Pacification of Attika III

For this mission, we return to the Attika system. The mission was designed to be played by two players or teams, with a third player acting as game master. White Dwarf often has epic battles where one person acts as a guide for the game, controlling random events and sculpting the battle narrative. This mission is like that, and is a fun way to involve an odd number of people in a game night's activities.

The rules for the cultists are drawn from the Imperial Guard Codex, but the cultists could be represented by a number of different armies. Tau, Imperial Guard, Eldar and Dark Eldar are all good choices. Just choose appropriate models to represent each unit type.

The mission isn't designed to be "fair" for the cultist player. His job is to control the hapless NPCs. In all likelihood his forces will be wiped out before the end of the game.

As a final note, you can play this scenario without a GM. The rules for the cultist behavior are pretty straightforward. Just use the optional triggers for the warp fluctuations.

After the pacification of Attika III, it was discovered that a cult in the remote regions of the planet had escaped being granted the divine light of the Emperor. It was only by analyzing records and rumors of the conquered civilization that the logicians and cogitators were able to eventually piece together the cult's whereabouts. They were completely invisible to all electronic methods of detection. How this was possible was a question the Inquisition was eager to answer. At the same time, followers of chaos were being drawn to the same region, searching for an artifact that was calling out to them through the warp.

Force Organization: Each team creates a 1000pt army according to standard force organization chart.

The game master puts together a 500 points of cult force units chosen from the following list: Conscripts, Infantry Squad, Psyker battle squad, Penal Legion Squad and Ogryn Squad. No unit options may be chosen. This includes close combat weapons, heavy weapons, special weapons, vehicles and transports. Additionally the cult player gains a Primaris Psyker, at no points cost, who will act as the army's HQ. Do not purchase any wargear for this character. The Primaris Psyker loses Independent Character, and gains Eternal Warrior.

If more than three people are playing, the points limit should be increased, but the cult force should be about 500 points less than whatever each team is using.

Setup: Terrain should be placed in a manner agreeable to all players. The cult player has final say on any disagreements about terrain.

The cult force deploys first. The cult player picks a short table edge. Each cult unit must be deployed within 24" of this table edge, and at least 12” from the long table edges. No Cultist units may be placed in reserve.

The opposing teams then dice off. The winner chooses a long table edge, deploys first and gets the first turn. Each player's deployment zone extends 12" from their table edge. No units may be set up closer than 24" from any cultist unit.

After deployment the second player may attempt to seize the initiative. The cultist player goes last in turn order.

Special Rules:

The Primaris Psyker represents the cult leader and is a valuable resource. The artifact he holds is precious to everyone and cannot be lost. No unit may target the cultist Primaris Psyker with shooting attacks. Additionally, he considered to be constantly under the effects of the warp time psychic power (reroll failed to-hit and to-wound rolls in close combat). He has a 4+ invulnerable armor save and a Warp Lightning attack (Range: 18", S4, AP3, Heavy3). He is immobile and may not be moved by any player for any reason.

Cult forces are crazed and fanatical, ready to lay down their lives to protect the artifact and its master. For the purposes of this scenario all units in the cult force are fearless as long as the cultist Primaris Psyker is alive.

Cult forces are not well trained. They must always shoot at the closest enemy unit they can legally target even if they have no chance of affecting their target.

Warp Fluctuations - At the beginning of each cult-player's turn, if there is at least one cult model on the table, the cult player can choose to use one of the following abilities. Each ability may only be used once in a game, and only one ability may be used per turn.

• Warp Conflagration – Each non-cult unit within 12" of the artifact bearer takes D6 S5 AP- hits. These hits are applied even if the unit is in close combat. Units that suffer a casualty from this attack must immediately take a pinning test. If the bearer is part of the unit, the unit he is with is hit, but wounds may not be applied to the bearer. Optional Trigger: Activate Warp Conflagration on any cultist turn where there is an enemy within 8" of the artifact bearer.
  
• Gifts of Chaos – Pick a cult-force unit (except the Primaris Psyker). Remove all models from the unit and replace them with up to 5 chaos spawn models (do not place more chaos spawn models than there are remaining members of the unit). If the unit was in hand to hand combat place the spawn so that they remain in contact with the unit(s) they were fighting. For the rest of the game the spawn move and fight as a single unit. Optional Trigger: Active Gifts of Chaos the first time a cultist unit charges or is charged.
  
