Updates From the Front!

Howdy ya'll Praetorianofthe_East here, we here at BTL know it has been a while, but we have been slammed with school work, but we have an exciting new endeavor starting to make up for the lack of content (and expect new content soon between new 40k armies and our forays into Star Wars: Legion), and this endeavor is *DRUM ROLL*

A YouTube channel!

Here, we will post a variety of things including a Podcast (with topics ranging from models to tournament play), online battle reports played on Tabletop Simulator across a variety of games, Pen and Paper RPG sessions, physical battle reports, and sometimes even video game footage because we do enjoy a variety of strategy games, but expect this to be infrequent.

This blog will remain open of course and expect blog posts more frequently now that I can remember how to make Blogger posts (much professional, I know).

The link to the YouTube channel is here if you're interested

Thanks for the support guys! Eventually we plan on publicizing a Discord, but there are some kinks like bots and rules that have to be worked out first. Cheers, and for the Dark Gods!

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2018: A Year in Review

Another year has passed by. For those of you who are long time readers, you know that at the end of every year I write a blog post about the top 3 most viewed post of the year. I do have a quick aside though. From August to now, I have not had the opportunity to post much. I found a new job and it has kept me very busy. What that means for this blog at the moment I do not know. However, I do intend to do 1 post per month in the coming New Year. Just to keep this blog alive. I also will be encouraging guest writers to add to the blog with their own takes on their miniatures and models. Another idea I had was setting up a Youtube Channel and filming a few games to post here as well. Would anyone be interested in that? Let me know in the comments below!

The Tanith and the Guard army grew with new tanks and new infantry soldiers throughout the year. Mad Robot released his Rangers set which helped to boost the army significantly. The Ad Mech grew in numbers with more skitarii and Onager walkers purchased. I now have a 2000+ point army of Ad Mech ready to march across the table into the enemy.  The Tau were mostly ignored this year as the points cost and the army size made playing the army no longer fun for me. However with the chapter approved 2018, I might try to start playing them again. I started a Sisters of Battle army this year and grew it to 1500 points! I am ready for 2019 and the Sisters beta codex is giving me a lot of hope for things to come. The Menoth from Warmachine were also mostly ignored as well as the local warmachine scene is dead here.

What wasn't dead here though was Kill Team for Warhammer 40k!  I built 2 kill teams, one based upon the Tanith 1st and Only and the other built around the All Guardsmen Party. Both of those saw extensive play through our shops Campaign which was played over several weeks.

As always we will now look at the Top 3 projects were have done this year.

Coming in at #1 was the Blood Pact Commission which was done for my friend Matt
Coming in at 1,303 views this post was the most clicked on post of the year. Matt's Blood Pact is being build in response to my Tanith army and soon we hope to have a few battles from across the Sabbat Worlds to tell.

#2 this year was the Tau Codex review at 1,281 views. This post gained a lot of views following the Tau codex release. A lot of people disagreed with my ideas on what was said but I still stand by them. The codex review was a lot of fun and something I would like to do again.

#3 this year was my Imperial Guard Verghast at 1,013 views. This post was also a surprise to me. I had not expected  for it to be in the top 3. The idea of the Verghast models came from Dave Taylors own assembly of some troopers he got from Victoria Lamb. I liked the way he had assembled them and decided that my own Verghast would look like his.

With that I want to wish everybody a Happy 2019. Hopefully 2018 has been good to you all and 2019 will be even better. Keep rolling those dice and stay tuned. Many new things are to come in 2019!

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Sisters of Battle: Saint Sabbat and her angels

"There are no miracles , there are only men" - Saint Sabbat
"Do not shrik! Do not falter! Give them death in the name of Sabbat"  - Saint Sabbat at the Battle for the Gates of Harkalon

Welcome back to Behind the Lines!

 Today we have a Saint Celestine proxy for my new Sisters of Battle army. The Sisters of Battle are currently the oldest line of models in 40k and so most of my sisters are going to be either 3rd party or proxy. For Celestine and her angels, I choose to have a Harbinger of Menoth to be the base of my model. I then found some Blood Angel wings thanks to a local gamer (Thanks Charlie!) and converted my Celestine model. For her angels, I found two old Sister models on ebay and bought them for probably more than they are worth. All of this was done before the plastic Celestine came out.

