Tanks Leading the Way!

"They are the Panzer elite! Born To Complete! Never Retreat! Ghost Division" - Sabaton ""Ghost Division"

The Art of War Album

                  Today I'm wanting to show off some of the work I've done since my last update. Having completed a goal i set out for myself in 2010 I finished painting up the first of my tank squadrons. The third tank has not yet arrived but the first two have been finished. Back then the goal was three fold. First I wanted to get a good urban color scheme. Second, I wanted to pay homage to their earlier use by my friend in his Grey Knights army. Third, I wanted to make these tanks stand out on their own as Pardus tanks. The Pardus 8th Armored was the first tank regiment i read about in Warhammer 40k.  

Today I would like to show you my newest tanks, "King Lion" captained by Captain Le Guin from the "Gaunt's Ghost" novels and "War Horse".

"King Lion:"with Captain Le Guin in command. Seen on the side is the Ventra Majoris
campaign badge in which this unit served.

"King Lion" and "War Horse"

    Progress has also been made on the line infantry front as well. Many of my troopers have been stripped in LA's Totally Awesome (highly recommended) and given a new life as Tanith and Phantine. A few troopers have stood out in this rebuilding. Especially my favorite of the line infantry for the moment, a trooper i call "Melta bomb Tom". While this isn't exactly a Tanith-y name and yes he will be given a real name that sounds Tanith, the back-story i have written for him is worth the short read.

The man himself.

Lasgun fire raged over Trooper Vaughan Merfyn Ó Corraidhín's head. Next to him, a fellow Verghast trooper who had been hit by a Blood pact troopers las round fell. Ó Corraidhin then heard the call coming over the vox from the sergeant that every infantry man feared. "Holy Feth! Tank!" Ó Corraidhin looked over from behind his cover. Sure enough, the enemy was rolling in the tanks they were producing from one of the captured Forge Words. Grabbing a melta bomb from the dead Verghast trooper body, Ó Corraidhin with the remainder of his squad stalked into a back alley and pulled their camo cloaks over them. After what seemed multiple lifetimes, they heard the tank rumble by. The Blood Pact gunners face scanning the horizon for the Imperial lines ignored them. Perhaps a large blessing from the Emperor himself. Ó Corraidhin primed the melta bomb and swinging it in his hand threw it into one of the treads while saying a prayer to the Emperor for guidance. The bomb stuck in the treads, and the squad was rewarded with a blinding explosion. Behind the Tanks approach had been several archenemy troopers. Now halted, they searched for the source of the melta bomb. Throwing his cloak back over himself, he rejoined the rest of the squad and continued their patrol into enemy territory.  

   Besides working on my Imperial Guard, I've also been introduced to the world of paper craft by my friend Renegade09. Yesterday, we sat down, ate some bitch'n Mexican fast food (tacos and burritos! Yum!) while building some terrain for both Heavy Gear and Warhammer 40k. We also assembled some of the ruin terrian from the old Imperial Guard battle force lent to us by another mutual friend of ours Pwnzilla067. Overall, The terrain came out amazing and i got to learn some new arts and crafts skills. Renegade printed me off at least 2 more buildings plus paper cover so once i have free time we should have a kick ass table top game. Here are the pictures with Pwnzilla's old Imperial Guard models for scale.

The garage is held. FOR THE EMPEROR!

Old Imperial Guard terrain from the Battle force with Forge World Resin barrier 

Till next time, stay victorious my friends and may the dice be ever in your favor!......

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From the Skys........

Happy 4th of July to all my American Readers.

It seems todays update is only appropriate to be about things falling from the sky. In this instance my own Phantine of my Detachment D-44 and a part of the 44th Phantine Skyborne.


Update for the Phantine Side of things:


Early out of date pic. This picture was of Captain Remaus before his promotion during the Distilleri campaign.

Forge world Elysian models in the resin. I’m planning on eventually running enough of these guys for a small task for of Phantine Skyborne Troopers. Originally I wanted to replace the helmets to look

Prototype of concept.

