Ad Mech: Electro-Priest of Metalica (WiP)

Today I have a real treat for you all. Since the beginning of the year, my time has been filled up with work and real life task so this blog has suffered because of that. However today I hope to fix that. Originally I had planned to start a new painting series but since my time for painting has been so limited, Ive decided to put that new series on hold for the moment.

 Instead Im going to show off some Works in Progress. Bare in mind that these are not done but have been sitting on my work bench for a while.

Adeptus Mechanicus models always seem to take the longest for me to do, and since I wanted to have something to show for February, Ive decided upon these electro-priest. I first tried the electro-priest on table top simulator against my friends Death Korp of Krieg. Seeing how powerful the unit was, I quickly set about ordering myself a squad of 5. When the squad got in, I set about assembling them and then got them primed. Long time readers will know that I play Forge World Metalica and so I have set about painting them in the white robes of the priesthood. As mentioned earlier this year I plan to redo my Metalica list and in doing so adding more Electro-Priest to my army.

This rebuilding of my army is going to be a slow job but its one that will be enjoyable over time. I have planned for this build to take me on towards 2018-2019 and in doing so will be allowing myself ample time to paint each unit. Our local store is doing a Path to Glory game and so this is the perfect time in which to build my forces up. Once this squad is done, I hope to be able to break out my airbrush for another unit that Ive been eyeing to complete. More on that later.

In other news, I have gotten my knight primed up and base coated in a silver spray. When the weather gets clear here, I intend to break out my airbrush and set about painting up the knight. My plan is to add it to House Raven, which is allied with Metalica.  As we work our way further into this new year I hope to have a few more exciting new articles and models to show off to everyone.

Until Next time! Keep rolling those dice!

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2018!: New Year and New Projects!

Hello and welcome to the 2018 edition of Behind the Lines Gaming.As a new year gets underway we look forward to the new start that a new year will bring. Like last year I will be attempting to post every other week but real life might  get in the way. As with last year, this is more a attempt to regulate myself than a true schedule or promise.

Projects for this year include finishing my Tanith 1st and only army as well as my Phantine and Pardus 8th Armored. Good progress has been made on this army and I can only hope 2018 sees to it that more good things are to come.

My Menoth forces will also continue to be worked on. This army is a small one and I am unsure if any more models will be added to it. Time will tell. What use to be a nice 50 point army is now somewhere in the 40 point range. These point changes, as well as the game going up to 75 points has left a sour taste in my mouth.

My Adeptus Mech forces might also grow some in 2018. I am planning to completely rebuild my list with a new force and build up my forces to 2000 points.

With the lack of a Tau codex for 8t Edition, The Tau Sept has been shelved until the codex hits. Once the codex comes out, I will see how Tau have transferred over to the new edition. 

The Deathwatch force remains small while the Black Templar army I bought in 2017 has been stripped and primed. Im still not certain what I want to do with them at all. I might at some point sell them. 

2018 is going to be a exciting new year that we here at Behind the Lines gaming hope everyone will be excited for! Stay tuned for a much more to come!

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Tanith 1st and Only: Another Squad reporting In!

First 5 Tanith done

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a while but its about time I think to break it out. Today I present to you another squad of Tanith First and Only. This squad has been done up at since at least last year but I've been distracted with work and school. Today I hope to rectify that.

Like my other Tanith Squad, this one was done up in the colors of the First and Only. Altogether, this squad took two weeks to paint and finish but at least it means I'm one step closer to completing my Tanith for the moment. Only two more squads to go until i am fully painted with all my Tanith. However, this will not be the end of my Tanith. I plan to go back and add highlights as well as their tattoos for every model. I truly want these to be the best model I can present for my work. Time will tell though.

Second 5 Tanith

 In the future I hope to add some more Victoria Miniature models to the army in the form of female Verghast. With the release of the new Matilda tank too, Victoria Miniatures is looking like a nice place for 3rd Party fans to find things they would like for their Guard.

This leads me to the next point. Pardus. Last post I gave a teaser to the Armored Company list I've run a few times at my FLGS. This list is made up of Tanith in Chimeras with Pardus 8th Tank support and Phantine air cover. It is a favorite for how much pain it can bring to the table. Now that the Inquisition detachment allows for the Inquisition to bring all flavors of the Imperium it has become a even stronger list. My plan is work on the vehicles for a while and get them at least base painted and away from their primer. Then try to get back on track with painting.

Squad view

Its been a odd start to the year. It seems (at least for my blog) that I always peter out around this time of the year. I'm hoping to change that but we'll see.