However, its been a while and with the Sisters back on as a possible 2019 release, I wanted to get my army ready. So I found the pieces, converted Celestine up and painted her in the colors of Saint Sabbat as described in the Gaunt's Ghost series of books. This will allow me to connect Sabbat (Celestine) into the theme of my armies so that I can use my sisters across multiple armies.

In order to paint Sabbat, I used a grey primer. I then used scarlet red for her robes and metallic bronze for her army as described from the Gaunt's Ghost wiki page. After those dried I was both in Nuln oil before highlighting the red with Wazzadakka red and the bronze using Balazhar gold. The wings had already been painted by Charlie and looked fine to me so I added them on after I was done with the paint job. For the flesh, I used Flat Flesh by Vallejo and then added a flesh wash. After that dried I used a rose flesh mixed with a light flesh and highlighted her skin.

For her hair I used a Vallejo black base and then added Vallejo black-grey highlights. For the basing I used GW astrogranite and then highlighted it with Longfang grey.

For her Geminae Superia I did the same color scheme as described above. However for the power armor I used a black base and then added a highlight of black-grey. The scheme I decided to go for with my sisters is the Order of the Ebon Chalice. This is the traditional Sisters scheme of Black armor with white robes on the outside and red on the inside. For the silvers, I used Games workshop Ledblecher with vallejo silver. For the reds I used Vallejo Scarlet and then added Wazzadakka red as a highlight.

This is just the start of the Sisters of Battle. I have ordered and put together 2 Exorcist Tanks as well as 2 Repressors. I also have ordered 2 more squads of 5 sisters. That way, I can run a battalion of sisters. I am excited to run this army in 2018 and I hope to have more to show off soon.

Until next time!

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2017: A Year in Review

Well here we are again! Seems like only yesterday we were starting another New Year. This year has seen a lot of changes in both myself and this blog. Every day brought something new this year and the world has kept on spinning. We here at Behind the Lines Gaming would like to wish you a Happy New Year.

The Tanith and Imperial guard have gotten a lot of attention this year. I can safely safe that most of those units have been painted. 2018 should see some additions to the armies.  The Tau as noted earlier will be getting reinforcements with the Riptide battlesuit and hopefully a few more surprises. The Adeptus Mechanicus army is growing with the additional purchase of a skitarii army pending at the moment. More news on that soon! Finally with MK III of warmachine out now, I have gotten into full swing of painting those miniatures. Hopefully i'll be able to take them out for a few games.

As always we plan to do a Top Three projects we have done this year. Located here, the Gallery is a page dedicated to the top work on completed models we've done each year.Give it a look and let us know what you think!

#1 This year was the Matlida Battle Tank Review coming in at 1,649 page views. I got the Matilda tank as a birthday present this year and so I was thankful to have one! It is a beautiful model and a joy to put together. I first posted pictures of it after I had airbrushed it German Grey and Black-Grey. It always get compliments on the table and is a real head turner. Victoria Lamb out did herself with this model! Hopefully in the future I will be able to pick up a few more!


#2 Behind the Matlida was the Mortian Tank Review I did. This review came in at 1,511 page views. The return of the Mortian was a pleasant surprise. I had never thought I would see the return of this tank but it turned out that this post was to be my second most viewed post of the year. I even got a comment! Makes me sad I sold my old Mortian tank.

#3 This was a odd third place but coming in at 833 views was my Review of Menoth Paladins. This was one that I did not see coming! The Paladin review of my Menoth models shows that our reader base has some fans that are interested in War machine! The Paladins of the Order of the Wall were really fun to paint up during football season and so came in at 3rd place on the list. Hopefully next football season I'll get a few more done up before the games.

As the year comes to a close I wish to thank my loyal readers and those who follow me. It makes writing these post easier knowing that some people read them and enjoy the content of them.If you like what you see please become a follower of the blog or leave a comment below! Every little bit helps

With that I wish you the best in this ending to 2017 and a happy start to 2018! Keep rolling those dice and stay tuned for many new exciting things to come in 2018! 

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2016: A Year in Review

Rolling for Happy New Year!

