IA:11 The Doom of Mymeara

I was gratified, when my copy of IA:11 The Doom of Mymeara finally arrived. It was nice to see the free upgrade to UPS delivery after having to wait a month to get it as well. In terms of the actually story, I think this was the most artwork intensive IA's to date. Much of the story is wrapped up in classified briefings for Inquisition eyes only, making for an interesting read. The principle players are the Eldar of craftworlds Alaitoc and Mymeara along with their corsair allies. These are pitted against the Imperium of Belatis III principally in the form of the Cadian VIth, as well as a maniple from Legio Gryphonicus and the Space Wolves of Bran Redmaw's company.

The narrative is well written, and provides quite a bit more information for Eldar and Space Wolf players; and while this looks like an Imperium victory on the surface, is it? One would have to read it for themselves to know for sure. All of the current Eldar goodies are featured in this book, as well as a Corsairs list that looks interesting, but I think I am not the Eldar fan that is needed to be qualified to properly assess it. There is a small amount of Imperial stuff as well, mostly the Crassus, Malcador Infernus and Bran Redmaw's rules. As I am planning to do a small Space Wolf force far down the line, I was happy with the purchase. Hobbysists on a budget should be careful when considering this IA, while it is good, I think it is more for the Eldar, Space Wolf and collector more than a general release or must have.

Salamanders Tactical Squad

I read on Bolter & Chainsword, a while back, a discussion about what a Space Marine army should have in terms of points efficiency. One thing that was suggested is that Tactical Squads are not really good at shooting or assault, and by using additional points to magnify one of those aspects of the unit to be better at one of those aspects of the game is inefficient points wise.



With that concept in mind, I built this tactical squad to use only the base points required for a full squad. Since the Multimelta is free, I decided to use that over the Missile Launcher, with an eye to the squad either being in a Land Raider, or eventually if I scale the army above 1000 points, inside a Rhino. I also kept the Flamer, and gave the sergeant a Bolt Pistol and Chainsword.



The squad was kept to a basic build, though every model has Frag grenades and some kind of pouch. To keep with the concept of the Salamanders being master craftsmen and having the resources to build the finest quality equipment, every model in the squad has an MkVIII Errant armour chest plate. I used the same color palette as I did for the Land Raider and Captain.

Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition

I spent a lot of time going to the three Games Workshops stores in my area (I live in MD so they are everywhere) trying to find Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition with no luck. Eventually I decided to just order it from Games Workshop's website, and was able to get it within the week. I mainly wanted to pick it up for the Contemptor rules. Having one, I was interested in the rules, but I was more interested in seeing how available the Mortis pattern Contemptor was. I was definitely happy to see that it was now available as a Heavy Support choice for all Space Marine armies. Since I wanted to build one with two Kheres Assault Cannons and the Cyclone Missile Launcher - look for it in the future.

I was pleasantly surprised by the scenarios at the back of the book as well, one is for an imbalanced apocalypse game where the defender mainly has ground power, and the attacker mainly has air power. I'm hoping to convince someone to play it with me (if I do, I'll definitely take pics and post).

Blood Ravens Devestator Squad

The second to last unit I am building for my Blood Ravens is a Devastator Squad. This was always my favorite unit in Dawn of War II, and probably in the 40k game as a whole. I decided that missile launchers would be good to model, as they are the most versatile heavy weapon in the game.



I kept the modelling simple otherwise, adding in the pouches and grenades that the marines come with. I also wanted to keep the chest plates simple, using the skull or hosed one for the missile launcher marines, and the double headed eagle for the sergeant. Finally, I only had one of the Devastator backpacks, and I've come to prefer them for kit bashing techmarines, so I used the flat backpack with the tiny skull in order to model the missile ammo.



I stuck with the same color pallets that I used on the previous models, and have been trying to focus on cleaning up the Blood Ravens symbols to make them just look better. The last unit I'm going to build for the Blood Ravens is a dreadnought, inspired by Davian Thule's. Look for that sometime soon.

Salamanders Land Raider

I had a somewhat twisted plan when I decided to buy the Land Raider Achilles. I figured that it would come with a Land Raider kit, and that I would be able to take a Land Raider Redeemer kit and build a regular Land Raider. Then, I would have the coveted Assault Cannon turret to finally make an Assault Cannon Razorback.



The results in this blog post show that it is possible. However, the Redeemer's side sponsons have a shallower plate, making it impossible to keep the 180 degree swivel on the side sponsons. The other item that I wasn't happy with when building this tank was how front weighted the Multimelta turret is, which is why I glued it, alone of all the turrets, to the chassis.



Since this was going to be a Salamander's Land Raider, I decided to bling it out, and give it both the Multimelta turret and the Storm Bolter turret. I also added the smoke launchers and search light as a matter of course. Finally, I decided not to model and tank crew, and close up the interior to make things easier on me. The Land Raider was painted exactly like the Salamnder's Captain.



