Random Update - Not much happening

Not done much lately - mainly waiting till after Christmas now.

I'm hoping that after Christmas I'll have a nice new Citadel Air-brush to play with. That should allow me to quickly base coat my outstanding Marines, Tau and Tyranids.

I'm also hoping for some other stuff - but we'll see...

I've painted up a six man Tau Fire Warrior Squad using the new (faster) paint scheme which almost matches the one that I used on the half of the army that is already complete. I also did the last Tau Pathfinder in the new scheme, and re-painted all the existing Pathfinder models with the new Orange squad markings.

I re-painted 8 Tau Gun Drones in the new colours and painted up the 3 man Tau Stealth Suit Team in mostly greys and blacks.

I built the 2 Tau Crisis Suit teams a few weeks ago specifically so I could use them in a game that had been arranged - I was pleased with their performance and might actually have won the game but the clock beat us and we had to end on Turn 4.

At some point I'll start putting up photos, but I haven't taken any yet.

In preparation for the new Tyranid codex I painted another test Termagaunt model in Dark Green/Light Green, but have not yet decided on the final scheme. I may reverse it and do Light Green body and Dark Green Armour Plates.... can't decide. I recently went into the GW store at Grimsby and saw their new store Mawlock model which was painted in a similar scheme and it looked good. Whatever I decide, it needs to be quick as there are well over 40 of them to paint!

Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 2

Here is the second of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.

They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)

They are painted up as the 7th Squad in the same Company as the other Devastator Squad - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs.

The squad is mainly an anti-infantry squad featuring a two Heavy Bolters for 6 shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Plasma Cannon which lays down a blast template hitting everything under it with S7 AP2 (as long as it doesn't blow up) and a Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.

The Sergeant has a Bolt Pistol and Power Fist, and can can help guide the squad's shooting with the backpack mounted Signum if he doesn't shoot with his own weapon.

This particular Squad has a Razorback transport vehicle equipped with a single-shot Hunter-Killer missile that has unlimited range and a turret mounted twin-linked Lascannon which gives a bit more anti-vehicle punch in the form of a 48" S9 AP2 shot which can be re-rolled if missed. This can penetrate AV14 vehicles on a D6 roll of 6 (9+6=15), and cause them a Glancing hit on a 5. Lighter armoured vehicles can be penetrated easier.

Nova Storm Units: Heavy Support Choices 1

Here is the first of two 5-man Space Marine Devastator Squads currently in the army.


They have all the ususal rules for Space Marines; And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squads, and Combat Tactics - allowing them to choose to fail a Morale check (Combat Tactics) and fall back voluntarily, automatically regroup after falling back regardless of most normal restrictions (ATSKNF), and split into 2 5-man squads (Combat Squads - but not really relevant to this squad as it's only 5-men strong anyway)


They were originally designed to be an Infiltrating squad until the Space Marine codex was re-released and that ability was taken away. The Heavy Bolter (far right, kneeling) was put together using the Heavy Bolter from the Scouts kit to represent a lightweight version used by infiltrators rather than the standard backpack-fed version in the other Devastator squad.


They are painted up as the 8th Squad in the same Company as the Tactical Squads - hence the same Blue shoulder pad trim and cuffs. I have also modelled some extensive battle damage into their armour.


The squad is a multi-function anti-infantry/anti-vehicle squad featuring a Heavy Bolter for 3 pure anti-infantry shots that ignore any armour save of 4+ or less, a Multi-melta for pure anti-vehicle shooting and two Missile Launchers that can switch between anti-infantry Frag missiles, or anti-vehicle Krak missiles.

The Sergeant has a Storm Bolter and Power Sword enabling him to shoot twice at the enemy if the squad should move (as the rest of the heavy weapons will be unable to fire), and to give the squad an edge in an assault with the power weapon attacks that ignore armour.


He should also have a backpack mounted Signum allowing him to forego his own shooting to improve someone else's chance of hitting, but this kit was put together before the release of the plastic Devastator Squad kit that has the correct Signum back-pack in - therefore this will be added at a later date when I get my hands on a spare part.