Keep checking back. Till next time,

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Tau Sept: Shas'O R'alai

Long time viewers of my blog might notice that the banner has changed for Tau. That's because Im trying to make it so each army from here on out has a unique banner or some form of it. We'll see how well it goes. Today I present a new addition to my growing Sept. Shas'O R'alai!

At the store ( I bought the forge world broadside too!)

This model was purchased for me by Bandogora01 at his local game store. Old armies are traded in for store credit and I happened to be there over Christmas break when I spotted Shas'O R'alai and a Forge world Broadside. Both very hard pieces to come by (without paying Forge world prices here in the states). As such I wanted to pick them up and had my friend who worked there hold them for me until I got paid. Bandogora was nice enough to ship them to me once I paid for them and they arrived in good time. The initial model weren't much to look at. Black primer and a weird brown color base coat. This was removed easily enough with LA's Totally Awesome and then the true fun began.

Cleaned up and ready (Spoilers for future post)

I primed the model and then set about painting it in the color scheme of my Sept. Long time viewers know that the color scheme usually takes about a week from start to finish. Shas'O R'alai took two weeks of off and on painting. This was because as a HQ unit I wanted to make sure extra attention was paid to the model in the process. Once the model was finished I set about making a few fixes on the model before calling it done.

That same weekend, I took Shas'O R'alai out to the game store with my brother. We played a 1500 point game. Tau vs Guard. Crisis Wing (Farsight) vs Armored Company with a mission from the Monk'ta Book. Needless to say, I lost. However Shas'O R'alai proved his worth killing many guardsmen, a chimera, and a sentinel before dying to massive lasgun fire. His warlord trait: The Assassin really did make him a terror for independent characters. 1d4chan claims hes the tau version of Abbadon, Yarrick, and other heros who can "tank" their way through the enemy. I didnt see that as much as I saw a long ranged killing machine who could bring a lot of hurt for very little cost. Shas'O R'alai's markerdrones hitting on a 3+ really did make it easy for markerlights to be used for his squad. In the future I think Shas'O R'alai might become a more permanent addition to my forces. My brother on the other hand reverted back to the normal "Tank-Mander" build stating he felt that Shas'O R'alai wasnt within his play style. To each their own.

Back View

Marker drones

Tell me your thoughts on Shas'O R'alai, is he truly a terror like Dante or Yarrick or is he more akin to our regular Tau commander. Share your thoughts below.

Till next time!

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Tau Sept: A Rising [Rip]Tide

Today we present you with a real treat. A Tau Riptide done up the Jar'Kia Sept scheme. This Riptide was a Christmas present from my father and was a gift I had been wanting for a few years now. Riptides are commonly though as OP (Overpowered for you non gamers) and so they are not given much mercy on the table. In the last three games I've used proxies for it, it has not died and in fact has killed a ton of points back.

So, how did I go about starting this build? Well first I clipped off the pieces and then laid them out to do sub assemblies on them. I highly recommend sub assemblies for this model due to its size and height.

Next, I set about doing painting all the parts in jade with a purple ink. After that I did the metals first with a bronze and then with a tin color. After that, I broke out my air brush and set to work doing all the jade parts you see before you. While the purple ink took two full days of on and off work, the jade only took 5 minutes with a air brush. A airbrush makes the job so much easier and enjoyable.

After the airbrush work, i let the model dry before going onto the detail work. First was the highlighting on all parts of the model. Then came the recessive highlighting with the purple wash. I then washed the blacks with nuln oil before adding a highlight to the black. Next came the metallic parts (again due to over spray with the airbrush) and then the washes on top of the metal parts. Lastly came the orange which I had stupidly left at my girlfriends house over winter break and so was forced to put that part of the project on hold for a long while. I then added a brown tone to the base and added some agrellian earth to the bottom in order to make the model look completed.

I have yet to try it in game yet but from what Ive seen of it played in proxy play, it is a beast of a model. Stupidly, once i finished the model I had burnt myself out on it and left the Burst cannon and secondary systems partly done. This has seen been corrected but it was a pain in the arse to go back and finish them out.

Overall it was a fun model kit to put together. While I am in no rush to get another Riptide, I do intend to buy 2 more someday. I think running a riptide wing would be fun (and cheesy as heck). Maybe I should save it for tournament level play?

In real life news I have found out that my Masters Thesis has been approved. This is a huge milestone for me and one that means life is about to get really busy for me. Not that i'm complaining though.

Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

Till next time!