• Warp Pulse – Every non-cult unit is pushed back so that they are a minimum of 6" away from the cult leader. If the unit was in close combat they are no longer in close combat. Move the units in a straight line away from the cult leader, taking dangerous terrain tests as normal. Any unit moved in this manner immediately takes a pinning test. Optional Trigger: Activate Warp Pulse on any cultist turn the Primaris Psyker is locked in close combat.
  

Winning:

The cult leader starts out as the artifact bearer. Any model that kills the artifact bearer in close combat gains control of the artifact and becomes the artifact bearer. While that model is the artifact bearer it cannot be targeted by shooting attacks. The player with control of the artifact at the end of the game wins. The game length is random. At the end of turn 5 the player controlling the artifact bearer rolls a die. The game continues on a roll of a 3+. Roll again at th eend of turn 6, continuing on a 4+. The game automatically ends after turn 7.

When the artifact is taken from the cult leader, it is possible that it will be taken by a squad. If it is taken by a squad or an independent character that is part of a squad, designate a single model in that squad as the artifact bearer. This model is the one that must be killed to take the artifact. The unit the model is part of may still be the target of shooting attacks, but wounds from shooting attacks may not be allocated to the artifact bearer.

WIP: How I Paint My Cygnar

Part of this year's ongoing efforts to only play with painted miniatures means painting up a small Cygnar force for Warmachine. Here's a tutorial for the paint scheme I'm using. It's as much for other people as it is for me. I'll be adding to the force and I don't trust myself to remember the paints I used or the steps involved.

Step one is to base and prime the miniature black. I know there is some debate on using black primer but in this case I like how the blue comes out on top of the black base. The base is white in the picture because I built it up using drywall paste after priming the model, then gessoed the base.

Next step is to base coat all the gubbins and metal parts with Tin Bitz.

Next the armor plates get a base coat of Lightning Bolt Blue and the drywall paste gets a base coat of Shadow Grey. After this I go back with Tin Bitz and clean up any spots that have unwanted blue or grey.

Warmachine jacks have lots of indentations and grills on them. I put a little bit of Bad Moon Yellow into these spots at this stage. We're going to be drybrushing over these spots in the next step so you don't have to be super careful of slop but you don't want to put so much paint in that you fill up the indentations.

Now we drybrush Boltgun Metal onto all the gubbins with tin bitz on them. This gives it all a nice metallic look. Use a light touch around the yellow grating so you don't cover up the yellow in the recesses. If you're like me you'll get some silver where you don't want it so you'll want to go back and clean up any silver that got onto the blue armor plates. Also, as long as we've got the boltgun metal out we might as well go in and paint the recessed screws and handles.

Next drybrush the blue plates with Shadow Grey and the base with Skull White.

Now put some Shadow Grey on the Cygnar symobl on top and give the model a good looking over to make sure nothing was missed. Afterwards give the whole thing a wash. The metal gubbins get a wash of Badab Black and the armor gets Devlan Mud.

Finally we add the last bit of detailing. The smokestack radiator grills get some Dwarf Bronze put on them. Chaos Black rings the base and I also put some on the metallic bits. The piston sockets, backs of legs and boiler gauges are good spots for this. Basically anywhere that looks like a wide expanse of drybrushed metal can benefit from some Chaos Black touchups. I also put some Skull White on the gun ammunition to make it stand out. Finally, every jack in the my force is getting Bad Moon Yellow construction hazard stripes somewhere on them.

The whole process doesn't take much time and I'm happy with how cohesive the jacks look standing next to each other.

WIP: Using Drywall Paste for Basing Miniatures

I've started to paint up my Cygnar forces for Warmachine, and I'm using drywall paste to do up the bases. I've found it's pretty easy to work with and can give you a nice rough ground effect. One of the finished bases can be seen to the left. It still needs some static grass applied to it to break up the blue-grey, but the result is close to what I was going for.

