medium-strength blast marker guns, perfect for splattering low armor humans but virtually useless against marines since even my heavy weapon was only AP 5. However, against drop troopers, they'd be given their chance to shine. 

I had to spread my army out across the entire width of the table to keep my 7 broods from tripping over each other or blocking movement. The stealers and extremely swift hormagaunts would sweep the flanks, keeping the pressure up on Phil's army and drawing fire from my center, while everything else plunged into the meat grinder. The trick would be to resist overextending myself. It might be tempting to wreck a few tarantulas or dug-in infantry but that would not win the mission! 

And so, with no boasts or battle cries, the silent but cunning aliens began calmly slinking forward, eager to seize control of a technological treasure they had no way of understanding. All they knew was that it was important, somehow... The will of the Hive Mind had decreed it.

Belligerents:

Hive Fleet Tarasque  - 1453 points

• Broodlord: extended carapace
• Warriors (5): enhanced senses, extended carapace, toxin sacs, 3 x deathspitters, devourer, barbed strangler
• Carnifex: reinforced chitin, extended carapace, regenerate, 2 x adrenal glands, toxin sacs, tusked, toxic miasma, 2 x scything talons
• Zoanthropes (2): 2 x warp blast, 2 x synapse
• Lictor
• Genestealers (10): 4 x scything talons
• Genestealers (9): 4 x scything talons
• Termagants (10): fleshborers
• Termagants (10): fleshborers
• Termagants (10): fleshborers
• Termagants (10): fleshborers
• Hormagaunts (15): extended carapace

Xhorik D-87 Drop Troops (The Anphelion Project D-99 rules) - 1449 or 1364 points? 

• Veteran Command HQ (5): Senior Officer, medic, vox, missile launcher
• Veteran Command HQ (5): Officer, medic, grenade launcher (deep strike)
• Special Weapons Squad A: 3 x meltaguns (deep strike)
• Special Weapons Squad B: 3 x meltaguns (deep strike)
• Veteran Squad A (10): demo charge, meltagun, vox (deep strike)
• Veteran Squad B (9): demo charge, vox (in Valkyrie)
• Veteran Squad C (6): missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox
• Veteran Squad D (6): missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox
• Drop Sentinel Squadron (2): 2 x multi-melta
• Sentry Gun Battery (3): 3 x twin-linked heavy bolters
• Sentry Gun Battery (3): 3 x twin-linked lascannons
• Vulture: heavy bolter, twin-linked lascannons, 2 x hellstrike missiles, searchlight, extra armor, infrared targetting (skimmer)
• Valkyrie: rocket pods, multilaser, searchlight, extra armor (skimmer)
• Tauros: grenade launcher

Note: We had agreed on 1450 points and that is what my army list said at the time, but when I go back and add it up a year later, I only get 1364 points. I probably got confused on which rule set to use for the fliers as their costs and rules are quite different between IA4 (special flyer rules) and IA8 (treated as fast skimmers).

Xhorik D-87th Special Forces - Tyrannic Veterans

Crimson Fists Rogue Trader Art

Pete's post yesterday started with his inspiration from one of the most seminal pieces of art in Warhammer 40,000 history.

The full view of the iconic John Sibbick artwork from Rogue Trader:

As a kid, this was the first time I had seen anything like it. The space marines were obviously very tough and well-armed, and yet they were huddled together, back-to-back, fighting off a mostly unseen, but obviously overwhelming foe coming from all directions. And still they fought on defiantly.

This theme was replicated numerous times in other 40k art, but this is the piece that first defined it for us: the dark and desperate future, where even humanity's finest are fighting desperately for their very survival, and failing that, the honor of a glorious last stand. It helped set the mood for the game, described by Rick Priestly as "...a dark and terrible era where you will find little comfort or hope."

It also established space marines vs orks as one of the essential matchups of the game, something we have mostly stuck to over the decades.

It was only 30 years later that I happened to come across this piece on the Battle of Sedan while reading a book on battles that changed history:

This painting was contemporary to the battle, which took place in 1870 and was the decisive battle of the Franco-Prussian War. The parallels are quite interesting to me, and I wonder if it played a role in influencing John Sibbick. The heroes, wearing bold blue and red, are surrounded by enemies and engulfed in the smoke and explosions of combat. The dead and dying litter the foreground. Yet they defiantly hold up their flag and continue to fight to the last. The enemies are closing in - and even wearing spiked helmets. (The concept of orks as representative of "Huns", and Germans also being referred to as Huns, is a whole separate topic.) 