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Krieg: The Status of the Bloody 18th

*A note about the photo quality. Bandogora doesn't have the best camera but we make do with the shots he can give us.

Welcome to the first official post of the New Year! Today we bring to you something from Bandogora01's desk. His 18th Krieg Assault Regiment and his Warmachine Khador.

Trying to organize the men

Parade Formation

Long time readers will remember that Bandogora01 sent me his first squad of Krieg back in 2015 in order to start his army. Over the course of two years, that army has grown into a nice battle group you see before you. Bandogora has started to prime his models and get down the base color scheme of the Bloody 18th on to his miniatures. He has also acquired some armored support in the form of my old Leman Russ "Lady"as well as my old Storm Chimera and a custom Thunderer I made for him out of the Leman Russ kit. Together his army is coming in nicely about 1400 points before upgrades. Not pictured are two more heavy stubber teams as well as some heavy bolter teams.  The second picture below shows the models a little bit more clearly then the first picture. As the bloody 18th rises, their story is sure to be told throughout countless 40k battles.

Speaking of which I got to teach Bandogora how to play 40k over the winter holidays. We played a small Kill Team game using the official 40k rules. We modified some of the individual movement actions so that Bandogora could see how squads work in 40k as well as get a feel for how a larger point game might go. Out of the three objectives Bandogora was able to shoot me off two of them and won! It was fun seeing his army that he has been working on forever get some table time.

Khador

Seen here is Bandogora's Khador for warmachine. This army is based around the warcaster Scorcha and has actually gotten a lot more table time then my own Menoth. Bandogora wants to do his Khador in a grey and black scheme that will be sure to put the fear of Khador into those who oppose the Empire.

As a Menoth player, I know that Khador is not a easy opponent having been assassinated last time I played against a Khador player.

As the New Year continues to unfold we hope you keep checking back! Give us a comment, let us know you were here and follow us if you want to be kept updated. A lot of really awesome and special projects are in the works for this year.

Till next time

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Menoth: Warcaster Kreoss and Hierophant

Without basing

This post has been sitting in my que for a while (since at least November 2016) but for some reason I could never find the right time for it to be released. Today I hope to rectify that.

These pictures are the start of my Menoth army for warmachine. The two models I have for you to day are Warcaster Kreoss and a Hierophant. Kreoss was the starter box warcaster for in MK II and was the first warcaster I ever used. I was not overly fond of him but he has his uses as a good offensive warcaster.

Kreoss

Here you can see his model without the basing and after with the basing. I decided to go for a Alabama Crimson Tide Football color scheme for my Menoth. With the two main colors being crimson and white (and grey for some away games), I wanted to do a tribute to my alma mater.

Crimson and White was a paint scheme that I had been itching to try for a long while. At first I thought about trying to do it with the Tau and then the Ad Mech. However in the end neither of those truly spoke to me and I ended up going with other colors. The Menoth however did speak to me and these colors matched what I wanted to do with this army.

Kreoss and Hierophant

With Kreoss complete, the decided that I liked the look and carried on with the next model: The Hierophant.  This model adds a lot of casting power to  the warcasters abilities. For the Hierophant I decided to try to do some cold blue tones on his robes and model areas. I have been learning to paint cold blue and warm blue lately in an effort to expand my painting pallet.

As this army continues to get painted I hope to be able to show off more of the skills in painting I am trying to learn. High lightening, blending and other techniques are all important to make a model "pop".  It is my hope that I can be able to learn these skills and bring them back to my other armies. Already I have learned a ton about painting white.


As always keep checking back! Let us know you were here or just say hi. Every little bit helps. Till next time!

Hierophant and Kreoss

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Paint Night: Start of a new series?

Krieg 18th Assault Regiment

 First time in a long time that I've done one of these! PAINT NIGHT! Hopefully these will be a part of a series that I do on a monthly time frame that will just show off some WiP stuff we've been doing and get you all pumped for a next post. If they prove popular i'll see about adding more into it.

For those not in the know, a paint night is usually a gathering of friends at somebodies house and everyone builds, paints and primes miniatures in order to work on their armies. However since all of us are all across the United States, we decided to get together on skype and bs around while painting with each other on camera.

Tonights models were a five man squad of Victoria Lamb's Border World Rangers (My Tanith) and a Death Korp of Krieg Heavy Weapons Squad done up in the colors of the 18th Krieg Assault Regiment by my friend Bandogora01.

