Zone Mortalis (on a budget) Part 1

After listening to a recent episode of the Indpendent Characters, I downloaded a copy of the Forgeworld PDF rules. I was intrigued by them and fancied playing some games at my local gaming club. Unfortunately as I'm not lucky enough to be able to splash out on the lovely Forgeworld ZM tiles I went hunting for a suitable alternative and I found Battle Systems.

battlesystems.co.uk

Battlesystems are a small company that specialises in producing printable PDF files that can be built with 'some' modelling experience on paper and mount board to produce good looking tabletop terrain. At a fraction of the cost of the ZM tiles, being modular and having the ability to reprint more sections if you need them I decided to invest in their Bumper Value Pack and Bunker wall set.

This should, in theory provide me with enough terrain for a 3x2 board with some interior details to use for ZM and possibly Space Hulk. Battle Systems are also currently developing more features for this system to make it larger and more detailed and seeing on how these kits go together, I will be investing further...

I'm off to get some mount board and glue - look out for updates soon!

Celebrating Our Club's Birthday

It recently occurred to me that although I have been in the hobby just under two years, a far more important milestone is that my friendly local gaming group has just quietly celebrated its 1st Birthday!

Known as "Guildhammer" (due to our venue being the Gamers Guild in Redhill), our group has been through a first year of  ups and downs like most clubs, but has resolved into a core group that has made it a success.

This year has seen lots of people come in to see what's going on, some to take part in small introductory games, some who tested tournament lists and others who just want to throw some dice and chat over a 'friendly' game.

We've organised a Facebook group to keep that hobbling spirit going (although it's secret to hide our shame!) 

Reflecting on our first year I decided on some areas that going forward I think we could improve on and drive it forward:

1) ADVERTISE! Drive word on the street up through advertising in our store and through other methods!

2) ORGANISE! Plan events to keep everyone (mainly those fair weather gamers) interested in playing regularly. We've got a few in the pipeline but creativity is key here!

3) THINK BIG! The sky is the limit and what's most important is that we utilise all the members creativity and encourage everyone to have a go at doing things they want like organising games or running campaigns!

So here's to getting the first year done and looking ahead to the difficult second album!

Things to Do - My Kanban Flow Board

After hearing from both the Independent Characters and Deep Strike Radio about the benefits of using Kanban Flow to organise your hobbying, I thought I would give it a try. As my main problem is my constant painting ADD where I can't finish one project without getting bored and starting something else (check this earlier post to see the problem!) so this might help to keep me focussed and actually I'm quite proud of how much is done!

As you can see there is a definite issue with one column so this will be the focus for the next few months around work/life etc. If by Christmas there is a slightly more even spread to the columns than that will be huge progress.

Any advice below on how to stay motivated or tackle these problems would be amazing!

Cleansing Gaaron Prime - The Mission and Army List

My local Nurgle player Bill (bill40k) challenged me to play in a narrative game against his Chaos Marine army. Always up for a challenge and especially to play in a fluffy game, I jumped at the chance!

We decided on playing 3000 points as we had a couple of hours to play and Bill wanted to try some different units to our usual Wesnesday night club games which are generally around 1000-1500 points. 

Bill wrote the mission as an adaptation of a Planetstrike style game, without the strategems or modified FOCs. There were 2 objectives on the table, a Bastion in the Chaos deployment zone worth 3vp and a Coms Relay worth 2vp in the Salamanders deployment zone. Secondary objectives were 1st Blood and Slay the warlord. To make it interesting, once 5 zombies were killed they returned from his board edge as a new 5 man unit - Meat Grinder style.

After some delibration I wrote a list that I then changed about 5 times because I couldn't decide on the best HQ option, knowing he was bring plenty of zombies, I contemplated using a chapter master for the Orbital Bombardment and a Whirlwind in my Heavy Support slot. In the end I went with the list below:

Battle Group Firestorm Army List BLOG by Stuart Coppard

I think that this gave me the best mix of hard hitting armour and mobility so I could cross the board and try and get at least one combat squad into the bastion while holding onto my Comms Relay. We'll see how it goes!