And I could do it too by using the pilot heads from the Valkyries, except for the fact that i would need to buy:

A. More Valkyries for my skyborne and the helmets.

B. Replace said helmets with cadian heads to give the pilots heads.

C. I would only get enough pilot heads for 1 squad at most or 2 if i used the gunner’s heads too. I tried this concept with these guys and I kept them but I think I'll use them as inquisitional storm troopers assigned to my detachment.

original concept

So I emailed Dan Abnett and asked for how to get them right for a true Phantine Skyborne trooper. It’s true, Mr. Abnett does respond to his own mail and VERY fast. I got this within 24 hours.



Hello

I think they look very much like WW2 aircrew crossed with paratroopers, with the jump-packs being "jet pack" type units about the size and shape (and appearance) of an un-deployed parachute.

Any help?

Dan



This has leaded me to rethink the whole modern design. I start looking back into new ideas. I decided the Elysian’s would be the way to go in the end. Not only to distant themselves from the Tanith but to stand out on the table as one of my FAVORITE regiments in 40k.

A D-44 Phantine Trooper

My personal favorite and "Me" in 40k so to speak is Captain Jonus "SwampyTurtle" Remaus (sometimes misspelled Remanus) which is a title I earned from the 40kOnline IG board Chain of Command.

The Captain himself Jonus Remaus with "Liberus"

The Remaus Family is of Phantine. The brother Litilus is my Tech priest model and my character from Dark Heresy. Most of the family was killed during the conquest of Phantine by the Blood Pact but currently only Jonus and Litilus are the known survivors of the family. Mother Ophilia and Father Byrus have both been found dead at the hands of the enemy. The misfortune and stories of the Remaus family are some I hope to tell both through fan fiction and my own battles. Litilus is unaware his brother is alive having only heard that a man from Phantine named Jonus is working for an inquisitor =I= as his personal retinue.....

A Phantine Valkyrie. This one is the "Glory Hound" as seen earlier in the blog.




Fluff and story of Captain Jonus Remaus during the Ventra Majoris Campaign

A tall man in a tan uniform of a drop trooper regiment enters the building and heads towards the Tactical Operations center. Remaus stood out with his Mohawk shaved brown hair and his drop trooper gear hanging on his belt. His features had been used in the recent Phantine recruitment billets for the Skyborne.

Tall, Brown haired, Striking brown eyes, and with the inspiring words "From the skies!" on the poster had seen recruitment training for the unit tripled. With such small numbers in only around 200 troops and no land to speak of, the planet didn't have many ground forces to raise for the Imperial Guard. Instead, most units came in the form of aviators in squadrons.

Jonus decided to stop by the cafeteria and pick up some caf for himself. No use going into a jump tired he told himself as he poured a glass and looked around for a table to sit at. Finally spotting a open table, he headed over and sat down before opening his data slat to look over his squads gear and load out.

His back hurt and his muscles twitched as he remember his last jump on the brewery world of Distilleri. Then he had been under the command of a Major Tuesday. After the jump, his grav chute had failed to fully function and he had had to use what power he could draw to land. It hadn't been a pretty landing but he had survived...If you could call blacking out from the pain survival. He had woken up days later in a field hospital with a medicae nurse looking after him. By then the news of the invasion on Distilleri was but a distance memory. His officer promotion had come through later that year. In retrospect, Lt's bars looked good on him, it beat the hell out of being enlisted.

His reassignment had seen him pulled from the 40th corp to the Detachment under his old boss Inq Umarus. D-44 had been formed shortly there after and with his squad had seen the Detachment shifted across the galaxy to a new war zone. Umarus kept Jonus up to date on his brother Litilus but otherwise Umarus's promise of Jonus seeing his brother again were still that....just promises...