The Privateer Press bases are really good for this. The center of the base is a depression and the drywall paste fills this up nicely. You can slop it on the base and push it around, creating little hills and rough patches. For my Cygnar I want a rough surface so I poke and stab at it with a hobby knife to give it some texture, but you can just as easily smooth it all out if you wanted a flat surface. It's also really easy to push in around stuff if you want to have sticking up out of the ground. Finally, it's cheap and if you live somewhere that has drywall you've probably already got the materials.

I've learned a few things about using it:

• The drywall paste isn't strong enough to hold stuff by itself. You need to glue the model and any other bits and pieces you want sticking up out of the ground to the base before putting the paste on. After its dry you could go back and add rocks or grass with PVA glue like you would for any other base.
  
• Adding a bit of card to the feet of your miniatures raises them up so they look like they are standing on top of the ground rather than sinking into it.
• It takes a while to dry. I'm not sure how long but I leave mine overnight. Different manufacturers probably have different drying times.
• After it dries you can use a knife or some fine grit sand paper to knock off any bits that ended up sticking to your model or the sides of the base.
• You can paint your model before doing the base. Just use some gesso to prime the dried paste before painting it then go back and touch up any spots on the feet of your model once you've painted the base.
  

Cheap and durable, drywall paste can add some variety to your bases outside of the glued gravel look.

Game Review: Warhammer: Invasion

I got a chance this weekend to sit down with a buddy of mine and play a few rounds of Fantasy Flight Games' Warhammer: Invasion. It's a great little game and I highly recommend it.

First a quick description. Warhammer: Invasion is a card game that can be played with two to four players. In it each player controls their own kingdom and recruits warriors to fight for them and manage their kingdom. The core set retails for about forty dollars although it's possible to find it for cheaper elsewhere. It's not a collectible card game, per se, but there are expansions, both released and soon to be released. All the cards you need to play are in the core set, and when you buy an expansion you get all the cards in that expansion. There are no random cards. The core set contains starter decks for Empire, Chaos, Orks and Dwarves, and teaser cards for Elves and Dark Elves. We played with just two players and each game probably took about half an hour so you can get in a bunch of games in one evening. Of course having more players will make the games longer.

If you've played other collectible card games the sequence of play will be familiar. Each player's turn is broken down into four phases and after one player is done with their turn play moves to the next player. Unlike many other Fantasy Flight games (I'm looking at you Arkham Horror), the rules and phases for Warhammer: Invasion are very simple. In the four phases you 1) get your resources, 2) draw new cards 3) play cards using resources and 4) fight. Each player's kingdom has three zones. Fighting can damage these zones and once two of the three zones are destroyed that player is eliminated from the game. Last player in the game wins.

The game borrows from real-time strategy video games. While it's possible to quickly build up a fighting force and rush your opponent in the first couple of turns, it's a better strategy to invest in your kingdom, building up your support zones to generate more resources and draw more cards. Balancing your offensive and defensive investments is a big part of the game.

After a few games some of the strategy starts to shake out. For instance, one of the areas in the game is the battlefield. Troops in this area are the only troops allowed to attack an opponents kingdom. When you attack, your target has the choice not to defend with any of their troops so if you destroy your opponent's battlefield first there's no longer a reason for them to commit troops to defending it and they can amass an army in their battlefield to attack you. This puts you on the defensive with few options for getting rid of their troops outside of attrition while defending.

It's a great game, and judging from the product lineup Fantasy Flight is planning on supporting it for a long time. If you enjoy the play style of collectible card games but are tired of the investment they require, this game is a good way to go. Likewise, if you enjoy the Warhammer Fantasy universe then this game is for you. Finally, if you just enjoy a great game with friends (and this is definitely a great game) then I'd recommend a trip to you friendly local game store to pick up Warhammer: Invasion.

Attika Campaign: Mission 4

Here's the last mission in the Attika Campaign. Chaos is running rampant in the streets of the holy city, searching for artifacts and the precious gene seed.

You can find the other missions here.
Mission 1
Mission 2
Mission 3

Mission Set 4 - Fighting in the City Streets.

No matter what the outcome of the battle at the Temple City Walls, some chaos forces eventually make it inside the city gates. Once inside they move swiftly to seize control of the city, the temples and the artifact vaults. Most importantly, control of the city will give them time to find and secure the entrances to the underground complex storing the space marine gene seed.