Whether the influence is direct or indirect, I find it very cool. It also makes me want to paint an Imperial Guard regiment based on the 19th century French army...

Starting a Crimson Fists 40k Army

 

If there's one image that stands out in my brain from the earliest days of collecting Warhammer 40k, it's the doomed pile of Crimson Fists fighting off an overwhelming force of orks. Their glorious defeat seems inevitable, yet there is no fear in their faces, just a calm sense purpose fulfilling the Emperor's will and fighting to the last man.  

It's such an iconic picture - the beakie helmets, the bolters, those fantastic crimson fists, the burnt flag, and the ork head being swung overhead - god it's beautiful! For 30 years I've dreamt of modeling and painting a Crimson Fists force of beakie marines. In the early years of 2nd-4th edition, there just wasn't the availability of MKVI amour. Then about three years ago Horus Heresy came out with their 2nd edition and front and center were entire squads of the legendary beakie marines! Finally I had a chance to fulfil my dream.

My brothers and I had been talking about taking a break from Horus Heresy and getting back into 40k again, so I finally had a reason to start collecting Crimson Fists. 

To start my Crimson Fists army, I have a captain, 2 tactical squads, and the iconic transport of any space marine army - a rhino. 

For further 90's nostalgia, I painted their flamer bright yellow, matching the look of the era. The bolters are all metallic, just like the Crimson Fists in the picture of yore. And the heavy bolter and storm bolter are a nice crimson with bright red highlights, similar to the brighter look of 2nd edition. And of course you have to roll with green grass bases!

Da Skulltakaz Deathskull Warband

 "Da Skulltakaz" Deathskull Warband

 Army List:

Da Skulltakaz 

• Warboss: slugga, power klaw, cybork body, eavy armor (100 pts)
• 21 x Ork Boyz: slugga, choppa, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (166 pts)
• 21 x Ork Boyz: shoota, 2 x big shootas, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (176 pts)
• Da Bonepickaz - 29 x Gretchin: blasta, 2 x Runtherds (107 pts)

Total: 549 points

Unlike my previous Ork army (and indeed pretty much every army I have ever collected), I decided to start by building and painting an entire legal force before getting sidetracked on other units. (What a concept!) I really owe it to the Contrast paint range as it lets me knock out big blocks of infantry much faster than before so I can get big units done without losing my excitement (and sanity!). 

This gives me a solid core for my army, wherever I decide to go next. Two big mobs of boyz should be the heart of any respectable warband. With 44 Wounds at Toughness 4, they should be able to withstand some punishment. One mob is armed with shootas and two big shootas to keep the army from being completely one-dimensional, but I definitely don't want to get into an extended firefight with marines. A big blob of gretchin gives me lots of bodies to absorb damage and tie up enemy units, or they can be split into two legal 15-grot mobs if I need to spread out to grab multiple objectives or table quarters where the mission calls for it. And the Warboss with S10 power klaw gives me my hammer to smash up any 'ard stuff.

While I have a lot of bodies, the army is lacking mobility, firepower, and armor (is that all?). Next, I need to add some vehicles, walkers, and big guns!

Skulltakaz Warboss - Uzrog Mag-Kull, Boss of Badlanding

Uzrog was an aspiring nob of the Skulltakaz warband making a name for himself as a dead 'ard fighter when he was badly mauled while hunting a massive Horned Squigmaw. Despite having his right arm ripped away by the sharp horns, Uzrog was able to cleave the Squigmaw's head in two with his trusty choppa. Even with the traumatic injury, he somehow slogged back to camp, where he was forced to cash in all the teef from his kill to get a painboy to stitch him up before he bled out. However, he chose to keep the massive horns for himself rather than trade them for a crude bionic arm made of rusted scrap. He mounted the impressive horns on his helmet as a symbol of his toughness and for the good luck they would surely bring, coming from such a worthy adversary. With these massive horns mounted on his already outsized head, he earned the moniker Mag-Kull, which roughly translates as "great skull" or "big head."

The lack of a replacement arm meant he was forced to learn to fight one-handed. Over the months he proved adept enough to survive in a kulture of combat, but was never successful enough to scrape together the teef required for expensive bionics. However, with the mustering of the Skulltakaz as part of the mighty WAAAGH! led by Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, his luck would change. 

