Christmas Loot!

Lots of 40K stuff came rolling in this holiday season (and birthday, since mine was 12/21) from my loved ones.

I've seriously got my work set out for me!  Here's what came in:

Chaos Rhino

Thousand Sons Boxed Set

Tyranid Broodlord

Orks "Spearhead" boxed set

Orks Codex

Eldar Warlock with Singing Spear

Witch Hunters Inquisitor

My lovely wife secured the Spearhead+Codex before they ran out for the year.  I was so very happy.  There's so much in that box!  There's a Weirdboy, a Big Mek (with Shokk Attack Gun), 10 boyz, 5 Lootas/Burnas, 5 Tankbustas, 2 Bombsquigs, a Trukk, and 3 Warbikers!  Time to paint me up some Evil Sunz!  

I'll cover my first impression of the new Ork Codex when I get a bit of time.  Work, work, work.

Venerable Dreadnought

Here's the Venerable Dreadnought, one of my Elites choices for the Dark Angels.
If you haven't seen this model before, it's from Forgeworld, a subsidiary of Games Workshop. They do great resin-cast models. Incredible detail, and very fun to paint. To be honest, he's one of the most impressive models in my DA army. I'm already looking through Forgeworld's store for a possible piece for every army (no more than that, though... they're expensive). If you live in the U.S. be mindful that their prices are in British pounds. At this point in time a Pound is about $2.

Since he's Venerable, I decided that he would be part of the infamous Deathwing, and I've painted him accordingly in bone colors with Dark green and red as secondary colors.

For the most part, I want my theme with the Dark Angels to be 'balance.' I want each unit to be able to adjust to battle conditions, something that Space Marines can do better than any other race due to their stat layout. With this in mind, I decided to equip my Dreadnought with one ranged weapon and one Close Combat weapon, so that he too can adapt to changes happening around him. I would be rather content if he never gets into Close Combat, because that Plasma Cannon's gonna be killer. Also, Plasma Cannons on vehicles/walkers don't overheat, so THAT'S awesome. And if he DOES get into Close Combat, the weapon gives him a Strength of 10, so THAT'S awesome.

I think what I'm trying to say here is that he's awesome. Not sure if you picked that up yet.

Next on the workbench is a unit of 5 Deathwing Terminators. The models are all assembled and primered, I just need to actually sit down and paint them, holiday season be damned!

Exodite World Terrain Set

So this is what I've been busy making for the last week or so. A set of modular terrain. Above, you can see all the pieces put into place within the 6 ft. by 4 ft. collapsable table that I had made a few months back. The pieces are made of 1" thick styrofoam which I cut into 2 ft. by 2 ft. blocks.


I used Home Depot paint (brown and green) and sprinkled Static Grass over it while it was still wet.


There are two bags worth of trees I got from the GW store, one bag on one piece of board, and the other on another.

The hills are another chunk of styrofoam that I attacked with a hot-wire cutter to get some ridges on them.
I, for the most part, placed the terrain in a corner, or to one side of a block of styrofoam, so as to give me many options depending on how I lay down that block. Every time I have a battle with this set, It can be a completely different layout. Maybe all the trees are near to each other as seen in a previous pic. Maybe they're across the board from each other. Maybe the Eldar Warpgate is in the center of the board (for Take and Hold missions), maybe it's in a corner.

Speaking of Eldar Warpgates, here it is. I placed a Falcon on the board for size reference. I have plans to make 6 or 7 sets of terrain like this, each one having a different theme. This set's theme is an Exodite world. There is an Eldar Warpgate to represent that this is Eldar territory. It is bright and green. A verdant world to represent the hopes and desires of the Eldar community. The Exodite worlds are their last chance.
By far, this set will be the most "pristine." The set I have planned for the Imperium is a jungle world riddled with ruins of old buildings. The landscape is taking back the world. It will serve as a visual representation of the state of the Imperium. ...but more on that when I make it.


Here's a close-up of the Warp Gate with my Farseer posing for the photo. He plans on taking it back to Alaitoc to show the rest of the Seer Council, I'm sure.

Zoanthropes

Probably the only set of models that I prefer an older style over the newer 4th. edition models.
The newer ones make the bodies a bit larger and the heads as well, but I like the head CARAPACE being so huge in comparison to the body. It really makes them look like floating heads, moreso than the new models ... and I love it. Also, the carapace shape looks more "Eldar-y" than the newer ones, and since the fluff indicates that Zoanthropes originated by assimilating Eldar DNA, I prefer this kind of look.

I painted them the usual purple exoskeleton with black carapace like the rest of my 'nids. Though as I painted these guys a while back (before 4th edition came out) I had this crazy idea of putting green spots on the purple exoskeletons to make them look more natural. It looked weird is what it did, and I've since tossed out that paint-scheme with the new models... though I don't have the heart to paint them off these guys. They're veterans, oldies ... I'll allow them their liverspots and blemishes. Adds character.

These guys are my Tyranid mobile Artillery. Since the new 4th edition rules allow me to give them more than one power (Thank The Emperor) I've equipped them with Warp Blast and Synapse Creature. Warp Blast is their main weapon, which I'll be using against heavy armor and vehicles. Synapse is because I may require a backup synapse creature. Due to my army leaning towards a "Zillanid" force, I imagine my opponent will target all my large critters as primary targets. That's fine with me, as I've allowed myself enough large bugs to make that a difficult feat ... also, I have enough numbers with the troops/Fast Attack, that focusing on my large guys will only spell my opponent's doom. The Synapse ability for the Zoanthropes is merely a precaution against a particularly crafty/lucky/well equipped opponent.