Russian Foot Flags for the GNW

Just added more codes to the range of flags for Warfare Miniatures with the first GNW offering - Russian Foot. Rather than name each unit, these are meant to be generic as there are only a dozen or so units that we can pair up with the color of flag they carried...

Flags for the Russian Foot Guard will be up next with Swedish Foot to follow soon...

Red Scorpions Devastator Squad

More reinforcements for my Red Scorpions Space Marine army, this time in the form of some much needed Heavy Support...

I'm going to add another four marines next week and I'll have the option of fielding a full ten man squad, a five or six man squad if I want to place them in a Razorback (a hint for something else coming in the near future), or I can leave the heavies at home and field an extra six man tactical squad.

Ultramarines

The most vanilla marine yet... from the photo I see this guy needs another coat of matte varnish on his shoulder pad. I sealed all of the decals with Games Workshop's Lahmian Medium which does a great job in dulling down shiny details, but this joker needs a little more attention...

Someone asked about the paints I used for the Ultramarines. I presume they were primarily interested in the blue. All of my models start with a black undercoat. All of the paints were from the new Games Workshop range. I painted the armor with Macragge Blue, leaving the black showing in the recesses between plates. Then the model was given a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade. The next step was the most time consuming, though not nearly as much so on the modern marine models. I painted all of the armor plates again with Altdorf Guard Blue and left the darker colors showing in shadow areas - the underside of the legs and arms, around obvious joins int he armor, etc. In large flat areas, this meant blending the color out, but in small areas I simply left a fine line of the darker color showing. The final highlights were fast and consisted of Calgar Blue painted on the sharp edges of the armor (seen best on the helmet above).

Other colors were far simplier and applied in only two layers - Leadbelcher and tiny highlights of Runefang Steel for the metallics, Mephiston Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet for the visor (with tiny dots of White Scar and a coat of 'Ardcoat Vanrnish to make 'em shiny), and Celestra Grey and Ulthuan Grey for the white details such as the stripe on the helmet and studs on the shoulder pad. I don't remember what the browns for the pouches were, but any earthy color will do.

The battle damage was done by adding small chips and cracks with Abaddon Black and highlighting the underside of each with Lothern Blue. The mud and dust was built up by stippling and drybrushing in two coats, first with Mournfang Brown and then very lightly with Karak Stone, but you should use the same colors you would normally use on the base of your models. These colors are focused primarily on the feet and lower legs, but the errant splash here and there (such as the shoulder guard above) is not out of place.

Hope that helps! More Ultramrines and Red Scorpions on the way and don't think I've forgotten about the Grand Alliance period...

Medic!

One of the special rules in the Forge World Red Scorpions army list called PURITY ABOVE ALL. The fluff is that the chapter closely monitors it's geneseed, screening for mutation and corruption, to the point of fanatiscism! The game rule allows you to upgrade any Sergeants in Tactical Squads to Apothecaries for 25pts which will give the entire squad FEEL NO PAIN (Ignore unsaved Wounds on a 5+).

This use to seem overpowered to me before the Blood Angels Codex came out. Forge World rules are not allowed in most of the national tournaments, but I don't play in those kind of events - my local group is fine with the rule. In any case, I still have the original Sergeants I painted.

In light of the post from yesterday, I should also mention the other special rule for the Red Scorpions - HAVE PRIDE IN YOUR COLOURS. The Red Scorpions shun the use of camouflage and it's attendant tactics such as covert operations, stealth, and infiltration. This means no model in the army may use the INFILTRATION or SCOUT special rule so my Scout units will set up in the same manner as the rest of my troops... still worth it for the Sniper Rifles!

Red Scorpions Snipers

In the Kill Team event last week, my Plague Marines were nearly annihilated in two turns by a combination of Space Marine scouts armed with sniper rifles and a missile launcher - this after weathering a storm of heavy bolter fire and Tau pulse weapons without flinching. My brother has been after me to use this combo for a decade, so this week I finally painted up a small squad to add to my Red Scorpions army.