Players should again pair off against each other. These missions should be played at 1000 points. Mission type is Sector Control (see below) with Dawn of War deployment. Opponents dice off to see who deploys and goes first.

Just like the Mission Set 1, players in each game should keep track of the number of objectives they control at the end of the game. Once all the games have been played add up the objectives won by the chaos and imperial side. Whichever side controlled more wins the campaign.

Sector Control - After choosing sides and deploying troops, divide the table into quarters. Players take turns placing a total of four objectives, starting with the player who deployed first. There may only be one objective in each quarter, and objectives must be twelve inches away from the edge of the board and all other objectives. All other rules follow the Seize Ground basic mission.

Remember that the side that won Mission 3 gains the Reinforcements special rule for the games they play. Note that this is slightly different than the Apocalypse Replacements strategic asset.

Reinforcements - Once a game when a unit from a troops choice is killed that unit may immediately be put into reserves. When they arrive the controlling player must bring them in from his table edge, they may not deep strike or outflank. Dedicated transports do not count for determining if the troops choice is destroyed, and do not come back with the reinforcements.

WIP: Termagants Complete

I wrote a couple weeks ago about how I had used a tutorial to do up a termagant. Of course one termagant isn't much of a danger to anyone outside of a gretchin, so I had to go find him some friends. The color scheme worked out well and the limited number of steps and colors made things go fast. It won't be much difficult to expand my termagant horde or to paint other tyranid models in the same color scheme.

As a side note, if you ever thought tyranids evolving was just something for the fluff, take a look at these guys. This is three generations of termagant, the oldest being on the right. They've pretty much gone the way of all Warhammer minis, getting progressively larger as time goes on. I like the latest figure the best. I only wish that it's tail didn't stick straight out behind it. The previous generations all had a bit of curve to their tails which added some variation to their silhouette. I suppose that in mobs of twenty you don't really notice.

Final note: Termagant is a real English word: a violent, turbulent, or brawling woman. Harridan and Harpy mean the same thing, too. A Trygon is a kind of sting ray, and Lictors were romans that cleared a path for their masters. Zoanthropy is a mental disease where you imagine that you're an animal other than human and the Carnifex was the official public executioner in Rome. I'm not trying to make a point, I just find it interesting.

WIP: Razorback Complete

I found time to put the finishing touches on my Space Marine Razorback last night. The chapter symbols on the front were done freehand using a modified version of this tutorial. They are my first attempt at freehand painting in a long time and I'm not unhappy with the result. Like Ron says in the tutorial, it's really all about breaking the symbol down into smaller pieces, then putting those pieces together. I made some mistakes on the 'dozer blade symbol, so it looks a bit smudged in the center, but it's definitely something I can go back and fix up at a later date.

Now, of course, I need to get cracking on some marines to ride around in this thing. Work work work.

One Page Dungeon Contest

Like I said in my first post, this blog isn't just about Warhammer 40K. I'm also an avid roleplay gamer. Over at the Cartographer's Guild they're running a contest for one page dungeons. My entry is Tower of Light, Tunnel of Stone.
The map was created with the Wizards of the Coast Dungeon Tile Mapper. You can use it to get a bigger version of my map. I should note that I've made some hand edits to the tower sections, specifically to the placement and number of stairs. Just cut and paste the code below when you select Import New from the Tile Mapper's toolbox menu.

2010OnePageDungeon,3.7.A.0.592.288.5....,3.7.A.0.400.288.6....,1.24.A.180.448.96.7....,1.25.A.0.304.64.8....,3.7.A.270.592.480.9....,3.7.A.90.592.416.10....,3.7.A.90.464.352.11....,3.7.A.180.528.416.12....,3.7.A.180.656.288.13....,3.7.A.270.464.288.14....,3.23.A.90.640.368.15....,3.2.A.0.480.464.16....,3.19.B.90.640.432.17....,3.8.A.90.400.288.18....,3.8.A.90.432.288.19....,3.5.A.0.400.416.20....,3.8.A.90.432.352.21....,3.7.A.0.464.416.22....,3.18.B.180.608.464.23....,3.21.A.180.448.464.24....,0.15.A.0.304.464.25....,0.14.B.90.272.432.26....,0.14.B.90.272.368.27....,0.14.B.0.240.336.28....,0.4.A.90.224.336.29....,0.19.B.0.96.288.30....,0.5.A.90.96.312.31....,0.11.A.0.128.312.32....,1.24.A.0.592.208.33....,3.19.B.270.496.464.34....,3.8.A.90.400.368.35....,3.19.B.270.608.432.36....,0.5.A.90.96.312.37....,3.2.A.90.496.496.38....