Nova Storm Units: Elite Choices 1

Here is the first 5 man Combat Squad of the 10 man Terminator Squad that makes up the first Elite choice of the army. The entire squad of 10 weighs in at 455 points!


This Combat Squad consists of the Terminator Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Weapon, 3 Terminators with Storm Bolters and Chainfists, and the Terminator with Assault Cannon and Chainfist. Primary use is anti-armour or heavy shock troops, delivered into the enemy battle lines via the Deepstrike rules.


Capable of laying down 8 Strength 4 shots from the Storm Bolters and 4 Strength 6 Rending shots from the Assault Cannon; while moving and the threat of 11 Power Weapon Attacks from the Chainfists and Sergeant's Power Weapon, 8 of which are at Strength 8, and all of which Ignore Armour Saves (16 if they get off the Charge into Assault) make this unit a threat to anything nearby.


The downside is they can't Assault after arriving by Deepstrike; although they can shoot. They can also take a significant amount of fire due the their 2+ Armour Save and 5+ Invulnerable Save (for those occasions that they are hit by an AP1 Melta weapon or some form of heavy ordinance weapon).


Against vehicles their Assault attacks have the same power as a Multimelta, giving them 2D6+8 for Armour Penetration which allows them to Glance AV14 on a 2D6 roll of 6, and Penetrate on 7+. Against AV10 they cause automatic Glancing hits (2+8=10), and will Penetrate of 3+. The Assault Cannon is also good against light vehicles, but only if you get a few lucky 6's to bring the Rending rule into effect.


As Marines they have the standard And They Shall Know No Fear rules, along with Combat Tactics.

Random Unit - Vindicare Assassin

A friend of mine gave me this Vindicare Assassin a few years ago, and I finally painted him up the other day, as a break from painting Marines.

After trying out several colour schemes, I seem to have settled on a similar dark blue scheme to the one being used on my Tau army - not intentional but never mind.


I've never tried him out in an actual game yet, but I might have to check out using him as a ally in my Marine army so I can give him a run out. He could come in handy by being able to snipe the Genestealer Broodlord even though it has a Retinue accompanying it which normally means I have to kill the Retinue before I can land wounds on the Broodlord.

    

Random Unit - Aquila Lander Pilot

This is the Aquila Lander Pilot from the Battle for Macragge Starter set, which I have painted in the livery of the Nova Storm Chapter.

Other than special scenarios devised to teach the game to new players, he doesn't get out much. 

I'll probably use him as an Objective Marker or something; representing a stranded pilot carrying precious cargo (held in crate, opposite un-feasibly large pistol).

Nova Storm Units: Troop Choices 2

Ok, next up for the Troop choices and the last ones for now till I get that last Tactical Squad built, are the Scouts.

Originally these were 2 squads of 5, but they are now one squad of 10 with the option to split into two five-man Combat Squads.

The first five are converted; with normal Marine upper-bodies and Scout legs. They were originally designed to denote Scouts who had completed their training and had become full Marines, but were being kept on in the elite 2nd (Special Operations) Company to work behind the lines and use special equipment, etc.

Now that that concept has gone out the window, they remain as cool models until I get round to replacing them with standard Scouts with the same armament.

They have a sniper rifle and missile launcher at their disposal for some heavy duty harrassment from a forward position after deployment, and the Sergeant has a power-axe for some close assault staying power. He also has a teleport homer so he can ensure the accurate arrival of Deep Striking reserves, such as the Terminator Marines.

The second five are all armed with standard bolt-pistols and knives, except for one who doubles as the combat squad leader who has a shotgun. Primary use for these guys is the suicide charge and then they're thrown to the wolves to attempt to delay a unit for as long as possible.

Nova Storm Units: Troop Choices 1

This is a summary of the current 4 Tactical Squads in the Army, which will be 5 when I finally get the last one built.

Tactical Squad 1: Designed to be dropped from Orbit.