The camo cloaks sport the chapter approved scheme used during the Angstrom Incident during the Badab War. These are the first of many new models I plan to add to my Red Scorpions this year...

Ultramarines

I have four or five different styles of Ultramarine decals (I never seem to throw anything away) and I want to use all of them in this collection, emphasizing the personalization of armor. The black and white checker pattern made a great background for this style decal and adds another unique element to this trooper.

Best Army!

Tiny though it may have been, my Plague Marine Squad won the award for best Kill Team in yesterday's GW store tournament! I also tied for second place in the sportsmanship category by garnering multiple votes from my opponents as their favorite opponent. My brother Dennis was voted as the favorite opponent by ALL FOUR of his opponents and won first place in the sportsmanship category!

My first game was against one of my oldest friends and longtime 40k opponent, Jim, and his Imperial Guard. The Plague Marines stood up to my expectations for durability and absorbed amazing amounts of firepower, including multiple heavy bolter rounds. I managed to win this game with a comfortable 9-2 score, but the game would have been much closer but for the fact that Jim forgot to move his Chimera closer to the objective, giving me an easy 5 points!

My second game was against a Tau army run by a very nice guy named Jason. The game started poorly for me when I lost three Plague Marines on turn two, but I managed to hang on without any more casualties and won 7-5 on the final turn by pushing the Tau away from the objective and claiming the 5 points again!

My third game was against Dark Angels and a young guy named Drew. He was apologetic because he was just getting into the game and hadn't painted his models... then he crushed me with a combination of sniper rifles, crack missiles, and plasma bolts. The score was 12-0 and I had only one Plague Marine left at the end of the game!

In the end, I was 2-1 having missed out on one round, Jim and Dennis both 3-1, and Tom 2-2. Despite the victories, none of our average points were enough to place 1st-3rd in the tournament, but the Best Army award was actually more important to me anyway. More importantly, we all had a great time! The Kill Team event is going to be a monthly event at the store and I think we are all in again next time...

Kill Team

Tomorrow I am heading to my local Games Workshop store to participate in a 200pt Kill Team tournament. It will be eight rounds of Warhammer 40k on brutally small 4x3' battlefields which are sure to maximize carnage! I have NEVER played in a tournament and I am normally not very good at making competitive lists because I normally collect models I want to paint without much regard for their stat line. I really am just going for the fun of it anyway. My brother and two of my oldest friends are also going so I am looking forward to possibly getting the chance to line up against them.

My brother Dennis is bringing Chaos Daemons based around Khorne and will be using the brand new codex (out today). Jim is bringing Imperial Guard. The last time he played Kill Team it was with a Veteran Squad outfitted with a Chimera, but he may run a different list. Tom is going to borrow a tactical squad of Red Scorpions from me as his Space Wolves won't be ready by tomorrow. I have a myriad of armies to choose from - Red Scorpions Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, Death Korps of Krieg, and Tryanids! It seems like close combat armies will have an advantage on the small tables, though a shooty force could do a lot of damage if they win the first move.

With all of the choices available I have gone back a forth a dozen times, but I think I have settled on a small squad of Plague Marines drawn from this unit...

I am fielding a squad of seven models (and no Rhino). With a Toughness of 5, Armour Save 3+, and Feel No Pain, they will be hard to bring down! I can only field seven models but they will pack a punch in shooting and close combat and will absorb an enormous amount of punishment.

I plan to take my camera so I'll have plenty of pictures and report on the outcome (including if I chanced my mind on my force again) next week.

Ultramarines

This Veteran Sergeant is marked by his red helmet (on his hip). He sports the slogan 'ULTRA' on his should in case there is any doubt. I forgot to mention the addition of battle damage on the other models. This was done by simply adding small chips and cracks with Abaddon Black and highlighting the underside of each with Lothern Blue.

More next week as well as more Warfare Miniatures!