In his first action during the invasion of Badlanding, he was part of his warboss' retinue when they got into a good scrap with a unit of Imperial walkers. During the fighting, Uzrog was charging one of the walkers when he slipped in a pool of blood from a dead guardsman. At just that instant, a plasma cannon blast that had been aimed squarely at his head missed him and instead vaporized his unsuspecting warboss! Picking himself up, he tapped his lucky horns and then leapt at the offending walker. He grabbed its chainsaw arm and directed it into the walker's own leg, severing it easily and toppling the walker. He was then able to pry open the hatch and get at the squishy pilot with his choppa. 

The loot from this conquest of so many walkers was impressive and Uzrog immediately laid claim to the magnificent chainsaw that proved so deadly. Using his share of his now dead boss' teef (like a true Deathskull, he was not above looting any corpse, no matter how esteemed), he was able to get the chainsaw and its engine mounted as a massive oversized bionic limb. Thus armed, he was able to win the inevitable challenge for leadership of the Skulltakaz warband, and by extension, became the Boss of Badlanding. He would report directly to the Arch-Arsonist, Snagrod, and be on the front line of the clash with the Imperial forces of Rynn's World.

And as for the guardsman corpse that inadvertently saved his life with its pool of slippery blood, he claimed the skull, had it cleaned by a grot, and now wears it around his neck as another lucky talisman. With the boldness of one who believes he has Mork's own luck combined with the improvisation learned by a one-armed fighter (and of course his massive chainsaw arm!),  Uzrog Mag-Kull had the makings of a truly deadly warboss who would cause havoc for the Imperial forces during the Badlanding and Rynn's World campaigns. 

Da Bonepickaz - Gretchin Mob

As expert scavengers able to get into tight spots and out again with an armload of interesting bitz, Gretchin play a crucial role in Deathskull kulture. Being equally adept at nabbing shiny gubbins from other orks as looting mangled corpses, they help ensure the right components get to the right meks to construct the tribe's war machines. The Skulltakaz employ a considerable number to also help collect and clean the skulls that give the warband their name.

Da Bonepickaz:

About 20 years ago when grotz only came in monopose metal, I bought a box of WHFB goblins to convert into 40k Gretchin to bolster the ranks. I finally implemented my idea, using some small metal gun sprues that may have originally been from Necromunda, although I have long forgotten where I got them. The goblins are a bit bigger than the plastic grotz, but it ends up just looking like the natural variation in size in a highly variable race. The banners help convey the sense of large units and both use the skull/bone motif of the Skulltakaz. 

I made 30 grotz and two Runtherds. In 4th Edition, you need one Runtherd per 10 grotz, so I could field these models as two units of 15 with one Runtherd each, or one unit of 29 with two Runtherds. This gives me some flexibility to field small mobs, such as for when there are many objectives all over the battlefield, or one larger mob that can soak up a fair bit of firepower before dispersing. 

I painted them with a more yellow-green than the mossy-green of the orks, to indicate they are smaller, younger, and generally weedier than their brutish cousins. The Warboss in turn will have browner skin than the orks. 

I was struggling to get good photos that show the colors accurately with my phone. I may have to invest in a proper camara with a lens and stand at some point. 

Looking forward to seeing them out on a battlefield sometime soon, swarming all over a beleaguered squad of marines! 

Crimson Fists Test Model

 Pete painted up a test model for the upcoming Rynn's World campaign using Fourth Edition rules. I added the decals and the flock. I think it came out pretty well.

Word Eaters Tactical Squad

 

V Legion Falchion: Monh-Baatu

The V Legion Falchion Monh-Baatu was the most renowned of the few super heavy tanks employed by the Loyalists during the Second Xhorik War. 

In the tongue of Chogoris, monh roughly translates as "of the spirit world" but when used as a given name means "spiritual" implying one is in tune with or connected to spirits. Baatu can mean "loyal" when used as a name. However, it equates to something closer to "dependable" or "guaranteed" when used as an adjective. Thus, the name Monh-Baatu could translate as "the loyal and spiritual one." But when used to describe an object such as a war machine, it can also imply the name bearer is of the spirit world rather than the physical, and that it is dependable, or even guaranteed as an ally. The White Scars saw Monh-Baatu as a spiritual protector and even adorned her with the banner of the Brotherhood of the Wind.

The name would take on a different meaning for the Traitors. 