The adventure was mainly designed to be used in a fantasy setting, but since it's not tied to a particular system it could easily be used as a Rogue Trader adventure by replacing the monsters in the encounter with something setting appropriate.

Attika Campaign: Mission 3

Mission three for the Attika Campaign. This was an apocalypse sized game. We ended up with Abbadon's Black Crusade leading a demon force against defending imperial guard, dark angels, and witchhunters backed up by a baneblade and stormlord. After some brutal carnage, the imperial forces barely managed to eek out a victory, holding the line against the chaos incursion.

Here is mission 2 and mission 1.

Mission Set 3 - Temple City Walls

Kept within the vaults of the Temple City are numerous tomes and artifacts of ancient lore. Seizing these alone would be reason enough for the forces of chaos to attack a planet. The greatest prize, though, lies miles below the surface: gene seed which can be used to bolster the ranks of the chaos many times over. With all the chaos forces converging on the walled city, the defenders have rallied to keep them out.

Mission

This is an apocalypse mission played at 3000 points. Each side should divide the points evenly amongst its players.

If the chaos forces win this battle they have broken the city defenses and will pour unchecked into the city. If the imperials win they have broken the chaos advance and allowed time for further reinforcements to arrive. In either case, the side that wins will be allowed Reinforcements in the next mission. In the case of a tie the furious battle has taken its toll on both forces and neither receives Reinforcements.

Reinforcements - Once a game when a unit from a troops choice is killed that unit may immediately be put into reserves. When they arrive the controlling player must bring them in from his table edge, they may not deep strike or outflank. Dedicated transports do not count for determining if the troops choice is destroyed, and do not come back with the reinforcements.

WIP: Ork Runtherd

A while back a orc boar chariot went by me and I snagged a spear and arms off it. I knew when I saw them they had to become a grot-prod. Last night I finally got a chance to add the arms to an ork model and put the rest of the fiddly bits on him. Here's how he came out.

The power cable is just an old guitar string. I know that other people use special power cables from Dragon Forge Design and I'm curious how their stuff compares to simple guitar string in terms of workability. Cost-wise guitar string is definitely cheaper, but it's pretty stiff and you have to sort of kink it to get any sort of curve.

The backpack is just a battery from an imperial guard lascannon heavy weapons team. The bit sticking out the top is a piece of flamer. I think either from an old sentinel or a leman russ.

I'm pretty happy with the little guy. If the rain here ever lets up I'll get some primer on him and see what he looks like painted.

Attika Campaign: Mission 2

I posted the first mission a few days ago, and here's the second mission from the Attika Campaign. My group had four people in it, so doing two missions like this made sense. If you've got more than that, or an odd number of people you can make it work by doubling up players on either side and splitting or upping the point allowance. If you have fewer players, 2 or 3, just play the missions one after the other. When we did these missions each side kept which player was assigned to which mission a secret, so no one knew exactly what army they were going up against.

Mission Set 2 - Strategic Goals

With chaos strike forces landing across the globe, the defenders are hard pressed to respond to every attack. Some locations are more strategically important to than others, and both sides are making big pushes to take control of them.

Players choose which of the two missions they wish to play, making sure that there are an equal number of players on each side per mission.

Manufactorum
The bulk of materiel for the imperial garrison comes from a single manufactorum located to the north. Whichever side controls it will more easily be able to resupply and refit their forces.

This is a Seize Ground mission played at 1500 points per army with 5 objectives. Whoever gained the initiative in the last mission places the first objective. If no one has the initiative then roll dice to see who places the first objective.

Reward: The winner of this battle has seized an important source of armament and resupply. In the next mission the winning side gains, at no point cost, the Extra Armor upgrade on all vehicles that have it as an option. In the case of a tie the fighting has damaged the manufactorum to the point where it is useless to both sides.