"Sir"

Jonus looked up to see one of his troopers coming over holding a sword

"It just came in sir"

Jonus smiled and nodded his thanks taking the power sword and attaching it to his belt "Liberus?" he said to his attendant

"Aye sir, she's sharpened and ready for action just as the Inquisitor swore it would be"

"Good work, return to the squad and see them ready"

"Aye sir" said his attendant before saluting and hurrying off

Feeling tired, Jonus got up and headed out into the hallway before walking over to one of the empty bunks laying about. he laid his drop trooper gear on the floor and laid down on the bed , closing his eyes and remembering that final time he had seen his older brother back on Phantine, back before his world had been turned upside down....

There was fire and there was smoke and God-Emperor....oh God-Emperor the smell! Looking to his right , he saw his buddy Rowland screaming as the enemy fire tore into his jetpack and then his body tearing off limbs before the body fell towards the ground below. Using his training Jonus hit the grav chute and prayed, hoping that those las shots coming towards him wouldn't hit him as Lightings and Valkyries around him blew up from the traitors fire. He remember his family, His mother Ophelia, His Father whom had died serving the Phantine Liberation and most of all his brother Litilus, These thoughts kept him sane as he dropped towards the enemy and the hell awaiting him below, the wind shaking him harder and harder......

It was only a dream, It was only a dream he kept telling himself as he got up shaking but he knew it wasn't and that that last drop on Distilleri has been one of the worst of his career......

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Heavy Gear Blitz: A review

Or How I learned to love war gaming for what it truly is: A good time.....

A week or two ago now, my buddy Renegade09 invited me to go to the local game store with him to try out a new game. Having lost my last Warhammer 40k game I wasn't too anxious to get my tail handed to me again in miniature combat.

This time the battlefield took us away from the grim dark future of the 41st millennium and into the world of "Heavy Gear", a game by the Canadian company Dream Pod 9. So you ask, What did I think of the game? Well my buddy Renegade09 had bought two factions of this fantastic science fiction world: Peace River and The North.

After a quick run through on the rules the night before we got to go the store and test it out. The activation system and the flow of the game was very fast. I enjoyed the pace and the way cover actually mattered in this game compared to others I had played. I also found the models to be of excellent quality that Renegade had painted to a well done table top quality. After having painted with him for weeks, it was nice to get a chance to try out the game.

Our set up after only about 20 minutes saw  the table ready for our deployment and mission objectives. Renegade had home built and printed off the templates for the terrain (I really need to ask him for some of that) and a well done carrying board.  After rolling off, we determine who went first and started the game.

By turn 2 not much had happened and the number of potshots being bounced off our armor was becoming annoying. Somebody needed to get a kill. We had a few people interested but many dismissed us. Still, we did get a few 40k players to try it out. Progress!

The game didn't end at 4 with anybody dead so we continued onto the next round. By turn 6 our board looked like below. Finally after some daring maneuvers and listing lazily to the left our units engage into close quarters battle. His HQ unit "Honcho" was killed by a blast to the face at close range and my unit made up of brothers "Tweedle Dee" and "Tweedle Dum" fell to his Gears from gun fire.  In the end, the game was a clear victory for me by number of kills and him having one model on the board. However, having had a epic night full of combat, I told him we should call it a tie instead.

So what did I think of the game? Honestly, the pace and the activation system are probably some of the cleanest and nicest rules out there right now. I liked the unit count and the amount of models needed to get started was low. I also enjoyed the background and the fluff behind all the factions. The Science Fiction part of the story also was very well done and nice. Since this system was D6, it made it easier to learn for me as well as new players who would like to learn more about war gaming in general. I watched a 40k veteran pick up the game and understand it in nearly ten minutes, a impossibility in other games such as 40k and Warmachine.

What didn't I like? To be honest, not much. After having come from 28mm models, the game felt familiar enough to not be off putting but new enough to be entertaining. I imagine with infantry at the 15mm scale things would get annoying but I have yet to see them in play yet. Some rules mechanics I found funky but none too rule breaking. The counter system of movement while ingenious does seem to slow down the pace since I very rarely wanted to switch modes to go faster, instead focusing on my firepower to see me through.

Overall my Rating would be a solid 9.8 out of 10. Very easily one of my favorite games I've ever played. Having war gamed since 2006 I felt that with time this game could be a serious contender to the big 3 should DP9 continue to run the game right as they seem to be doing now.

