Imperial Guard

So the 1st Battalion of the Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet 4th Naval Infantry Regiment has received some reinforcements.  I got lucky when someone posted there entire army of Imperial Guard on eBay in a large number of small lots.  I managed to win about 6 of these for a very reasonable price and thus the force has grown to almost tabletop playable.  I'm still quite light in support units like artillery, tanks, etc.

First up is the block of basic infantry men, or armsmen in the case of this regiment.  I had won a total of 5 squads so that gives me 30 lasgun toting bodies.

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The squads all came with a grenade launcher which means 5 more of those.

And then there were 5 heavy weapons teams with 3 autocannons and 2 mortars to go with the mortar I already have assembled.

And then last of all, there are the 5 Sgts for the squads plus a pair of junior officers won in a separate lot.

So this gives me an overall total of 7 full squads or if I split the heavy weapons off into heavy weapon squads, I'll be able to field almost 6 full squads as veterans or normal platoon squads.  I need to look into acquiring some guard plasma gunners and melta gunners.  Add to that some artillery and such.  I've reached a good number of boots on the ground I think, and from here on I need more of the heavy firepower and support units to fill in the force.

That's all for now and I'll see you all later.

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.

A Spotter

So I got a Naval Artillery Observer assembled last evening.  This is 2nd Lt. Moden of the 4th Battalion of the Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet 4th Naval Infantry Regiment.  He's an Imp Guard command squad adviser model with a Scion comm pack added.

But wait .... why would I need a spotter, and what is he spotting for?  Oh yes, this thing.

On the last trip up to Johnson City to play, I picked up this kit which I assembled last night and today.  I didn't add the little barrel cap bits for the Wyvern which allowed me to do a small trip so that I can slide the barrels in to use it as a Hydra as well. (Though the BattleTech enthusiast in me still wants to call it a Partisan.)

I'm happy with how well this kit goes together but I'll admit that for someone with thick stumpy fingers, the smaller and smaller bits that are closer and closer together on the GW sprues are starting to be an issue with me.  I'm using a razor knife more and more it seems to get bits off the sprues rather than the clippers I've used so long.

I still need to look into Basilisks and Manticores to properly outfit the heavy fire support part of the Regiment, but it's starting to take shape as a playable force.  Hopefully sometime this summer I'll get a game in with them.  That's all for now and as always, feel free to leave in input or suggestions in the comments.

Commisar

So just a newly built model today.  This is Commissar Vierziger.  It's a slight tweak of the Commissar plastic model.  I've used a left arm from the Scion sprue, added a parchment bit from the space marines, and a sternguard sheathed power sword to complete.  I like the dynamic pose that was the end result and it really looks like he's got a list of people to put down if they don't do their best and then some while he's extolling them forward.

Commissar Vierziger started his career at the Friesland Naval Academy headed for a career as a naval line officer, when he was noticed by a Lord Commissar presenting a guest lecture series.  He was subsequently transferred to the Schola Progenium on Newland where he finished his training as a Commissar.  He was then assigned to the Cymru Sub-Sector Fleet and has served with distinction ever since.  Vierziger's one odd quirk is one that seems to keep the men around him slightly off balance is his odd way in combat.  He seems to go into a sort of serene trance like state where his ability to cause death and destruction to the enemy takes over his normally stern demeanor.  His men will follow him into battle willingly, but more than a few admit that they do so fearfully as well.
 
I'm really happy with how this on came together and he'll be fun to get to lead a shore party not too far into the future I hope.  The fluff for him is still in a state of slight flux, I'm not 100% satisfied with it yet.  Something about it still seems a bit off.  Anyway, that's it for now and enjoy the quick new blog post until I see you next time.

SBS Team

So I got my first squad of Scions assembled.  The Warrant Officer (Tempestor) got a power sword to go with his awesome overcoat.  The rest of the squad have their hotshot lasguns and I've included two of the salvo versions in the squad as well.  I'm styling my Scions as a type of SBS Team.  I haven't decided yet on what to call this force and I'm looking for ideas.  These are the highly trained squads of veteran armsmen in the Imperial Navy who back up the basic armsmen.

 

 

This squad will be part of Lt. Commander Joachim Steuben's 1st Infantry Battalion.  I'm planning on the organization (NOT the collection) to include 3 Companies of Regular Armsmen and 1 Company of the SBS Team equivalents.  The Warrant Officer is tentatively named Jack Scratchard following the naming convention I've started with this Regiment.  The blade made it pretty easy for me to go with that name for him.  Besides, who wouldn't want to be in a squad where the leader is nicknamed "Ripper Jack"?

I've always enjoyed the Slammer novels, so it's been enjoyable picking and reading back through the books to data mine for names for Regimental characters.  When I get around to making the Steuben character, I think it's going to be a lot of fun trying to get his ... presence to show itself in the model.  I'm going to building one more squad of these SBS guys because the models are just that neat looking.  I'm also going to be bit digging/buying for want of using up all the left over interesting bits still on the sprues.

That's all for this update and I'll see you all on the next go round.

Leman Russ

It's been a bit of a rough week or so, and thus I did not get to spend as much hobby time as I had wished.  I did however manage to get a Leman Russ assembled.  I've decided to base my Cymric Sub-Sector Battle Fleet 4th Naval Infantry Regiment roughly on David Drake's Hammer Slammers and thus this will be Lt. Commander Daniel Pritchard's command tank.  Organizationally, the Regiment will be under the leadership of Commander Alois Hammer, the 1st Battalion (Infantry) under Lt. Commander Joachim Steuben, 2nd Battalion (Infantry) under Lt. Commander Lucas Broglie, 3rd Battalion (Armored) under Lt. Commander Daniel Pritchard, and I'm still figuring out who to use for command of the 4th Battalion (Support).

This is just a standard Russ variant with battle cannon and lascannon.  I had planned on adding sponsons but the bits were being very uncooperative and so ended up being being tossed back into a bits box to preserve some of my sanity.

 

 

After this one I'd like to at least one if not two plasma based tanks to pair of with the tank destroyers.  That should give me a solid tank base line to build forces around.

This coming Saturday I'll be back up in Johnson City for some gaming and I believe I'll be playing against Skylar which should be fun as he seems to be still working his way into his own tactical style of things.  He's had some interesting Daemon lists so I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings.  I'm going to use this as an opportunity to bring some things I normally don't take in my lists so hopefully we'll both have an enjoyable game.

That's all until next time, Lions fans ....