One thing I like about the Salamanders, is it gives me the opportunity to slack off a bit and use water slide transfers. The most effective way to do this is to seal the model when it is done being painted. Then, use Testors Decal Solvent and apply a coat to the area where you want to place a transfer. Next, apply your transfer, being careful to place it exactly how you want it. Then, apply another coat of Decal Solvent over top of the transfer. Finally seal the model again.

James Swallow's Hammer and Anvil

James Swallow's Hammer and Anvil is the continuation of Sister Miriya's story (from Faith and Flame and Red and Black). After the events of Faith and Fire, Miriya has been demoted from her rank of Celestian,and has joined an expedition that is returning back to Sanctuary 101. Faced with both the plotting of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the machinations of Inquisitor Hoth of the Ordos Xenos, Sister Miriya and the Order of Out Martyred Lady must deal with threats from within and without. Overall, this was a good continuation of the series, fairly depicting the Sisters of Battle, as well as being a great depiction of the ways in which the Necrons are currently being imagined. Fans of both should pick up this book. Readers looking for an entertaining way to pass the time should too.

Dan Abentt's Thorn and Talon

Catching up on my Black Library reading, I finally picked up Dan Abnett's Thorn and Talon. This audio book, actually has three short stories on it, recorded on two cd's. The first CD has two new stories, "Master Imus's Transgression" which is the story of an accountant that feels he has committed a "transgression." This tale is set while Eisenhorn is still an interrogator. The story is amusing and well written, and worth the price of the CD by itself. The second story, "Regia Occulta" is another well written offering. This time, Eisenhorn is a newly minted Inquisitor on a routine investigatory circuit through the Helican Sub. Stranded on a world racked by storms, he takes part in a murder investigation out of boredom more than anything else. Finally, the third story, "Thorn Wishes Talon" has been previously published, it is the prequel short story to the Ravenor series. One thing that stands out in these stories though, is the increasing quality of the black Library audio dramas. Well worth the price, and a must by for Eisnhorn or Abnett fans.

Age of Legend edited by Christian Dunn

Age of Legend, edited by Christian Dunn, is a compilation of short stories set in Warhammer's Time of Legends. As any one who knows me is aware, I'm not a huge fan of the Warhmammer fluff-verse. I feel like it is very boring and predictable for the most part. Which is a big part of why I usually avoid those novels. However I have been enjoying the Time of Legends novels, almost as much as I do the Horus Heresy novels. However, this compilation is definitely not for me. Most of it is low fantasy (if you aren't sure what i mean, in brief high fantasy is world changing, and epic, low fantasy is very small scale and nowhere near epic) and not very interesting to me. There is one in particular I enjoyed set in Kislev, but to give any more details would ruin the surprises within it. That being said, and knowing that i am naturally biased, this has well written stories, I thought this was an okay read. Worth it for fantasy fans, but that's about it.

Salamanders Captain

While I am still in the final stages of my current project, the Blood Ravens, I wanted to do a quick sneak peak for my next one, the Salamanders. One of the great elements of the Devastator boxed set, is one can build six space marines out of it. Especially if one has a pretty extensive bitz box. I chose one of those leg pairs for my Salamanders Captain.



To emphasize the skill and craftsmanship that the Salamanders posses, I decided that every model will have unique armor, and that as many as possible will have Mark VIII power armour. I filed off the skull at the top of the Mark VIII chest plate, and then proceeded to build the model, leaving off the backpack. I add all of my bitz, and the thunder hammer and arms from the Death Company boxed set, being careful to remove any blood drops in evidence.



Next i sculpted a cloak for the model, by rolling out a wedge of green stuff flat, and cutting it roughly rectangular. I then added some curves to simulate motion. I used my standard pallet for most of the model. However I painted the armor in layers of P3 Gnarls Green, Iosan Green and an extreme highlight of Wurm Green. I added a layer of Ordic Olive to the cloak in between the Gnarls and Iosan Greens as well. For the cloak, I tried to paint U's in order to simulate scales. I'm not one hundred percent sold on this, but I think it is a good start at the technique.

Gav Thorpe's Deliverance Lost

I was pleasantly surprised when i went into my local GW after Christmas and saw Deliverance Lost for sale. I was under the impression that it wouldn't be out until January. So quite naturally, I greedily scooped it up and added it to my purchases. Gav Thorpe is the author, and the story picks up immediately after Raven's Flight. This novel gives the reader the back story for Corax, how he liberated Lycaeus and brought Khiavar into the fold of the Imperium, and how Corax met the Emperor. At the same time, this is the story of how the Raven Guard attempts to rebuild after Istvaan and the problems they have. For Raven Guard fans, this is a must read. Ditto for Horus Heresy fans. Even as a stand alone novel, this is a great read.