Till next time. Game on.....

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Dawn of Eldar: A battle report

                                                           Dawn of Eldar: A battle Report

Points: 2000
IG / IG  vs Dark Eldar and Eldar Allies
2v2 match.

       So I played my first 40k game in a long while against the newest codex: The Eldar. Going into this match I expected a hard fight but nothing could have prepared me for the newest codex. To start off with, I went to my local game store where our members decided to play my Detachment D-44 along with Cadian allies vs a Dark Eldar and Eldar alliance. Here are some pictures of the armies.






Cadian Allies. He ran a fair mech list that really was well done and complimented my list

Eldar and Dark Eldar talking strategy and tactics against the Imperium. Notice those Venoms which would prove to be a pain early game.



My own Detachment D-44. Included is my new Tech priest Magos and some air support from the Phantine Skyborne. A Pardus 8th Tank sits ready to face the enemy.

To say the least, my army was shattered by Turn 3. Having lost my tank and many brave Tanith and Phantine soldiers to Eldar Wraithguard and Venoms, I was forced to rely upon my ally to push the brunt of the assault on to the enemy. My Valkyrie "Glory Hound" also failed to come in until turn 3 which proved to be a disappointment.  If we had had any chance of a victory, it would have been turn 5 when the objectives (3) became 1 owned, 1 contested and 1 held by them with line breaker and slay the warlord vs. first blood and slay the warlord would have ended in a tie. Instead, the game went onto turn 6 which say the complete destruction of my forces except for 1 squad and my ally fighting a retreat. He decided to call it at this point as we all had places to be within the hour.


Later that night I came home after another game of Heavy Gear Blitz, a game by Dream Pod 9 out of Canada with one of my friends. I found the rules to be fluid and well to do. I think I certainly would be interested in seeing a growth of the game. I got no pictures of my friends home made game board but it was beautiful sight to behold. Ive been watching for months as he painted his first minis and im proud to say that they turned out well.

To my own end, I wanted to create another character from the Gaunt's Ghost series by Dan Abnett. I decided upon a tanker this time.  Captain LeGuin of the Pardus 8th armored from both "Double Eagle" and "Honor Guard". Following the description of their uniforms from lexicanum I decided upon my paint scheme.

Appearance & Uniform

The Pardus 8th wore tan fatigues, while their tanks were painted in camo patterns according to the operation's theatre. On Hagia they were painted green and blue, while on Enothis they were painted dust red 

 With that information in hand, I started work on my good captain. He is seen here with a plasma pistol and his tank commanders cane. Once I finish his ride I plan to have him count as my Pask. Hopefully I'll find other uses for him soon too.

Till next time, Happy Gaming!

Captain LeGuin

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Battle Honors: "Gentleman, We go to war......."

Its been a while since I've done a update on this blog. When we last left off the war for Ventra Majoris had just ended with a Imperium victory. The official story was published as such:

All up 98 Victory Points for Order, 42 Victory Points for Disorder, and 6 Victory Points for Necrons.

However, the Cardinal World, the Capital World, and its guardian moon all fell, and the Necrons got a World Engine into play, so I'd spin it like Order held onto some worlds, namely Forge Worlds and what not, but lost all the rest of their key worlds, and couldn't stop the terror of another World Engine getting out to boot. Congratulations order, you have a Garden Planet and what not, from there you can see you capital worlds burning in the night sky. 

Well what does this mean for my Detachment D-44 ? After a hard fought campaign on Lucan Sigma, the men and woman of D-44 were given R&R before their next deployment.

Having gone back over the paint schemes, I decided to repaint my Elysian figures (Phantine Skyborne [From "The Guns of Tanith" Novel by Dan Abnett]). I also started painting up my new Air force made up of 4 Valkyries and Vendettas. These new Gunships were given over to the Detachment for quick rapid response tactics. In fluff terms they will be part of the Phantine Airborne, a elite group of Pilots from the world of Phantine in the Sabbat Worlds. With the promotion of Jonus Remaus, to Captain in the 40th Corp (40kOnline IG board), the good Captain now has been completely redone to show off his new rank complete with his power sword "Liberus".