Defense Laser
An orbital defense installation threatens the fleet of whoever does not control it. Both forces are desperate to seize it in order to provide their fleets in orbit with surface-based fire support.

This is a Seize Ground mission played at 1500 points per army with 5 objectives. Whoever gained the initiative in the last mission places the first objective. If no one has the initiative then roll dice to see who places the first objective.

Reward: The winner of the battle will use the defense laser to push the opposing fleet out of low orbit. This takes the pressure off their own fleet and allows them to provide orbital support to the ground troops. Whichever side wins gains the Orbital Bombardment strategic asset in the next mission for free.

Attika Campaign: Mission 1

Last year I put together a campaign for my gaming group. It lasted four weeks and was a blast not only to play, but also to create the backstory and scenarios. I'll be posting the missions and backstory that we used for this four week campaign. The scenario fluff is written for Imperials vs. Chaos, but there's no reason it won't work for any mix of armies. Everyone should just pick a side and try to have an equal number of players on each side.

In 862.M41 Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Enzio Balmont was dispatched to the far western sector of Segmentum Pacificus to oversee the gene seed tithe of the Sons of Mars space marines chapter. After acquiring the gene seed, Inquisitor Balmont set out to return to the Mechanicus tech-priests on Mars. So precious was the gene seed, the strike cruiser Ares was sent as an escort with the entire fourth company of the Sons of Mars onboard.

Under Inquisitorial edict, and against the wishes of Euenos Ialmenos, captain of the fourth company, a detour was made to the temple world Attika VI. Reports from the imperial governor indicated a recent increase in mutant births, psyker expression and the heretical beginnings of an end times cult. Backed by the might of a full Space Marine Company, Enzio decided it would be short work to uncover and uproot the heresy on this world.

On Attika VI itself, civil unrest was at an all time high. Cult leaders claiming the emperor had abandoned humanity were gaining new followers every day. The local Arbites were suppressing a continuous riot. All their energy was spent maintaining order. No resources were available to expose the roots of the heresy.

At the same time, members of the cult began expressing the psyker mutation at an increased rate. As the psychic presence of Attika VI grew in size, the baleful gaze of the Eye of Terror finally fell upon it. Slipping through the Cadian Gate, Spurci Odorin, a chaos warlord in command of the battle barge Deordo Chao, set course for the Attika system.

The chaos incursion force arrived just hours after the imperial convoy put into orbit. The demon-infested spacecraft launched their drop pods and landing craft before quickly retreating out of range of the planet's orbital defense lasers and the guns of the Ares. The war for Attika VI had begun.

Mission Set 1 - Incursion

With the arrival of the chaos fleet, the cultists rose up against their planetary rulers and warp rifts spilled demons into the material plane. The chaos fleet used their teleporters and landing craft to strike at random locations around the heavily fortified temple compounds. High above the atmosphere imperial spaceships engaged the chaos fleet.

Missions

Chaos and Imperial players should pair off against each other. Games are 750 point annihilation games played on 4 foot by 4 foot tables. At the end of each game players should note down how many kill points they managed to score. Add up the total points for chaos and imperial. The side with the most total kill points wins. Each player can play multiple games, the results of which all contribute to the final tally.

If chaos wins they have sown panic and mayhem in the ranks of the imperials. If imperials win they have responded swiftly and decisively to the chaos incursion. In either case, whichever side wins has gained the initiative and can choose the deployment type for the next mission. In the case of a draw, roll randomly for deployment type as described in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Tyranid Emergence

I'm a little bit late to the party, but I've put together a scenario that fits in with this month's FTW collaborative post topic: Tyranids.

Battles to defend against ravening tyranid hordes are the norm. Nothing stirs up faith in the emperor like a sea of teeth and talons. But what about when the poor bugs are just minding their own business? What about after the epic battles are over? I imagine there's still a lot of cleanup work after a hive fleet has been driven off.

This scenario pits an attacking force against a swarm of tyranids that have been hiding underground. The attacker's goal is to seal the burrows the tyranids are using to get to the surface. The tyranids are trying to escape so they can spread to other parts of the planet. The game is probably best played at 1500 to 2000 points. It would also work to replace tyranids with necrons or orks. In this case they'd be emerging from crypts or caves instead of swarming from their nests. The scenario could also be easily modified as a planetstrike variant.