Significantly outnumbered in armor in general, and super heavies in particular, the White Scars realized early in the campaign that a stand-up tank battle on the open Valbaara Plateau would be a disaster. Rather than stubbornly fight to the last man against unwinnable odds like some Legions, the V Legion elected to stay mobile and use their few super heavy tanks to destroy targets of opportunity. The crew of Monh-Baatu excelled in this role, often emerging from the morning mists at the head of a Chogorian Brotherhood raiding party, easily destroying the lesser tanks arrayed against it. When the Traitors responded in force, the Falchion would disappear like the wind, using its overcharged engines and extra fuel tanks to quickly outdistance any pursuers. 

As the war for Xhorik Prime wore on, the few other Loyalist super heavy tanks were eventually destroyed or disabled. Thanks to skill, luck, or perhaps spiritual intervention, the Monh-Baatu fought on and on, never able to seriously threaten the Traitor war effort but tallying up 37 confirmed kills in the process. Traitor forces reported her destroyed or disabled on at least three occasions, but she continued to reappear from the eastern sandstorms or the mountain passes to strike at vulnerable positions. This earned her the moniker of "The Spectre" from the Traitor legions for the way she seemed to repeatedly come back from the dead, take her vengeance, and fade away. 

In reality, the White Scars became adept at scavenging spare parts and making field repairs from temporary bases in the caves of the Uhrtar Mountains and from hiding places among their allies of the Stone River Sept in the eastern wastes. By the end of the campaign, she was patched and worn, but still had the speed and firepower to be a major threat. 

4th Edition Space Marine Chapter Selector

Seeing Pete building up a classic marine Crimson Fist army has given me some inspiration and excitement to paint up my remaining old “firstborn” marines as well. I figure they could participate in our campaigns, either against Tyranids or Traitor Guard, or if Pete feels like trying out Orks, or even as allies to the Fists.

The question is, which chapter to paint?

Criteria to Consider:

Painting: Fun to paint (somewhat efficient, easy-to-use colors, looks cool). 

Modeling: Conversion ideas, unit types that I like to build, fits with the models and bits I already have. 

Lore: Participated in classic 40k campaigns, especially Rynn’s World and Third War for Armageddon, that we would like to play. 

Distinctiveness: Different colors from our existing armies. Unique look as a chapter. 

Retro cool: Chapter highlighted in the old codices, rule books, and White Dwarf magazines of the 90s and 2000s. Color scheme reminiscent of this era. 

I will assign each chapter a score of 1 - 5 in each category for a total score of 5 - 25.

Chapters Under Consideration:

Storm Lords

Painting: They look awesome, but painting looks challenging with the split scheme, especially trying to get a freehand straight line between two contrasting colors on vehicles. White is a challenge, but I’ve developed some decent techniques for it. Painting white over red (to fix mistakes) is not fun. Red is one of the most fun, striking, and beautiful colors Citadel makes. The yellow helmets look fun. I am just not sure I can do another white army. 

Score: 2 

Modeling: As a White Scars successor, I can use some existing bits. Interesting potential to work in thunderbolts and storm motifs. Chapter shoulder pads exist. 

Score: 4

Lore: They are the only chapter that I’ve found that has documented lore of their participation in the War of the Beast, Rynn’s World, and the Third War for Armageddon. Also, a White Scars successor famous for fighting Orks. 

Score: 5

Distinctiveness: Red and white have been common with Hydra Legion, White Scars, and Blood Angels. Yellow helmets and split scheme would help them pop. 

Score: 2

Retro Cool: Halved paint scheme? Different color helmet? Definitely checks the boxes. They show up in Codex Armageddon, 4th Edition Codex, and 7th Edition Codex. 

Score: 5

Total Score:  18

Mantis Warriors

Painting: Yellowish pale green seems reasonably easy to paint. Green is one of the nice colors you can highlight up and shade down or use Contrast paints. Yellow accent color would take a bit more work but adds a nice pop. They look fairly cool. Not as bold and dynamic as some chapter colors.

Score: 4

Modeling: As a White Scars successor, I can use some existing bits. An insect theme could result in some interesting modeling opportunities. They have a sort of Ninja vibe: individualistic, sneaky, ambushing, going on a quest to reclaim their lost honor, etc. That theme could open up some more ideas that we have not done yet. Old Rouge Trader art shows them wearing camo (gasp!). Chapter shoulder pads exist. 