Also updated and redone were new additions to the Tanith side of my Detachment. A lot of models have been painted since but these were the show case models I wanted to draw attention to. First up is our lovely female commissar "Amberly Rhodes". She is using both Eurobitz model "Viktoria Skivlana" and some GW parts to make her tournament legal. She has been assigned to 3rd Platoon made up of primarily Tanith 1st and Only to make sure they don't break.

Next up is a unnamed Tanith Scout trooper. With his scope on his lasgun, and straight silver at the ready this trooper is ready for any horrors the galaxy can throw at him. The basing for all these models is done up with a urban scheme in mind. Many other Tanith armies I have seen are based around jungle or forest combat. Instead I wanted my Tanith to be in the ruins of a broken Imperial city fighting back the forces of chaos against the archenemy.

Finally below we have the 5 inquisitorial members of Umarus's retinue.  Please note that the 4th from left, has been completely redone since the taking of this photo. From left to Right we have: Unnamed Priest (banisher), Tech Priest Litilus Remaus (Tech priest), Inquisitor Umarus, Adeptus Abrite Gregory Alexie, and Death Cult Assassin Dorian Barbarossa.



In the following weeks I will be doing a in-dept look into these characters and more from my Detachment as the Dakka Dakka World Wide Campaign II starts to come back. As the men and woman of Imperium prepare to face the rising chaos in the Ventra Majoris sector, The fate of the Imperium will hang in the balance. Stay Tuned!!

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Battle Honors: Venta Majoris and D-44

Detachment D-44 Badge With Venta Majoris Pin

Pre-Campigan Report and Fluff:

Detachment D-44 is a mobile response unit made up of multiple imperial guard units (as well as at time Kroot mercs) under the personal command of Inquisitor Adrastia of the Ordo Hereticus and Inquisitor Umarus of the Ordo Xeno.
Composed of Tanith First and Only as well as Phantine Skyborne specialist from the world of Phantine within the Sabbat Worlds, the units of D-44 have served their masters well under the command of Senior Lt Jonus Remaus of Phantine and his elite veterans of “Scald Squad”.

Other notiable commanders within the unit include Lt Cupcake who has served the skyborne with distinguished service since the liberation of his homeworld by the Sabbat World crusade. Originally chosen to take part in "Operation Larisel" he was instead replaced due to his experience at the time which upon complaint, a commander is noted as calling him "a cupcake solider". Since then, his experience and combat skills in Scald Squad have earned him a command of his own with "Holm" Squad. He hopes to escape the Cupcake nickname and make a name for himself as commander and leader of Soldiers within the skyborne and earn the respect of his peers.

Within the last few months word has spread of a new threat within the sub-sector. Having been redeployed from the Distilleri system on the eastern edges against the tau where they were serving under command of the 40th corps, the men and woman of D-44 prepare to give chase to the new threat attacking the sub-sector. For unbeknown to most of the unit, a renegade guard regiment calling themselves “Haven's 1st Infantry” under the former command of one Colonel Lentz has reappeared recently have begun to show themselves after having been declared traitors excommunication. What the goal of Haven’s 1st and who their new masters are, is now key to unlocking what happened years ago on the world of Haven and the fate of the sub-sector could lay in the hands of the men and woman of D-44

Post Campigan Report:

Sequestered Inquisitional Files, Authorized persons only
File: 3G4B72
Reference: Haven
Please enter Your Authorization Code
Password: *********************

Validating……..
Thank you Inquisitor Umarus
You may proceed…… To: Sector Inquisitional command,
From: Detachment D-44
Inquisitors Umarus (Ordos Xenos) and Adrastia (Ordos Hereticus) Commanding.