Still Secret Im Afraid 

Well here we are again! Seems like only yesterday we were starting another New Year. This year has seen a lot of changes in both myself and this blog. Every day brought something new this year and the world has kept on spinning. We here at Behind the Lines Gaming would like to wish you a Happy New Year. At the beginning of the year were had promised to promote big news to you all. That big news is still happening, even if things have been quiet, but we will tell you more in 2017. As always keep checking back for updates on that.


The Tanith and Allied guard have gotten a lot of attention this year. I can safely safe that most of those units have been painted. 2017 should see some additions to the armies.  The Tau as noted earlier will be getting reinforcements with the Riptide battlesuit and hopefully a few more surprises. The Adeptus Mechanicus army is growing with the additional purchase of a skitarii army pending at the moment. More news on that soon! Finally with MK III of warmachine out now, I have gotten into full swing of painting those miniatures. Hopefully i'll be able to take them out for a few games.

As always we plan to do a Top Three projects we have done this year. Located here, the Gallery is a page dedicated to the top work on completed models we've done each year.Give it a look and let us know what you think!

Tiger Tank of the Imperium

#1 this year turned out to be a product review of the Gideon Tank done by MadRobot Miniatures! This review came in with nearly 1137 views! A huge thank you to Steve at MadRobot for putting up with me while I made the order. These models were a joy to put together and a joy to paint. The fact that I got 2 more waiting to be painted is only extra exciting to me! Once warmer weather hits Im going to break out my airbrush and start on its two siblings ASAP! In the future I hope to order potentially two more to add to the armored group. We'll have to see though.

12 Crisis Suits Plus 1 more

#2 this year was the Tau [Crisis Suit] Story. At 764 views this post was the second most viewed post of the year.  Once I had decided on a scheme for my Sept I set about painting it.This scheme was exteremly popular with the folks down at my LFGS and the models have seen a ton of play. I think the post was popular because of the amount of Tau crisis suits? Maybe it was just the amount of painted Tau? Whatever the case It has been a fun journey to show them off to you all and play with them on the table and against them. Trust me, Its not fun to face down 24 plasma rifles as guard. Still the modification to the models to make the XV-46 was one of my favorite changes to these stock models. Leave no model unconverted!

#3 this year was a twist. Pulling from our Dark Heresy game, Sister Hana and Krieger 18D became the third most popular post with 682 views. This project was being completed by my friend Bandogora and he has progressed well on both Hana and 18D. In the future he hopes to finish Hana and add in the rest of the party including our Tech Priest Magnus Nicodemus of Metallica and Interrogator Bo Terran. Time will tell if he can do it.  This project was a joy to watch come to completion. As our Dark Heresy season has ended for the year, I can fully say the party did not come away unscathed. Truths were revealed that injured the party and caused many angry emotions. Next season will show if the party and time has healed the wounds left by one party members betrayal.

As the year comes to a close I wish to thank my loyal readers and those who follow me. It makes writing these post easier knowing that some people read them and enjoy the content of them.If you like what you see please become a follower of the blog or leave a comment below! Every little bit helps

With that I wish you the best in this ending to 2016 and a happy start to 2017! Keep rolling those dice and stay tuned for many new exciting things to come in 2017! 

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Updates and Reviews: Tanith First and Only and Warmachine Cards

                          So what has been new with me? Well first off, I got a new job starting this month! Finally I am able to get some use out of my degree that I went to university for four years for. I also quit my old job and started looking towards getting a second Master's degree in order to shore up my current one. You might also notice the new look for the site. I felt it was time for a change so I have changed the site to a new theme. Enjoy and let me know what you think? Enough about me for the meantime though, lets get to some miniatures.

2016 Menoth Deck

A little while back I ordered the 2016 version of the Menoth Deck for Warmachine. This new deck for MK III really did come with a lot of new updates to the game. I even got a game in with the MK III rules. Needless to say I was caster killed but the list nonetheless allowed for me to better understand the new rules. I really enjoyed being about to get out and game for once in a long while. The deck came with enough cards for every model that I had and seemed to be fit to handle alot of new miniatures I hadnt even seen yet. Hopefully Soon I will be able to return to Warmachine and get a few more hours in.