Score: 4

Lore: Not at Rynn’s World or Armageddon. Fought in Badab War, which is a pretty iconic campaign featured in Imperial Armor books 9 and 10 (authored by the immortal Alan Bligh just before the first Horus Heresy black book). They turned traitor during that war, which could setup some fun games with an excuse for marine vs marine action. Afterwards, redeemed through a 100-year crusade, which could bring them to Rynn's World (Badab War ended in 913 M41 while the Rynn's World invasion was in 988 M41 with the retaking of the planet in ~990-991 M41). White Scars successor via the Marauders. Not founded yet during War of the Beast. 

Score: 3

Distinctiveness: We have no other armies using light green as army colors, although it is sort of close to Ork skin. No one using yellow as accent color so that should pop on the table. 

Score: 4

Retro Cool: They are not in any of the old Codices, but they are in the Forge World Imperial Armor Badab War books, some of the pinnacle publications of the Warhammer hobby and released just before the game started to go off the rails in 6th Edition. Sadly, I don’t have those particular IA books (yet). They have been around since the Rogue Trader days, first appearing in White Dwarf in 1988.  

Score: 3

Total Score: 18

White Scars

Painting: I have some recipes that are not too painful, but overall white is a challenge to paint and I’ve been painting it for years so I’m pretty tired of it. It would let me field Heresy units in 40k in order to have a bigger army faster.  But if I want to paint more Scars, I can do so for Heresy. Fun factor drops the score to 2 at this point.

Score: 2

Modeling: I love the Scars motif and have loads of bits already. Even though most are Heresy, old armor and shoulder pads can be mixed in. Lots of bits are available. But I’ve been doing this theme for a long time and I would be replicating some stuff I’ve already done probably. 

Score: 4

Lore:  Fought at both Rynn’s World and Armageddon. Haven’t seen anything on the War of the Beast but given that it was a major conflict across the galaxy and the Scars existed at the time, they definitely would have fought in it. 

Score: 5

Distinctniveness: Obviously not distinct from the Heresy army. Among the 40k armies, only the Tyranids have a lot of white. The semi-retired Hydra Legion has off-white. We have two other white Heresy armies with World Eaters and Death Guard.  

Score: 2

Retro Cool: They appear in most of the major rule books, codices, and publications. Never as big a part of the lore as the Big Four: Ultras, Wolves, Dark Angels and Blood Angels, but in the next tier. Because their scheme continues to evolve with the new editions of the game, I would call it timeless rather than retro. 

Score: 4

Total Score: 16

Blood Angels Successor: Angels Encarmine or Flesh Tearers

Painting: Red is very satisfying to paint and not super difficult. Black is not too bad if there isn’t too much of it; it just requires finicky, sharp edge highlighting. Red always looks great on the battlefield. 

Score: 4

Modeling: I have Blood Angels metal special characters and metal Death Company that were gifted to me. I could use them with a successor. Tons of Blood Angel bits are available, but not much for these successors. Seems like either one would be very assault heavy, which are fun to model and different from my White Scars and Sons of Horus. 

Score: 4

Lore: Angels Encarmine fought at Rynn’s World and Flesh Tearers at Armageddon. 

Score: 4 for Encarmine and 3 for Tearers. 

Distinctiveness: With Blood Angels already in our games, either of these chapters would look almost identical.

Score: 1

Retro Cool: They both show up in multiple old publications. Bold red with high contrast trim and Aquilas are very reminiscent of the old days. 

Score: 4 

Total score: 16

Hawk Lords

Painting: Purple looks interesting and seems like it should be similar to both blue and red, which are relatively forgiving colors to paint. Gold trim would not be hard. Yellow would take a bit more work. The whole marine being a single color makes things easier. But it would probably take some edge highlighting to make the purple pop, which is a pain. Painting a new color would be fun. 

Score: 4

Modeling: I could use just about any bird or feather themed bits; there are plenty of those. Not much that I can find specific to Hawk Lords. An aerial themed force with lots of speeders and jump packs could look quite striking. The only chapter on this list that is not a White Scars successor.

Score: 3

Lore: They are reported to have fought in the War of the Beast. They are not listed as participants in either the Rynn’s World Campaign or Third War for Armageddon or any of the Imperial Armor books as far as I know. 

Score: 1

Distinctiveness: We have no purple armies so far. These guys would stand out in any game and on any battlefield. However, they do look a lot like Heresy Emperor’s Children. 

Score: 4

Retro Cool: Although included in a few old sources such as the 4th Edition Codex, they never really got much attention and didn’t show up in any of the classic battle reports or army photos that I remember.  They seem to actually be a bigger part of the lore now than in the 3rd-4th edition days.