This squad has a Drop Pod for it's transport option, as the Squad is designated as being from a specialist Orbital Assault Company consisting of Drop Pod equipped Tactical and Devastator Squads and deep-striking Assault Squads that I imagined dropping from the back of a high up Thunderhawk Dropship. Units from this Company arrive from orbit, directly on top of the enemy while support from the Ground Assault Companies arrives from a different direction.

The Drop Pod means it will always deploy using the Deep-strike rules on Turn 1 of the game. The squad consists of 10 Marines, with 1 Sergeant, 1 Marine with Plasma Gun for special weapon support and a Marine with a Heavy Bolter for fire support. The Sergeant has a Storm Bolter and a Power Sword; allowing him to move and fire two bolter shots per turn, and pack a reasonable punch in assault with the Armour Save ignoring Power Sword. Once deployed from the Drop Pod the squad can split into two five-man Combat Squads or remain as a single ten-man unit.

The Heavy Bolter marine is a subtle conversion; a pose change using the arm from a Sergeant (minus the sword that used to be in the hand) to hold a handle on the side of the weapon instead of the normal top-mounted handle.

Tactical Squad 2 :

Standard 10-man Tactical Squad, with a Sergeant equipped with Storm Bolter and Power Sword as above, a Plasma Gun for Strength 7 high armour-piercing shots for anti-heavy infantry, and a Plasma Cannon for mostly every thing else! (S7, AP2 3" Blast = most things wounded or dead).

Envisaged to be from a specialist Ground Assault Battle Company where troops and vehicles are carried down from orbit on Thunderhawk Transports and Dropships to attack over ground after having formed up a distance away from the enemy, instead of dropping in from above. As a nod to this, each Marine has a bayonet attached to his Bolter.

Tactical Squad 3 :

Standard 10-man Tactical Squad taken from the Assault on Black Reach starter set.

As such this squad has the basic Tactical Squad load-out. A Sergeant equipped with a Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, for the +1 Attack in Assault; a Flamer for the Cover Save ignoring Template shooting attack, and a Missile Launcher giving an ability to take on Vehicles and Large targets with the Strength 8 armour-busting Krak Missile, or the 3" Blast Frag Missile for infantry.

Envisaged to be from the same specialist Ground Assault Battle Company as the squad above (hence the same blue pad-trim).

Tactical Squad 4 is basically the same as Tactical Squad 3 as the models are taken from the old Battle for Macragge starter set. They are from the same Ground Attack Company as well and will have the same blue shoulderpad trim when (eventually) painted.

There are no pictures as I've not managed to undercoat them yet - as I almost ran out of black spray after doing almost the whole army in a single sitting!

Tactical Squad 5 is yet to be built; and will be put together at a later date when I need a break from painting Marines and building Tau models. They'll have a Sergeant with Combi-plasma gun, a Flamer and a Missile Launcher (unless I change my mind in the mean-time).

Nova Storm Units: HQ Choices 2

This time I have more time to spare, so it's an overview of the Force Commander; a Space Marine Captain and his attendant Command Squad.

The Captain is the first HQ Choice for the Army and is accompanied by his free Command Squad.

He comes in at 170 points and counts as 1 Kill Point in Annihilation Missions.  He is kitted out with a Combi-Bolter/Flamer with Hellfire Rounds and an Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, a Relic Blade, Melta-bombs and the standard grenades. On the armour front he has Power Armour and an Iron Halo giving him a 3+ Armour Save and a 4+ Invulnerable Save against the bigger guns.

Originally he was fitted out with a Combi-Meltagun and a Thunder Hammer, but the introduction of the Relic Blade in the new Codex was too tempting, and I can't remember why I swapped the Combi-melta for a Combi-flamer....

With his Ballistic Skill of 5, he shooting is hitting a 2+ and thanks to the Hellfire Rounds the Bolter shots always wound on a 2+ regardless of the targets Toughness. On a good day this means an almost guaranteed 2 wounds per turn. Should he choose to fire the Flamer he may only do so once per game and that uses the Template marker and hits anything under it on a 2+ and ignores Cover Saves. If he fires the Flamer he can then still choose to charge the target unit in the Assault Phase, which should finish them off!