Our local game store in the area has died leaving us that game with a problem. The nearest store is a hour and forty five minutes away, a distance that i dont feel like driving just to game for a few hours to turn around and drive home again. This has caused my ability to game to be lessened but my painting has also suffered because of my busy life and the lack of wanting to paint due to not playing as much. Nonetheless I have forced myself to paint and thats what I am wanting to show off to you all today!

As a running series, I usually try to place the header images with what the topic of the day will relate to. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Today, we will be covering the first five newly painted models of another Tanith First and Only Squad I started working on.

5 New Tanith ready to go!

This 5 man squad of Tanith was a welcome start to my painting again. The process took about a week to complete and each model was given special attention to make sure it was up to par. These lads are going to be a part of first platoon under Colonel Corbec. While no character names have been given yet, the models are now sitting besides there comrades in my case. Hopefully sometime soon I will finish the next five members of the squad and complete them. This army is mean
t to be my dream army and someday I hope to add in some more female models once they come on the market. The Tanith are on the march and my Sabbat Worlds Crusade army is growing.

Action shot of the Battle for Hive Valediction

Just as a quick add, I posted this action shot from a blog post a while back. Thanks to Jayson Molyneux of the Facebook Astra Militrum / Imperial Guard group for making it look like it was taken in the heart of battle. Looks really nice and well done!

Keep Checking back for more!

Till next time.

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Dramatis personae: Krieger 18D and Sister of Battle Hana

18D and Sister Hana Dressed up as a Commissar

This one has been sitting in my drafts queue for a while and I haven't been able to work on it or share it. These pictures come from my friend Bandogora who is putting together our Dark Heresy party into model format. Today we cover two of the of the most prominent figures in the warband, Krieger 18D and Sister of Battle Hana.

18D needs no introduction having been shown here before. As a former member of the 18th Krieg Assault Regiment, 18D was recruited by Inquisitor Ackermaan and brought into the war band to be the sniper / assassin due to his marksmanship. This he has done with remarkable accuracy having survived having his arm blown off by a auto cannon manned by heretics and cultist. Although the loss of his arm was a blow to his morale, the squad sniper quickly recovered and set on killing heretics.Last game saw him come face to face with a Tyranid Lictor, which he promply stabbed and fired into the creatures gullet. However, there are secrets in the backstory of 18D and some of them could destory the man, should the wrong parties find out. As always the dark gods are watching and playing the long game....

Sister Hana

Next up is Sister of Battle Hana, seen here dressed up as a commissar by 18D after their work with the 18th Krieg Assault regiment. Hana is a young woman coming from a feral water world on the edge of the Imperium. Her order of sisters focuses on relics of the past and Hana is learning what it means to be one of the Adepta Sororitas as her loyalty to the party grows with each encounter. Yet for all the goodness in her, there is a fear that she might not be able to do what is expected of her. With the disappearance of the parties NPC sister, Hana has been forced to come forward as the religious figure of faith for the party, a job she was not yet ready for. Should the secrets that 18D has be exposed, would she still see her comrades in the same light?


Hopefully soon we will have the other members of the party included in a group shot. Each model is being done by Bandogora to the closest extent that he can for the respective backgrounds. Will the party be destroyed by 18D secret or will they be able to handle the terrible truth that lies in wait?

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2015. A Year in Review

    

Rolling for Happy New year!

 Where oh where has this year gone? Seems like only yesterday we were starting up a new year. This year has seen a lot of change in me. Memories were made, friends were made and lost, and the world turned daily. As we continue towards 2016, we here at Behind the Lines Gaming would like to wish you a Happy New Year.  At the beginning of the year we had promised to promote big news to you all. I can safely say that this big news is coming in 2016 so be on the look out and keep checking back!

2015 saw many new additions to my rooster. At the beginning I had just started on my Victoria Lamb based Tanith First and Only army. This army has rapidly expanded and grown in size!  Now numbering 100+ models, the final additions of a few female Verghast is planned for 2016 once they are released.

The Tau army that has been posted here throughout the year is also currently in major WiP mode. A few models and squads have been done. Those will be posted in 2016 as well. The Menoth army is back together again and primed ready for paint. 2015 might as well have been the year of stripping paint. Hopefully these new schemes of paint will improve the models and make them look even better!

