Lands to Raid part 2

Hello, this is Neverness. A few months ago I took some pics of some of Kushial's vehicles in order to use the pics for this blog. They never got used accept for a few and I decided to go ahead and show off more pics of his tanks. In particular I want to show off his really nicely painted Land Raider Crusader.

This tank really caught my eye on the gaming table due to it's lights. He has such a perfect, yet simple, technique for painting headlights that really works well. I think he is far more successful at painting a convincing looking light than what I have been able to achieve on my own models

Look into the lights... keep staring at them as I Tank Shock you!

I wanted to write a bit more though, so I was pushing Kushial to come up a name and a history for this tank, but I guess he couldn't come up with anything, and he told me that he had never worked up a naming convention for his vehicles (yet). I was suggesting all sorts of weird stuff, which probably didn't help! LOL. Since he didn't approve this thing I sent him, here is what I sent him anyway. This is unofficial.

 Land Raider XXI was deployed to the 3rd Company as early as 556M38 and fought in many campaigns before becoming seriously damaged during the Druidian Revolt of M39. It was retrofitted and re-equipped into a Land Raider Crusader and assigned to Warzone Antonius where it was instrumental in over-throwing the forces of Chaos Cultists lead by the Arch Deviant Screech 'The Mouth of Tzeentch', and leading the spearhead that broke the 5 year siege. After this the Lions of the 3rd Company nicknamed the Land Raider "The Indomitable Wrath"

I have more pics of his vehicles, so if he doesn't come up with a naming convention, I just might keep coming up with my own, what do you think>

A Little Bit of Everything

So first of all for this update is a trio of Centurions.  I still don't care for the small head look, but an opportunity came up for me to very reasonably get 2 boxes of them.  This is the first trio of them assembled.  I went with the missile launchers, grav cannons, and gravamps to outfit them with.  I think this is the best mix of weapons to use against heavy infantry which is what I plan to use them for, that and things like broadsides and riptides and such.

Next up after that, I've got some paint applied to the Cyrmu Naval Fleet Base.  It's an ok scheme that I think will work well enough for now.  I still need to get a few flying stands attached to the bottom of it though.

And last of all, I've got a couple freighters and a scratch built tanker to use as part of the fleet train.  None of them are a whole lot to look at, but then how spiffy does a freight hauler really need to be, so they'll serve their purpose.

 

The other thing that I've finished is the organization of the Imperial Naval Battlegroup that I've been slowly accumulating.  It's still very light on escorts but I've got a couple orders in to work on that.  I've gone with more Grand Cruisers than Battleships due to the fleet being on the outer Eastern Fringe, and see them as getting a bit less in the way of resources.

Battlegroup Vaeltin
Vice Admiral Piotr Vaeltin
11th Battleline Squadron
Commodore Craig Douglas
    Sturmswalbe Retribution-class Battleship
    Albatross Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Kirov Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Warrior Code Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Bellepheron Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
12th Battleline Squadron
Commodore Albrecht Densch
    Queen's Gambit Retribution-class Battleship
    Stormfront Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Borealis Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Defense of Minos Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
    Trebuchet Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
43rd Battlecruiser Squadron
Commodore Julius Kieraly
    Pan's Labyrinth Mars-class Battlecruiser
    Obsidian Desire  Overlord-class Battlecruiser
    Essex Overlord-class Battlecruiser
201st Cruiser Squadron
Commodore Walter Iverson
    Ivanhoe Lunar-class Cruiser
    Kingfisher Lunar-class Cruiser
    Royal Oak Dominator-class Cruiser
    Royal Crown Gothic-class Cruiser
202nd Cruiser Squadron
Commodore Victor Wieslaw
    Black Prince Lunar-class Cruiser
    Hellbarde Dominator-class Cruiser
    Odin's Oracle Dominator-class Cruiser
    Artemis Dominator-class Cruiser
203rd Cruiser Squadron
Commodore Cole Niesse
    Pride of Orthavan Lunar-class Cruiser
    Might of Vigilance Lunar-class Cruiser
    Duke of York Gothic-class Cruiser
    Furious Tyrant-class Cruiser
56th Escort Squadron
Commodore Gregori Preussner
    Flintlock Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Hauberk Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Greyhound Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Mablehead Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Constellation Endurance-class Light Cruiser
    Dryad Endurance-class Light Cruiser
    403rd Destroyer Group
57th Escort Squadron
Commodore Desmond Belliard
    Vincennes Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Broadsword Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Tower of Iron Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Jaguar Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Galahad Endurance-class Light Cruiser
    Semper Fidelis Endurance-class Light Cruiser
58th Escort Squadron
Commodore Charles Bertaud
    Penitent's Hope Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Borneo Endeavour-class Light Cruiser
    Paladin's Shield Endurance-class Light Cruiser
34th Support Squadron
Commodore Pavel Kushkovo
    2 Tarask-class Merchantmen
    2 Galaxy-class Armed Freighters
    1 Mendencant-class Fuel Transport