On top of this he gets to fire the Grenade Launcher every turn against the same target, dropping a Small Blast template on a unit with significant scatter on happening on a 2D6 roll of 8+. The Frag Grenades are fairly weak with little armour-piercing capability but may mop up a few survivors; the Krak Grenades allow him to get an extra wound on large, Tough opponents or to potentially get a Penetrating hit on AV10 vehicles and Glance AV12 if needs be - but there are other units for anti-vehicle attacks.

In Assault he can raise a decent amount of Strength 6 attacks that ignore Armour Saves; good against most opponents, while his Melta-bombs give him a decent defence against being Tank Shocked by enemy vehicles.

He has the standard And They Shall Know No Fear rule which allows him to automatically regroup if Falling Back (even if under 50% unit strength), and Combat Tactics which allows him to voluntarily fail a Morale test in order to Fall Back.

Being an Independent Character I can move him from the Command Squad (when it is dead, although this is a point of debate thanks to typical GW wording of rules) and join him to another unit.

Enough about him. Onto the Command Squad.

218 points worth of Command Squad.

From left to right - Company Champion, Standard Bearer, Marine, Sergeant, Apothecary.

The Company Champion has slightly better stats and is armed with a Power Sword so his attacks ignore Armour Saves. Originally a bad-ass model with twin Lightning Claws, due to the total dumbing-down the Champion got in the 5th Ed Codex I had to remove them. I was not impressed.

The Standard Bearer carries the Company Standard (amazingly!) which allows any unit within 12" to re-roll failed Morale and Pinning tests. He is armed with a Storm Bolter allowing him to move and fire two shots. He should really have a chainsword but there's not enough room on the model for it (and since it doesn't really have any in-game bonus effects I chose to not model it at all. I may include it impaled in the floor - I've not decided yet). He has a custom converted bionic leg which you can't really see in the picture. I needed to do something to put him in a running pose to match the rest of the squad, and in the previous Codex he had bionics so I converted up a running pose and made a custom bionic leg from spare Necron parts I had laying around.

The Marine with the Plasma Gun had the arm positions tweaked with Green Stuff to get a more natural 'sighting down the barrel while running' type pose. He has been included to give the squad some high Strength ranged firepower should it need it.

The Sergeant has a Plasma Pistol for hard-hitting shooting before the charge, and is modelled with his Power Fist raised to strike. This gives the squad something powerful enough to threaten high Toughness opponents and small vehicles.

Finally, the Apothecary allows the squad to potentially shrug off several otherwise fatal wounds every turn, before any Armour Saves are taken. (Although in the few games he has had a part in so far he hasn't helped much!)

They all get the Space Marine standard ATSKNF and Combat Tactics, as normal of course.

To wrap up - if you combine this squad with the Captain, and the Chaplain you get an assault unit that won't back down and can take some serious pain while dishing out a large amount of attacks, several of which ignore the opponent's armour.

The down-side is they have to actually reach combat and not get shot to hell like they did last time I used them!

Nova Storm Units: HQ Choices 1

Starting in reverse order with the HQ choices as it's going to take me less time to write about the Chaplain and I don't have a lot of time tonight.

The second HQ choice for the Nova Storm Chapter is a Space Marine Chaplain.

Weighing in at 115 points and counting as 1 Kill Point, he is armed with the standard Crozius Arcanum Power Weapon, a Power Fist, and both types of grenades.

He packs enough punch using the Power Fist to take on small vehicles and large creatures, but retains the option to make faster (but weaker) attacks against better opponents with the Crozius Arcanum. Plus I really liked this model better than some of the other Chaplain models!

He was originally an attachment to the Captain's Command Squad (thus taking up no slots on the Force Org Chart) under the previous edition Codex, but has now been separated out into his own HQ slot thanks to the 5th Edition Codex, displacing my planned Librarian. Originally he was designed with Artificer Armour, but has now been downgraded to Power Armour only in 5th Edition for a 3+ Armour Save instead of 2+, and equipped with a Rozarius for a 4+ Invulnerable Save against those heavy armour piercing weapons.