As always we plan to do a Top three projects we have done this year. Located Here, the Gallery is a page dedicated to the Top work on completed models we've done each year.Give it a look and let us know what you think!

#1 as always was a hard choice this year. All of the models have been fun to work on and paint. However the winner was a commission given to me by Bandogora. This commission was for a Company command squad of the Bloody 18th Krieg Regiment.  Not only did I get some awesome artwork out of it from Kurt Mertz but the army was one that had a feel to it unlike any other ive painted!

Below are a few images from the Rise of the Bloody 18th post I posted throughout the year!

With the 18th came Krieger 18D. This krieger has been Bandogora's Dark Heresy Character and plays a critical part in the formation of the 18th. What secrets and history lays behind the gas mask are still yet to be known, however the Emperor, or maybe the Chaos gods have given a very special fate to this Krieger. All of that remains to be seen.

The company command squad was some of the most fun I had painting. Using their uniquely blue and red scheme, these models seemed to "pop" on the battlefield allowing them to look both uniquely grim dark, but also well done. These models were in rough shape and it was clear that who ever had owned them before hand had not taken care of them. This was not about to happen on my watch. After a lot of TLC, I was able to get them back to how they should have been all along. Ready to die on the battlefield for the Emperor!

This back view of the models shows their uniquely done backpacks. Forgeworld is always know its for wonderful models and these did not disappoint. A lot of time was given to the smallest of details. This is why they became my favorite project of 2015!

#2 was a easier choice to make, This project was one that will be seeing action this coming year in 2016!  My own take on the Panzer III tank from a chimera. This model was a lot of work to convert and took some time and effort. After a lot of glue, sweat and pain, the model was finally together and I was pleased with the end results.

Not the prettiest of jobs at the moment but when it comes time for primer and paint i think she'll do nicely. Im hoping that I will be able to convert it fully for a second one of these tanks. When that is accomplished then I should finally be able to get the model fully. It has to be noted that the treads were the hardest part of the whole conversion. Maybe I'll try to do a tutorial on my second one should I get the time. 

My third favorite project of the year was not really a model per say but was a aid for the game. This project took only a few hours but it was a lot of fun making them in order to help me better play in 40k. Of course what im talking about is my own custom designed cards that i made for Imperial Guard orders and warlord traits. 

Any good guard commander knows that it is vital to use your orders right and have them ready to use when you get to the game. These cards were made using the magic card game custom card creator. A nifty little program that allowed for me to fully customize my army cards on the battlefield. This set was a customized set for the program from the Star Gate series of card game. I ordered some card holders to place them in! Some people had expressed interest in them. Therefore I plan to make a free version for people to download if they wish. In the future I plan to add Stormtroopers, cadian traits and others onto this list. 

As the year comes to a close I wish to thank my loyal readers and those who follow me. It makes writing these post easier knowing that some people read them and enjoy the content of them.If you like what you see please become a follower of the blog or leave a comment below! Every little bit helps

With that I wish you the best in this ending to 2015 and a happy start to 2016! Keep rolling those dice and stay tuned for many new exciting things to come in 2016! 

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All in the Squad: Part 2

Sarge, Cutter, Twitch, Doc, and Nubby

So Ive been meaning to write this post for a while now. This was my first attempt at the All Guardsmen Party as done by Shoggy on TG. Seen here are all the characters done up in their fully painted glory.

This squad consisted of Sarge, Cutter, Tink, Nubby, Doc, and Twitch. After finishing these models I was contacted by Shoggy who told me that he liked the models and was happy someone had done them up in model form.

 This project to me was one of most fun projects Ive done in a while. It allowed me to have some creativity with the standard Cadian models while the paint jobs allowed for me to customize each member of the squad. However, these models were traded off almost as soon as they were done for some custom art work. Regretting this decision, I decided to start another 10 man squad.

 This time I wanted to do the FULL ALL GUARDSMEN PARTY as best as I could. This project consisted of Sarge, Tink, Cutter, Doc, Nubby, Twitch, Spots the wonder drone, Heavy, Fumbles the pysker and Crisp. Time permitting I intend to fully paint up the squad (again) and get them playing on the table top. A few weeks ago I got to take the new squad out for a test spin. Needless to say they were whipped out to a man but fought hard against the traitors. Still a valiant effort on their part and bad luck due to the dice.