Cleansing Gaaron Prime - The Background

++INCOMING TRANSMISSION++

++Realspace Signal: Priority Maxima++

++Astropathic Communication Unavailable/Blocked++

++Message Begins++

++If you can hear this, send help, please. This is Administrator Lysia of Gaaron Prime. They're all dead, everyone is dead. I fear I am one of the last few left. Days ago the sky turned green and the agri-workers became inflicted by a viral infection . The planet was enveloped by this unexplained fog and then the bodies of those who sucumbed to the malardy began to rise. Within hours we were overrun.++

++If anyone hears this, please send anything you can, I'm not sure if I'll make it through the night++

++MESSAGE ENDS++

The planet of Gaaron Prime has been targeted by Typhus and a strike force of Death Guard for as yet unknown reasons. He has been busy infecting the local population and creating a zombie army. The local PDF have been overrun and the Astropathic communication with the planet has gone dark.

The message above was received by Vulkan He'Stan and a small group of Salamanders who were on their way to  a neighbouring system to investigate a potential link in discovering the Obsidian Chariot. Never one to abandon humans in need, despite their own mission, Vulkan commanded his Navigator to set a course for Gaaron Prime immediately and readied his task force to engage whatever mysterious forces were at work on the planet.

Using the signal from the final outgoing communication, the Salamanders prepared to land at the communication relay station outside of the capital of Gaaron Prime, and claim one of the main defence bastions nearby to serve as a landing zone and a well secured base to co-ordinate a larger assault on the surface. However, his arrival in the system and landing did not go un-noticed by those in service of the dark gods, who prepared a trap the incoming Astartes could not possibly have prepared for...

The whole thing

As a good place to start I thought if share my whole Salamanders force as it currently stands now. As you can see it clearly needs lots of work doing but as a collection it is pretty much there although I still have a few bits to pick up to finish it off, not counting the new releases in the next few weeks!

Ill go through each unit and my plans for trying to get them all finished and into a complete army over the next few months.

Currently my company consists of:

HQ

• Vulkan He'Stan
• Captain Lysander (converted to also be a Chapter Master)
• Captain Mir'san (converted Forgeworld Badab War Character)
• Command Squad with Razorback (will eventually become a Damocles Rhino too)
• Librarian in Power Armour
• Librarian in Terminator Armour
• Chaplain in Power Armour
• Chaplain in Terminator Armour
• Master of the Forge (with 4 Servitors)

ELITES

• 11 Terminators with Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer and Cyclone Missile Launcher and 2 Chainfists
• 10 Assault Terminators, 2 Lightning Claws and 8 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shields
• Dreadnought
• Ironclad Dreadnought

TROOPS

• 6 Tactical Squads with a selection of Flamers, Meltaguns, Missile Launchers, Heavy Bolters and Multi-Meltas. All have a Rhino/ Razorback with TL Heavy Bolter, TL Lascannon, Multi-Melta or TL Heavy Flamer

• 10 Scouts with 9 Sniper rifles and Missile Launcher
• 10 Scouts with 9 Bolters and Heavy Bolter

HEAVY SUPPORT

• 2 Devestator Squads, 10 men each with a mix of Lascannons, Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters
• Predator Destructor with Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Sponsons
• Predator Annihilator with TL Lascannons and Lascannon Sponsons
• 2 Whirlwinds, 1 Forgeworld Helios variant
• Stormraven Gunship

In the beginning...

Or rather, a bit later than the beginning of my hobbying, I decided to finally start writing a blog and tracking the ongoing adventures and progress of my Salamanders army. Before I get down to the details, I think it's best to give you a full view of my hobbying and my intentions.

I first played 3rd ed 40k while I was still at secondary school and had a close group of friends who I played regularly with, we played Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Orks and I played Guard. As tends to be the case, other things (college, girls, alcohol etc) got in the way.

Jump forward a few years and November 2011 brought me back to GW  when my younger brother in law bought an army of Tyranids and challenged me to a game. I bought myself the Black Reach starter and jumped in with both feet. After reading the codex and having a look online, I settled on the Salamanders as being my chapter. They're a smaller chapter (in representation) and gave some cool fluff (more on that later).

After losing my first few months of games  and slowly growing my collection I've now got nearly all of the 3rd company of the Salamanders chapter (eBay has a lot to answer for), a regular gaming group and a marginally better win/loss record.

Most of all I have met some awesome people, and through podcasts and Facebook groups I have been able to indulge my geek and progress my hobbying further.

I hope to use this blog to discuss my thoughts and feelings on certain topics, having played long enough now to feel I have found my voice and to hopefully chronical my progress further though modelling, painting, player and running games.

I hope you enjoy reading as and when I post and love to hear any feedback you have!