As an Independant Character I can choose to deploy him with the Command Squad (whom he is normally joined to), or deploy him with another unit, or on his own. 

His Liturgies of Battle special rule allows the Command Squad (or any other unit he is joined to) to re-roll all failed To Hit rolls in the first round of assault when the unit charges. As the Command Squad is designed to be primarily assault oriented, this comes in quite handy.

The Honour of the Chapter rule turns both him, and any unit he joins into a Fearless unit (handy for holding objectives and not running away, no so good if you loose an assault thanks to the extra wounds inflicted due to the No Retreat! rule.)

Like all Marines he has Combat Tactics; although in his case the fact that he is Fearless means he cannot use the rule so it renders Combat Tactics pointless (except as something to be swapped for some of the Special Character's Chapter Tactics rules), since he and any unit he joins will automatically pass Morale tests and cannot choose to fail them voluntarily due to Combat Tactics. And this also means he won't ever fail a Morale test and fall back which is why he doesn't have And They Shall Know No Fear like all the other Marines.

Basically this guy gets into close assault and stays there until he dies (along with anyone he is with at the time) - running away is not an option!

Nova Storm: Random Unit Photos

Ok, as previously promised, here is a compilation of some of the Nova Storm units that I have photographed so far.

When I get a bit more organised I'll do proper posts concentrating on each unit in the Army.

Force Commander: Space Marine Captain

Space Marine Chaplain:

First Tactical Squad (painted):

Converted Scouts:

10-man Terminator Squad:

And that's it for now.

I also plan to include a step-by-step guide to the paint scheme for the Tactical Marines. But it'll have to wait till I get to painting the next squad.

Intro to: Nova Storm Marines

The Nova Storm Marine Chapter was originally concieved when the 4th Edition Codex was out. I had used the Traits system to tailor the Chapter to fit the background that I had made up for it - namely a small, under-strength Chapter which had limited access to heavy equipment and vehicles, and that used specialist infiltration tactics more than most.

Sadly, that had to change when GW removed the Traits from the 5th Edition Codex. Now I've had to tweak the background to make them into a more 'vanilla' style Chapter.

I tend to favour the story and fluff-driven approach to the game rather than the more intense tournament style of play and list building as I play the game for fun and enjoy the hobby aspect a lot.

At some point I may post the whole Army List on here but not just yet.

Here is a snap-shot of the Chapter as it was in December 2008:

Since this point I have added another 10 Marine Tactical Squad, a Razorback Transport for the second Devastator Squad, and a Drop Pod for one of the Tactical Squads.

I haven't yet done photos of each individual unit, but maybe I'll do that and post their list entry as part of the same post.

I'll put up the photos that I have of some of the individual units soon.

Welcome - First Post

Ok, where to start?

This is intended, as it says above, to be primarily a Warhammer 40k project log.

So, I guess I'll start with the current state of affairs.

Currently I have 3500 points of Space Marines, my own custom Chapter called the Nova Storm. I've just re-designed the list to fit with the 5th Edition Codex and am now churning my way through the painting stage with this army.

I am breaking up the painting with the contruction of 3000 points of Tau, which have been sitting on the back-burner for several years (well, actually since the Tau Empire Codex was released to be honest, that was around 2006). I've finally decided that it's about time I put them together.

I also have about 2300 points of Tyranids intermittantly on the go, which I build and manage for my Wife. They are currently built so they can be used, but have got no further.

My friend recently donated 2 squads of Necron Warriors and a Lord (who needs repairing).

I'm also looking at starting an Imperial Guard Army when I finally get my hands on the new Codex. I already have 9 Leman Russ Battle Tanks from a moment of insane luck at a car-boot sale many years ago (I picked up 9 water-damaged Catachan Battleforce boxes for £25!)

So as you can see I have plenty of work to do. We'll see how it goes...