My investigations into the Ventra Sub-sector have been a vital success. As the ruinous powers have pushed on Cadia and the 13th black crusade marches on, I am pleased to report on all sectors that the second fronts have held. Although the worlds of Valos and Volkh I / Volkh Secundus were lost in the last days of the offensive, other successes by the Space Marines and Imperial Guard were able to reclaim much of the Inon System in the Emperor’s name.

Detachment D-44 made planet fall on the world of Lucan Sigma searching for what has been come to known as the Haven 1st infantry. These “Free Krieg” of the former 89TH Krieg were last seen on the world of Haven before that world was subjected to the ultimate judgment of exterimantus (Reference: subfields 2.1B). How Colonel Lentz and his men survived the judgment I have no doubt can only lead us to darker answers. Marines working with the Traitor regiment were found to be of the former XX legion (Alpha Legion) when encountered on week 4 whist digging around an old adeptus mech missile silo. Our forces were able to meet the enemy but unable to stop their stealing of the technology. References from the tech priest have been…most hesitant to offer what the former legionaries might’ve stolen from that missile silo.

What is known is that roughly ten years ago, the men of the 89TH Krieg regiment were sent to the world of Haven to stop a chaos uprising. During this time on planet the world was determined to be unable to be saved due to chaotic enfoldment on the world. Exterminatus was declared. Five years later, reports start appearing of soldiers marching on worlds across the galaxy matching the last known uniforms of the 89th. However, these men are now calling themselves under new names and claiming allegiances. My Detachment was able to track the regiment to the Ventra subsector and followed them from the world of Lucan Sigma to the world of Jurn where our forces were ambushed by a large usage of Tank divisions that hadn’t been attached or known to exist at the last existence of the 89th. Our forces from then on our encountered Alpha legionaries with some elements of the 89th involved in raids on Lucan Sigma.
Whoever their new masters are, I fear that it could mean trouble for us all.

Inquistor Umarus
Ordo Xenos

-The Emperor Protects-

Umarus stared at the screen, then running the fingers through his close cut brown hair he leaned back in the chair and remembered. Lentz had been a great solider, to have to track him down like this….but no that was then. Umarus remembered his recruitment of his agents personally for each and everyone. Assassin Dorian Barbarossa, Tech Priest Litilus Remaus, Senior Lt Jonus Remaus, and many others that had come and gone over the years of his long service to the Emperor. Shaking his head he made a mental note to someday reunite the Remaus brothers before thinking about Lentz again. Come to think of it, how much should he write about Lentz? If word got out that he had been in command when that extermantus was given and that he had left Lentz to die…..No, those records had been sealed by his order. Not even Adrastia would be able to get in to see those disgraceful records. Being a radical member of the Ordo Xenos had its problems at times.

Finally, Umarus looked down at his chrono and noticed that he was running late. Jonus unlike Litilus didn’t like be kept waiting for a debrief after a mission, not that he complained of course. Smiling to himself, Umarus hit the SEND button and shut off the data slate. It was out of his hands now, somebody could clean up the mess.



Scale Squad, Detachment D-44
Lt Jonus Remaus Commanding

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News from the front

Well, schools started again and that means that with classes starting up my time for modeling my tanith is gonna be next to none. Having left 95% of my army at home, i decided to bring 500 points with me in the form of a battleforce, a lord commisar (counts as inquistor) and the phantine vet squad for me to play should i want to play guard.

I havent yet broken open the box  ( Had it since July, where has the time gone?) but ive been thinking on how i would like to model them once i get the chance. Ive been watching over blogs, forums and other site and while im sold on how they'll look, i dont want to start the project of converting them only to find im missing some key component later on. I figure eventually i'll have to start. Today unfortunalty is not that day.

So what i writtern this blog for? Well i did want to start off with some screens from this summer. Having gone home and reevaulated my tanith's look i started from a new idea and progressed (slowly) into making them as close as i could, with the cadian kits with some catachan spares.

The following pics are from late june and no longer represent the final look of the models themselves. However, once i get home, new pics will be forthcoming. The following characters are from left to right:   Major Rawne (Beret) Mkoll (Grenade)Crid (Female) Feygor (mohawk)

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