Hopefully there will be more to add soon. This new project is on hold as Im trying to balance my time with the Tanith, Tau, Inquisitional forces and my Warmachine Army (Menoth).

Its always been my hope to expand this blog and allow for other games besides 40k to be posted here. Hopefully soon that idea will be realized. Till next time. Keep rolling those dice....

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All in the Squad....

The All Guardsmen party!

Well today is both a sad and exciting day indeed. Today, (February 28th 2015) I sold my first ever Tanith army. The winning bidder is lucky getting a army that has served me well across the various battles of the 41st millennium. The Emperor Protects...

However, this means that my second Tanith army that I have been posting about finally was ordered as well. This army will be composed of Brother Vinni's Models, as well as Victoria Lamb's.  So not all is lost. I kept my vehicles of the Padrus 8th Armored and the Phantine Forge world models that are made from Elysians.  With this force, I intend to start off my new army right with a new paint scheme and many new techniques.

Twitch, Tink, Doc, Cutter

However, what I have for today is taken from Shoggy's "All Guardsmen Party". These collection of stories follow Shoggy's Role playing game group as they try to survive in the Inquisition as Imperial Guardsmen. Sarge, Tink,Doc, Cutter,Nubby, and Twitch have been been the focus of this small project of late.

These characters instantly spoke to me. Many of the heroics told throughout the story are of simple men trying to survive in the universe that hates them. If you haven't gotten the chance to read the stories I highly recommend it! Shoggy is a wonderful story teller!

Doc, Cutter, Sarge, and Nubby

So far I have started on Sarge, (now Inquisitor Greg Sargent) and Cutter. From the story, Cutter and Sarge are two of my favorite characters. Sarge repeatedly proves himself to be a capable leader. His use of leadership and the "NCO disaster manual"  proves to be repeatedly used throughout the story. Cutter for his own replaced Heavy after the latter's death early on. Cutter was once a scribe that quickly learned to love his chain sword and close quarters battle. Cutter would end up on many of the parties early adventures. In one instance he threw himself down a shaft after his beloved chain sword swinging it into the body of a possessed tech priest. Only quick thinking on the part of Nubby would save him. Yet like others, death came for him at the hands of two Chaos Space Marines and a Heritek. His chain sword cutting into the half man, half machine, the last words he heard were "burn" as a massive explosion went off around him burning him and the heretic to death as they fell into oblivion. In tribute to these awesome characters I am making them into model form.

Another thing I wanted to post about was the Phantine Skyborne I've been working on. Since they were saved from the E bay, I wanted to get a community opinion. In one of my earlier stories I wrote about the recruitment poster that my character Jonus Remaus had stood in for. Many posters responded positively to the lore and background. When I found this poster I couldn't help but smile. It seemed to match everything I had written about the Phantine born man. Although the poster is for the PDF, the viewer can imagine it being for the Skyborne or even the aviator corps.

So I'm asking you my dear readers. Should I repaint my Phantine to better match this pilot and the look of a World War II aviator? I think the look would better match what i had expected from the Phantine but at the same time I feel that I like the state they are at now. Maybe time will tell, since i'm redoing my Valkyries to match the Phantine aviator corps.

As always there is more to come and many new exciting things I wish to share with all of you! However at the moment I am unable to disclose more,

Till next time, keep rolling those dice......!

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Pictures from the Eastern Edge

So what do i have for you all today? Not much to show in terms of pictures I'm afraid. School has been busy driving away all of my free time. I've also taken to running a VTT (Virtual table top) Role playing game over the net. Its a site called Roll20.net. If you haven't tried it out and your into RPGs its a must for all gamers.

This army started small and grew to around the 2,500 point mark. It has served me well over the course of four edition changes and has started to be repainted in a new Turquoises and white scheme that i hope to show soon! 

Also on the menu for today are my Tarantula Sentry Turrets. These conversions are made out of Heavy Weapon Teams from a standard box of Imperial Guard and some pieces of other kits to make them stand out as turrets. These turrets will be a part of my Elysian (Phantine) Drop Troopers and also used for other measures as required. Im not too sure on the basing but i hope to get them all done up soon. 

Till next time, Keep rolling those dice!

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