Score: 3

Score: 15

Sons of Jaghatai

Painting: As stated above, purple would be interesting and different. And I like the bone secondary color better than the gold/yellow of the Hawk Lords and it makes them more distinct from Heresy Thousand Sons. I bet I could use Contrast paints to paint them quickly and they would look decent. 

Score: 5

Modeling: Another White Scars successor, I assume, even though it is not confirmed in the lore. They seem to have a bit of a Turkic theme so I would go that route rather than anything ninja or samurai themed. No shoulder pads or decals or bits that I know of. They appear to use back banners so that would be fun and retro.

Score: 3

Lore: Basically no official lore. They were created for a White Dwarf article on how to create your own Space Marine chapter. 

Score: 1

Distinctiveness: We have no purple armies. Even if Pete eventually paints Heresy Thousand Sons, these guys would still be distinct, unlike The Hawk Lords.

Score: 5

Retro Cool: They show up only in White Dwarf 299 and How to Paint Space Marines, as far as I know. The scheme is reminiscent of their time, but they were never part of the old 40k artwork or campaigns.

Score: 2

Score: 16

Scoring Summary:

Storm Lords: 18

Mantis Warriors: 18

White Scars: 16

Angels Encarmine: 16

Sons of Jaghatai: 16

Hawk Lords: 15

They are all surprisingly close. The White Scars are out because if I want to paint more of them, I can work on my Heresy army. I really love the Storm Lords and they fit the lore perfectly, but I do not know if I can take on white and red again, especially the vehicles. I am leaning toward Mantis Warriors or Sons of Jaghatai, mostly to paint something different because the painting is where you spend most of the time in this hobby.

Midhammer Rules Release Timeline

Some dark corners of the webway refer to the glory days of the "Third Edition Paradigm" (3rd - 7th editions) as "midhammer" 40,000 to differentiate from "oldhammer" (Rouge Trader and Second Edition) and the current editions.

With our Third Xhorik War campaign using 4th Edition rules and our upcoming Rynn's World campaign also planning to use that ruleset, I wanted to document when the various rules and supplements were released in order to help determine which rules are most appropriate. 

The books we have are in normal text; those we do not are in grey. The books we are using will be in bold red. 

Third Edition Rules: October 1998

Codex Space Marines (3rd): 1998

Codex Blood Angels (3rd): 1999 

Codex Imperial Guard (3rd): 1999

Codex Eldar (3rd): 1999 

Codex Assassins (3rd): 1999 

Codex Orks (3rd): 1999

Codex Armageddon: 1999 

Codex Tyranids (3rd): 2001

Codex Chaos Space Marines (3.5th): 2002 

Codex Imperial Guard (3.5th): 2003

Codex Witch Hunters (3rd): April 2004 

Fourth Edition Rules: August 2004

Codex Space Marines (4th): 2004

Codex Tyranids (4th): 2005

IA3 Taros Campaign: October 2005

Cities of Death: June 2006

IA4 The Anphelion Project: December 2006

Apocalypse: October 2007 

Codex Orks (4th): January 2008

Fifth Edition Rules: July 2008

Codex Space Marines (5th): October 2008

Codex Imperial Guard (5th): May 2009

Codex Planetstrike: 2009

IA8 Raid on Kastorel-Novem: May 2010

Battle Missions Scenarios Book: 2010 

IA9 Badab War Part 1: October 2010

IA10 Badab War Part 2: January 2011  

Sixth Edition Rules: June 2012 

Codex Space Marines (6th): September 2013 

IA3 Taros Campaign (2nd Edition): October 2013

Seventh Edition Rules: May 2014

Codex Orks (7th): June 2014 

Codex Space Marines (7th): June 2015 

More Skulltakaz! Shoota Boyz!

I finished my second big mob of Deathskulls for the upcoming Rynn's World campaign using 4th Edition rules. Any ork warband without at least two huge mobs of boyz is not worthy of the name, I say. Just like last time, I assembled 20 boyz before I remembered the nob so once again, I have 21 in the mob. Oh well, unlike humans, orks do not care about neat organization into multiples of ten. The nob leads as many boyz as he can inspire (and bully) into following him!

I kept the same paint scheme and once again, everyone gets a skull - or part of one - for good luck. But I updated the bases. The previous version was a little too muddy looking. I went with a drier frozen base and a black rim for visual dead space between the base and the board. I am happier with the result.