Tanith Veterans 

We spent the better part of a hour on skype painting and talking. Bandogora01 had a hard time deciding what to paint before finally deciding upon his 18th Krieg Assault Regiment. Fans of this blog will remember that I posted his Company Command Squad I did for him as a commission earlier this year. Now Bandogora has taken it upon himself to finish the rest of the regiment and see to it that they get their proper colors done in order to hit the battle field.

For my own Tanith, I did a Platoon Command Squad of 5 guys. This squad I personalized a little bit more by adding a few wounds and scars on them showing that the had been in the thick of battle. I got the rest of this squad (another 5 models) that I will have to do but in the mean time I think i'll take them for a spin on the battlefield and see how they do. Painting the Tanith to me is always enjoyable because of the feeling that Im one step closer to the completion of this massive project. Although any true Guard player will tell you that you never have enough. We'll see about that in time

Till next time! Say hi, post your thoughts and just let us know you were here.

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By Order of the Inquisition: Tech Priest and Arbite Gregory Alexie

Dog and Master

So today is another day for a blog post! This time we bring to you two Forge World goodies. The Adeptus Arbite enforcer from Games Day with his cyber mastiff and a titan Tech Priest!

These are two models that I have had my eyes on for a while. Each one would serve perfectly for our INQ28 games or Dark Heresy and so I went a head and purchased them.

Each of the models were done concurrently while the other was drying. Special attention was paid to the cyber mastiff since its going to be a pet for my Inquisitor in game or a bodyguard for my D-44 Detachment while playing Guard.

Another view

 The Arbite enforcer is going to be be Arbite Gregory Alexie. A Arbite from a Hive world. He was played by my friend Saltybelt back in 2009 and became a part of our warband. Alexie has a tough my way or the highway attitude and served with Inquisitor Umarus during the Ventra Majorus Campaign in 2012. This character has gone through a lot of variations before I decided upon this model for him. The other model I used for Gregory has now become another Arbite for my second warband under Inquisitor Ardastia (from DOW II) which I hope to cover in another post sometime soon.

Titan Tech Priest

Next up is the Titan Tech Priest. This Priest of Mars was done up in the traditional martian colors since I wanted it to be no one character in particular. This model was a lot of work to get right and in some ways I am still not happy with it. I had thought to make it a character from our current Dark Heresy Game but it isn't close enough to the characters description to be so, nor was it close enough to be my own Tech Priest from Dark Heresy. In the end I decided it would just be a genre priest for my guard army or Inquisitor.

This model was a lot of fun to paint and I hope to get another one sometime soon in order to paint one up again for our Dark Heresy Group. As our current game is coming to the end of its currents season, many secrets have been revealed and the party is on edge. Whether or not these secrets will destroy the party or bring them closer to each other remains to be seen. They have already made many enemies, enemies that don't want to be found out by the greater imperium at large.

Back view

Since it is November, I hope to partake in Tanks-giving and get a few Gideon Tanks worked on. I am also putting together a few models for Bandogora01 to give as a gift to him for his 18th Krieg Assault Regiment. We'll see how that all turns out.

Till next time, keep checking back!

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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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Product Review: AnotherWorld Miniatures

bare model after being put together

...And now we're back with another Product Review!

Today, we are focusing on AnotherWorld Miniatures "Witch Hunter" model. This metal model comes in 28mm scale, perfect for battles in the grim dark future. She also looks like a certain inquistior from a fairly popular RTS game set in the grim future, perfect for what I wanted her for!

 The model arrived in a little over two weeks time from Italy and was in three separate pieces (Sword arm, Model, and base)

Next to her Forge World bodyguards

After putting it together, I got the first image seen here, up and then placed her next to some forge world Elysians. Next to Forge World models her proportions seemed about right but if you were to place her next to a GW model she would seem very small. This is not a fault of the company but due to the "heroic" proportions of GW models. I think if she were to be placed next to models from different companies she wouldnt stand out so bad.

Fully painted up

Overall the sculpt is very well done and the detail is nice. The model was a joy to paint and the company has since expanded their own line with other types of models. One of the biggest problems though is seen in the picture below. Her sword is very very thin! Too often I have worried about the model breaking in half on the sword arm due to the war she is holding it. It is also a bit of a pain to get her to fit perfectly in any case that you may want her to fit in. I would suggest placing her on her back with the sword pointed down in the case. This would give it the less likely chance of breaking off.

Also since this company does limited runs of resin models, It is a pain for those that prefer resin over metal.  Overall, I would highly suggest the model if you are looking for a good female inquisitor model. If you are looking for good figures in general, I would also recommend them though I would try to get the resin models before they are out of print if possible!

Until next time!

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