That's all for now and I'll see you next time.  I still have all that BFG to paint, 3 more Centurions to assemble, more companies to get onto the blog .... So many projects, so many potential blog posts.

Imperial Fleet Grows

So some of the Sorylians that I ordered have arrived, so I spent part of the afternoon with some simple converting.  It's been fun seeing the fleet slowly take shape and I need to talk Neverness into a game here in the near future so I can start trying them out.

First up are the pair of Retribution-class Battleships.  On the left is the Sturmswalbe under the command of Captain Oliver Prescott and on the right is the Queen's Gambit under Captain Ian Marlowe.  The Sturmswalbe is the flagship of Rear Admiral Piotr Vaeltun who is one of the Sector Fleet Battlegroup Commanders.

Next is the quartet of Avenger-class Grand Cruisers.  Going from left to right, we have the Albatross commanded by Captain Lloyd Callahan, Kirov under Captain Anthony Villers, Warrior Code under Captain Joachim Belliard, and the Bellepheron under Captain Duncan Tellermann.

Now we finally get to some escort class vessels.  We have the (again from left to right) five Endeavor-class Light Cruisers.  These are the Flintlock, Hauberk, Vincennes, Greyhound, and Marblehead.

Then we've got five Endurance-class Light Cruisers. There are the (you know the drill by now) Paladin's Shield, Constellation, Dryad, Galahad, and Semper Fidelis.

And then last of all, we have the first group of Cobra-class Destroyers.

There's where we stand at so far with the Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet.  We finally have a Battlegroup Flagship, some heavy hitting ships of the line, and finally some escort vessels.  I've got a few more ships coming and I need to see about ordering some more vessels to use as Destroyers and Frigates.  All in all, it's coming along nicely and I'm hoping to get some paint on some vessels as soon as I get a good day for priming that I'm off work.

That's it for tonight and I'll see you all later.  Trust in the Emperor for his servants' firepower will defend you.

A Chapter Master and Guardsmen

So the ships I've got on order from a couple different places haven't arrived yet, so it'll be next week before I make some more progress on the Imperial Naval deep space forces.  However, I did get 20 lasgun guardsmen and a grenade launcher fellow assembled for the Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet 4th Naval Infantry Regiment.  I still need to get some plasma and meltaguns assembled as well as some heavy weapon bases, but I should be able to field between 1,000 and 1,500 points really soon.

After that, I've finally finished the converting for my Chapter Master Annwn Piet Moriarty, the Lord Harlech, Dominus Cymru, Knight Commander of Tyr, Lord Defender of the Eastern Fringes, Keeper of the Seal of Cymru.  I'm super pleased with how he came out and have worked out a deal with RTVortil to get him a worth paintjob as well.

 

 

Along with the Chapter Master, I've completed his Seneschal the Veteran Sgt Willam Holmes and his personal banner bearer.

 

That's all for now and hopefully coming out of the weekend, I'll get some more ships assmebled/converted and then see about getting them primed.  I won't get to game tomorrow due to work, but I'll have the next couple Saturdays off and I'm looking forward to getting a few games of the new 7th Edition in.

Hope you all enjoyed and see you next time.

Still More Battlefleet

So I've continues on with my BFG conversions and scratchbuilds this week.  This blog will pull together everything done so far so it'll have already finished items plus all the new stuff so it's going to be a longer one than normal.  Hope you all enjoy and here we go.

First up is the two Overlord-class Battlecruisers Essex (top in picture) and Obsidian Desire (lower in picture).  These are commanded by Captain Erik Urkhart and Captain Sevarius Quinn respectively.

Next is the Mars-class Battlecruiser Pan's Labyrinth commanded by Captain Ian Preussner.

After that we have the five Lunar-class Cruisers.  From Left to Right we have the Black Prince under Captain Vasily Solinov, the Pride of Orthavan under Captain Jacen Calius, the Ivanhoe under Captain Walter Scott, the Might of Vigilance under Captain Kurt Gordrecht, and the Kingfisher under Captain Raleigh Peerlain.