Setup: The defender places d3+2 objectives on the table. The first objective is placed in the center of the table. All other objectives are placed no closer than 12" to another objective, and no closer than 18" to any table edge.

Deployment: The defender deploys as many of their units as they want so that each unit has a model within 6" of an objective marker, and does not have a model closer than 12" to a table edge. The attacking player sets up second and gets the first turn. The defender may attempt to seize the initiative. Units under the attacking player's control can be setup within 12" of any table edge.

Special Rules:

• Shut that Hole: Each objective marker counts as an AV 11 stationary vehicles that can only be damaged in close combat. Any glancing or penetrating hit destroys the marker. Once destroyed remove it from the board. The attacker scores one victory point every time this happens.
• The Swarm Emerges: Whenever a defending unit comes on from reserves it must deploy using an objective marker as though it was a table edge. Any unit that deploys using deep strike rules may deploy within 6" of an objective marker without scattering. If a defending unit is forced to fall back towards a table edge then treat the nearest objective marker as the nearest table edge.
  
• Spread the Swarm: At the end of the defender's movement phase any non-flying troop choice defending units control that have at least one model in base contact with a table edge may be removed from the board. The defending player scores one victory point every time this happens.
• Without Number: Non flying troop choice defending units that get destroyed or move off the table edge are placed in reserves.

Victory Conditions: Determine the last turn of the game as you would for a Capture and Control mission. The winner at the end of the game is the player with the most victory points. Note that the game automatically ends when the last objective is removed from the board, or the defender scores more victory points than the number of objectives at the start of the game.

WIP: Termagant

Clicking around on links today I stumbled upon a Quick and Dirty Tutorial for painting up a termagant. I was inspired and since I've got a bunch of unpainted termagants lying around I thought I'd grab one up and see how it goes. To the left is the fruit of my labors. I've chosen a different color scheme than the one in the tutorial, but I think it worked out pretty well. Although if you've seen the razorback I'm working on you might agree that I'm using too much green and brown for my current projects. The colors just go together so well.

I'm not super happy with how the wash came out. Just like the razorback it seemed like it went on way too splotchy. The tutorial used devlan mud and it seemed like it came out really smooth so I'm not sure where my technique is going wrong. Well, I've got about 40 of these buggers to practice on so here's to hoping things improve with practice.

The last thing I want to mention is that painting this guy took very few colors. Using only eight bottles of paint, this is a project that's really easy to carry around or leave in a small box to pick up whenever you have a spare half hour. I'd definitely recommend the tutorial for anyone in desperate need of getting their bug army in tabletop condition.

WIP: Warhound Turbo-Laser

One of the projects I'm working on concurrently with my razorback is a turbo-laser for my chaos warhound. The barrels are made half inch PVC pipe and the tip is from the narrow end of a one inch to half inch reducer coupling. The rear housing is a modified build of the megabolter housing from some warhound plans I found online (In the interest of giving credit where it's due you can find the plans here). It's just made out of a cut up cereal box. The PVC pipe I've got is a bit softer and easier to work with than the standard rigid stuff you find at the hardware store. It's called Vanguard PEX tubing and it submits to being easily carved and shaped with a hobby knife, but it's still rigid enough the barrels don't droop. It probably wouldn't be appropriate to use it for anything that needs to support weight, but when I go back and add some detailing to the barrels I'll be able to carve directly into them.

With the main build-out and housing done the next stage is to put in some detailing. I'm thinking a vent or two. Some wire running the length of barrels and a chaos symbol spread across the top and side of the housing. Also some plates and rivets so it looks more like an armored weapon than a cardboard box.

Once this prototype is done I'll use the cardboard housing as a template to redo the housing in more durable plasticard or thin masonboard.

WIP: Space Marine Razorback

The razorback has a good coat of paint on it now. The main colors are the GW foundation paints Tausept Ochre and Orkhide Shade which I think go together pretty well. The color scheme is as close to what was in my head as is possible.

There's still probably a few hours of detailing work to get through before I can declare it done, but I can feel how it's going to look when it's completed. Once this guy is done I can move onto modding and painting up the squad that's going to ride in it.