Next is the four Dominator-class Cruisers.  Again from Left to Right we have the Royal Oak under Captain Nicolai Girbierge, the Hellbarde under Captain Paulus Haarlis, the Odin's Oracle under Captain Klaus Yorck, and the Artemis under Captain Brice Coomb.

Then we have the Furious, a Tyrant-class Cruiser, under the command of Captain Emil Demblon.  To the Right of the Furious is the pair of Gothic-class Cruisers.  These are the Duke of York under Captain Nikolai Ushenko and the Royal Crown under Captain Andrew Galloway.

Up next after that is the Bellicose Dreams station under the command of Commodore Tomas Calhoun.  I've mounted it on a piece of cut wood that came in some terrain packaging and works out just right size wise.  I've also added a power plant bit to one end and it's ready for priming now.

Now we've got something new in the BFG terrain category.  This is an orbital smelting plant for processing various resources needed for industry.

Last of all we've got my version of a Ramilies-class Star Fort.  This is intended to be a smaller and less capable, more of a system defense station rather than the mobile warp-capable monstrosities that the Ramilies represents.

And there we have it as it stands so far.  In the next week or so I should have what's needed to start on the battleship size vessels as well as light cruisers and downward.  If anyone has any other suggestions on what might make interesting terrain, feel free to leave some suggestions.  That's all for now, and I'll see you again next time.

More Battlefleet

So I got in a partial game of CBT this past Sat night.  We got a late start due to circumstances beyond our control and ended up with beaten up forces for a draw.  I took one picture at the start and never remembered to take another one.  I gotta get better at that.  I do think we've got Scott seriously interested in CBT though and he's getting drawn in to a whole new system now.

On the BFG front, I've got another three Lunar-class cruisers done for an even quartet.  I'm planning on putting paint and some naming conventions on them come Wednesday when I'm off work again.

And then the major development, I've been working on the Bellicose Dreams the dockyard/orbital defense base for Cymru-II.  This has been a pretty fun project for digging in the bits box.  I still need to get some better support underneath it so I'll be able to put it on flying bases.  I'm pleased with how it's coming out so far.

 

 

I've still got a few more cruisers to do, but I'm going to have to come up with a way to tweak the overall look slightly to use them as a different class.  I've also got a pair of battle cruisers to finish converting as well to join the first Overlord-class.

I'm hoping to get an order in to be able to start making some light cruisers and other escorts.

Imperial Fleet Stand-ins

So I've wanted to build up my Battlefleet Gothic and get some of the Johnson City crew to get me going in playing this.  Unfortunately other than some marine vessels that I acquired some time ago, I'm a bit lopsided in ships.  My marines have a battlebarge, a strike cruiser and then about a dozen destroyers and frigates to escort them, which is hardly a balanced fleet much less one for table top play.  Also unfortunately BFG models are nigh on criminally priced on eBay which has stymied me on that front as well.  So I've decided to go the alternative model route with some modifications.

 

 

I've decided on the Sorylian line from Firestorm Armada.  I really like the overall look and feel of these models.  I've been able to pick a few of these up quite cheaply, especially considered against the available BFG models.  Since they won't match my marine ships, I'll be using them as Imperial Naval vessels, and so the Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet under the command of Admiral Theodorius Childress has been born.  The medium Skyhammer-class cruiser that I got is just a bit shorter than my Battlebarge so I'll be using it as an Overlord-class Battlecruiser since the size seems a bit smaller than a Battleship would be.

 

 

The Sorylian Scythe-class Frigate was the other blister I got (and you get 6 in that pack) and it is the same size of the Strike Cruiser I have, so I'll be using them as regular Cruisers.  Right now I'll be using them as Lunar-class Cruisers as this seems to be a good all round class to start out with.  After I get the first 6 of these done, I might look into a second blister of these to use as a different class.

Once I get what I currently have all assembled and tweaked with bits to look more 40K, I'll look into getting the Frigate and Corvette set to use as destroyers and frigates.  Some of the box sets have a mix of ship sizes so I might end up going that route as well.  All in all, this looks to be a pretty fun project and I've been looking into some things to do for scenery as well.  I'll be doing a follow up post to this sometime next week and show off the collection of finished cruisers as of that point.

That's all for now and look here hopefully Sunday evening for a Classic Battletech battle report.